Beth Robinson - Heart of a Hunter

It's never too late to find your first love! As a teenager, I joined the wave of folk singers that seemed to dominate the late 60's and 70's. I asked my mother for a piano but was bargained down to a cheap nylon string guitar. Upon graduation from Music and Art High School in New York City (where I majored in art, of all things), a $300 cash gift in my pocket, I went directly to the world famous Manny's Music Store on 47th street. There, I fell in love with a two year old Gibson Hummingbird acoustic steel string guitar. Just like on the cover of 'Nashville Skyline' they said. My main influences at the time, were the three 'J's' - Judy, Joan & Joni as well as Aretha, Stevie and Bob. Writing songs and singing was a very private and therapeutic pursuit for me. In my college years, I lived in the west village, only blocks away from the hotbed of music on MacDougal Street, and yet, my own music was too personal to share with strangers. The cold hard call to join the 9-to-5 club, put music on the back burner. At first I was able to keep the hobby going on weekends, but after awhile, the stress and excitement of being in the work force and making money, put that Hummingbird, packed up tightly, in the closet. Where it remained for the next 25 years. EGAD! Not the same closet, mind you. It went from a tiny, roach-infested studio closet in Manhattan, to a large sliding door closet in San Francisco, one block from Grace Cathedral. And then, the guitar, still all swaddled up, got moved again to it's very own home in the East Bay. There, it shared the room with my husbands' model trains. But still, remained silent. More career stuff, more stress and more making of money, more life piling up and obscuring what used to seem important. MID-LIFE CRISIS TIME, of course. All kinds of changes were made. Old things were replaced with new things, and what do you know, new things were replaced with old. Now where did that beautiful Hummingbird go? Does it still work? And how does that song go? OK, forget that song, I'll never remember it after all this time. Why not just write new ones? And so I did. For the next 7 years. Guitar lessons, open mics, clubs, jams, festivals, songwriting workshops, total immersion in the one thing that has stood the test of time, and can still call up the same passion and excitement as it did for me 25 years ago. . . . music. . . . MY HUMMINGBIRD The wind blew off the river On that cold November day I heard my boot heels echo Down Broadway I had money in my pocket No place I had to be When fate propelled me down that road To meet my destiny Right there in Manny's window A treasure I did find The same kind Dylan played On Nashville Skyline Right there in Manny's window A vision stole my heart A gold and crimson Gibson My Hummingbird Guitar Friends may come Friends may go The good times ebb and flow But when I need to find something close to my heart...... I reach for my guitar I wear it like a badge, a shield An armor to the world But sometimes it can strip me down Like a naked little girl A loving loyal fan to me A jury and a judge But nothing else can make me feel The way my guitar does! Friends may come Friends may go The good times ebb and flow But when life gets uncertain and hard to endure I reach for my Hummingbird I have just released my first album of all original tunes, called 'Heart of a Hunter.' '...It is a stylish collection of moods and grooves that take you along on an intimate journey. It was produced and arranged by Doug Blumer (formerly of the Westerleys). Doug brings his own heart warming guitar licks and vocal harmonies, as well as a pure country/rock sensibility, which makes for a rich mix of instrumentation behind Beth's moving and heart-felt vocals and lyrics.'

1) Heart of a Hunter
2) Stop Believing
3) She's Going Down
4) Unexpected Pair
5) Cannonball
6) New York Boy
7) Lonely
8) 9th Obsession
9) My Own Eyes
10) Her Name Was Nan
11) Miles Away