Robert Lowery: Blues birth
Blues queen Katie Webster is trying to raise money for her sister Myrtle to be queen of her church usher group. Webster, who once toured as piano player for Otis Redding, will appear January 16 [at the] West Bay Community Center at Fillmore and Eddy...along with Robert Lowery, the 61-year-old Santa Cruz country bluesman apparently on the verge of being discovered. He played the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fair last year and already has a number of festivals on his schedule for next summer. His 1990 album, "Earthquake Blues," recorded scant days after the Loma Prieta earthquake using a four-track cassette deck on his front porch, garnered fine reviews. His next album, recorded last summer in New Orleans, is now under consideration at several major labels.
---Joel Selvin
Chronicle Pop Music Critic
Originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle (December 20th, 1992)