Multi-Grammy Nominee and Four-Time Blues Music Award-Winner Duke Robillard Ready to "Blast Off!" on New Album for Nola Blue Records

​Multi-Grammy Nominee and Four-Time Blues Music Award-Winner Duke Robillard Ready to "Blast Off!" on New Album for Nola Blue Records

​Coming February 20, 2026 
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​Two-time GRAMMY nominee and four-time Blues Music Award winner Duke Robillard will celebrate his recent signing to Nola Blue Records with the February 20, 2026, release of his label debut album, Blast Off!  Album preorders begin on January 16 with the first single, and a second single will drop on February 6. Blast Off! will be available in digital, CD and vinyl formats.
"Over the course of his glorious career, now extending more than half a century, guitarist Duke Robillard has made many superlative albums. Few have captured his versatility any more captivatingly than Blast Off!," writes esteemed music critic Bill Dahl in the album’s liner notes.
 
A universally acclaimed guitarist, singer, songwriter, and bandleader, Duke Robillard has released many solo albums, collaborated with iconic artists, and earned numerous awards. A co-founder of the band Roomful of Blues, he also replaced Jimmie Vaughan as a member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

For his new album, Blast Off! with Duke Robillard and His All-Star Band, the guitar maestro has assembled a varied but mostly very traditional collection of many of the styles he's known for, including blues, swing, jazz, and R&B. This diversity represents his multi-faceted career and devotion to preserving these roots music styles.  The twelve-track album contains three originals, including two instrumentals and an exciting piece concurrently historic and new: the first recording of a blues composition written by Robillard at the age of 17.  He is joined on the project by Chris Cote on guitar and vocals, Bruce Bears on keyboards, bassist Marty Ballou and drummer Mark Teixeira.  Doug James and Mark Earley are on sax, Jeff “Doc” Chanonhouse, trumpet on “You Rascal You,” with special guest Billy Novick on clarinet and alto sax.
 
"It is a distinct honor to release this striking project from a true master of his craft,” said Nola Blue Records president Sallie Bengtson in announcing Robillard’s signing. “When his Guitar Groove-A-Rama album came out, it quickly earned a permanent place in my CD changer. Never in my wildest dreams did I have imagined that someday I would work with Duke. We just celebrated his signing when Duke and his All-Star Band played in my hometown at the Reading Blues Fest on November 22."

“I am extremely excited about the release of Blast Off! on Sallie Bengtson’s Nola Blue label,” said Duke Robillard. "Her love of the blues and all its related genres makes Nola Blue the perfect companion to my musical legacy. It’s good to start off the new year with a new album. Blast Off! is a project conceived as an overview of many of the styles of American roots music that I love and perform. My band, being all seasoned players, ate up all this material and gave great contributions to each track, so I am proud we have a really swingin,’ rockin,’ groovin’ record here to highlight my long career!”

About Duke Robillard:
Woonsocket, Rhode Island, native Duke Robillard is a legacy blues artist who launched his career with Roomful of Blues in 1967, joined the Fabulous Thunderbirds, played with the Legendary Blues Band, was one-third of the New Guitar Summit, leads his own band and continues to do solo shows now at the age of 77. With over 35 of his own albums plus contributing to dozens more with other artists, Duke is a master of Blues, Swing, Jump Blues and Jazz, and has won the Best Blues Guitarist WC Handy Award twice. He is twice Grammy-nominated, has won four Blues Music Awards as Best Guitarist, four Maple Blues Awards for International Artist, the Keeping The Blues Alive Award for record production, and is ranked among the World’s Best Blues Artists by DownBeat and Living Blues. As a session guitarist and producer, Duke has recorded with Bob Dylan, John Hammond, Ruth Brown, Billy Boy Arnold, Rosco Gordon, Jay McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon, Maria Muldaur, Pinetop Perkins, Joe Louis Walker, Johnny Adams and many more.
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Duke Robillard – Blast Off! Track Listing and Credits

1.  When I Get Lucky - Floyd Dixon, El Camino Music Publishing
2.  I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead (You Rascal You) - Sam Theard, EMI Mills Music Inc.
3.   Feel My Cares - Duke Robillard, Blue Duchess Music
4.  Lowdown - Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan, Jalma Music
5.  Play Boy Hop - A.M. Brunner, Screen Gems-EMI Music Ltd.
6.  Confusion - Allen Toussaint, Sony/ATV Publishing
7.  Blast Off! - Duke Robillard & Marty Ballou, Blue Duchess Music
8.  Stand By Me - Eddie Jones, Sony/ATV Songs LLC
9.  The King - Count Basie & Jon Hendricks, Wc Music Corp.
10.  Warm and Tender Love - Bobby Robinson & Irral Berger, Warner-Tamerlane Pub.
11.  Galactic Grease - Duke Robillard, Marty Ballou & Mark Teixeira, Blue Duchess Music
12.  Look a There Look a There - Hudson Whittaker, Boot House of Tunes
 
Duke Robillard - guitar (all tracks), vocal (track 2), background vocal (track 12)
Chris Cote - vocal (tracks 1,2,3,4,6,8,10,12), lead guitar (track 10)
Bruce Bears - piano, organ (all tracks), background vocal (track 12)
Marty Ballou - electric and acoustic bass (all tracks), background vocals (tracks 6,12)
Mark Teixeira - drums and percussion (all tracks), background vocals (tracks 6,12)
Doug James - baritone and tenor sax (all tracks except 7,11)
Mark Earley - tenor sax (all tracks except 7,11)
Billy Novick - clarinet (tracks 2,9)
Doc Chanonhouse - trumpet (track 2)
 
Produced by Duke Robillard
Recorded and mixed by John Paul Gauthier at Lakewest Recording, East Greenwich, RI
Mastered by John Mailloux at Bongo Beach Productions

Website:
​dukerobillard.com ​and facebook.duke.robillard.1