By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
“I’m a blues guitar player but I love rock,” said “Lightning Rob.”
He not only loves rock, he performs it with an energy and talent that doesn’t quit. Yes, he also plays and sings blues, but watch out: once he starts on a rock tune, people are on their feet with their cellular phones capturing the entire song.
For almost two decades he went door to door as a roofing salesman. But that wasn’t his passion. He’s an entertainer, a musician, and a philosopher.
Music is his passion, yet he makes room for tending to the apples of his eyes, which are his two children, Riley Jane and Korban Dallas. His phone is filled with photos of his little ones, which he flips through to share with interested viewers.
“I bring both of them onstage with me and have them speak into the mic,” shared Rob. He and his family live in Texas City. Rob is from the Dallas area and didn’t get to the coast till he was 21.
When it comes to having a soda, well he prefers Coke. “I like it the most. It’s just crisp,” Rob said as he opens a bottle of the sweet beverage. He was nicknamed “Lightning Rob” back in the northern area of Texas when he was only 16.
“After I finished a set, a guy comes swaggering up to me and asks, ‘What’s your name?’ I had on my lightning guitar strap and from then on, I was called Lightning Rob,” explained Rob.
As a young man of 11, he picked up a guitar and taught himself to play. He’d play a Stevie Ray Vaughan song and press pause, practice what he had heard and continue with the song till he had it down and could play it as close to what he heard.
“This is the first time I’m doing just music. I was gonna be a rock star when I was 18, now I’m back to doing what I love,” said Rob.
As the lead singer for his band, he is growing in popularity around the region.
Rob doesn’t just love the sound of music; he enjoys silence and appreciates that silence is possibly a musical note. He compares guitar strings and the vibrations they make to the vibrations the earth makes. His senses of sound and the earth are tuned in together.
He calls his primary guitar, Blondie, and talks of how it is a highly modified 2004 American Deluxe Fender Stratoacustic. The neck of his guitar and all the electronics are original, but the body is a newer piece.
Bestowing his guitars with a name is part of what he shares in the interview. “I’ve got a Gertrude, Sunny, Bertha, Sugar, Cinnamon and Red. I haven’t named them all yet,” Rob said.
It won’t be long before he pulls out classic names that ring of the sounds from the past for his remaining guitars that have yet to be named.
Rob likes living with classics and tradition. He is only 34 but speaks clearly of times before his walk on earth. He talks of the greatness of original rock music and other pop art traditions from the past. His imagination and willingness to walk a path others dare not walk guide him as he allows himself to become lost in his fervor.
Even if no one seems to be around, they are there and they do notice him.
His alluring music show on the sidewalk in front of MOD in Galveston brought people to sit down and enjoy, adding compliments and applause to his spontaneous performance. His electronic gear requires no plug ins because he just recently added a battery-operated system so he can play anywhere, anytime.
“He plays like he’s playing to a crowd or playing for no one,” said a passerby who sits to enjoy the music.
His regular gigs include Monday nights at Sharky’s in Galveston where he draws in a good size crowd on a foggy winter night. His audience ranges in age from younger than him to old enough to be his grandfather and when Lightning Rob gets his fingers on his strings, all of them are moving some part of their multi-generational bods as they feel the vibrations of his music.
“I love him to death. He’s a good man and an amazing artist. He has a huge following. His energy and vibe is amazing,” said Trish, the bartender at Sharky’s.
Folsom Prison Blues brings some dancers to the floor. Next, All Along the Watchtower brings out shouts of enthusiasm from the crowd.
Can he top his previous song? He does it with his favorite guitar, Blondie, and a hit from the 60’s. It was his performance of The Kinks’ You Really Got Me that brought out the cell phone video recording.
Not only is he a regional music phenomenon, but Lightning Rob can also deliver a baby. Well maybe he can only deliver his own newborn. He beams with great pride and warmth as he recounts how his son was born at a birthing center and he was the one who helped bring him into the world.
