The crowdfunding pre-order campaign for Robert's new album is now complete and the funding goal has been reached. You can still pre-order the album for access to exclusive content and some peeks behind the scenes. Visit the Pledge Music page for more information
Impro-ducing a night of comedy improv games to raise money for The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in what we hope will be an A-Ward Winning night of Sketchual Healing.
Featuring;
Nadi Kemp-Sayfi
Nadi is a Birmingham based actress who has worked on stage and screen.
Recent credits include: Phone Home (Shoreditch Town Hall/Pathos Munich/Sfendoni Theatre Athens); Save Our School Dinners...Jamie! (Belgrade Theatre Coventry); The Archers (BBC Radio Drama) and Terrapin: I Think I Can (Royal Shakespeare Company).
Nadi will be appearing in Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s Christmas production, The Hundered and One Dalmatians playing Mrs Dearly.
Richard Baldwin
Boasting over 10 years' experience on the improv circuit with Wow Impro, Richard is excited to be returning to the Birmingham improv scene. He is no stranger to scripted theatre either, as a multi-award-winning actor representing the Midlands in the All-England Theatre Festival and also enjoying sell-out runs at the Edinburgh and Buxton Fringe Festivals. He is a skilled juggler, occasional thereminist and, more recently, has added puppetry skills to his repertoire, starring as Princeton in the Abbey Theatre's highly successful production of Avenue Q.
Robert Lane
Robert is a Birmingham based actor and musician. He’s worked with improv groups Foghorn Unscripted and Wow Impro and appeared in productions with companies including Birmingham Repertory Theatre (The Mother, Home Theatre) and The Old Joint Stock Theatre (Tell Me About Your Ex).
Robert records and tours as a singer songwriter. His most recent EP/Mini Album Ends and Starts was released via Fish Records and launched with a performance at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Robert has recently been a Laurel Canyon featured artist, was asked to perform at Fatea Magazine's Busk Love Folk Festival and embarked on a tour in support of Ends and Starts which visited venues across the UK as well as three tours in Germany. Robert was chosen by the LG Arena to perform in the Forum Live area of the arena before concerts by Eric Clapton, Dire Straits front man Mark Knopfler, Ellie Goulding, John Mayer and Fleetwood Mac.
In August 2013 he was selected to attend a song writing retreat/course with his hero, Kinks front man Ray Davies.
More performers to be announced soon.
Sadly Robert's gig in North Shields has been postponed. He will be performing at the Old Low Light as part of his album tour in the spring.
Robert has teamed up with Pledge Music to offer the chance to pre-order his new album. Pre-ordering gives you the opportunity to own a digital version of the album before it is available to the general public. Plus you will have access to exclusive updates from behind the scenes.
As well as the digital pre-order there are many other exclusive items and experiences on offer including T-shirts, tote bags, signed CDs, the chance to commission Robert to write a song and much more.
By supporting the campaign you will be helping to fund the recording and manufacturing of Robert's third album and joining a community of supporters of his music.
Visit the Pledge Music page to pre-order and purchase the other items.
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/robertlane
Robert's latest single Right by My Side made it's way onto the iTunes singer songwriter chart following it's release on the 10th of July.
The Single is available on all good digital download and streaming platforms
Robert's new single Right by My Side has received a wonderful review from Fatea.
"Right By My Side is arguably his most mature song to date, with a gloriously summer feel to it. It's a strong vocal performance, Lane managing a cross between Pauls Heaton and McCartney"
The single is released on the 10th of July, and can currently be pre-ordered on iTunes
Robert has been asked to provide music for The Dutch Lady, a long lost Restoration comedy recently discovered by American academic Dr Joe Stephenson. Fred Theatre are putting the play on stage for the first time in 300 years.
Within the manuscript is a lyric for a song and it is for this that Robert was asked to write some music. This weekend Robert visited the rehearsal room to work with the cast on the song and have a sneak peek at the production.
The performance dates for The Dutch Lady are;
The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford upon Avon, 6-7 July at 19:00
The Cockpit Theatre, Marylebone, London, 9 July at 18:00
Stan’s Cafe Theatre, Birmingham, 11-12 July at 19:00
More information and tickets can be found at Fred Theatre's website
Adam Jenkins has reviewed one of Robert and Kyshona's gigs as part of The United Tour.
"Having met for the first time when Lane supported the Nashville In The Round tour last September, which featured Armstrong along with Sarah Darling and Jenn Bostic, the two have teamed up for a joint headline tour of the UK. Dubbed The United Tour, this was Lane's first headline tour, and it was only Armstrong's second time playing in the UK. While their friendship may be in its relative infancy, the two exude such comfort appearing together, that it feels like they much have been playing together for years.
The first half of the Maidenhead gig featured Robert Lane performing songs from his self-titled first album, as well as the 2016 short release follow up, Ends and Starts. Lane is a charismatic presence on stage, engaging with the audience and injecting the odd moment of levity into the event. While that levity doesn't always make it into his music (there aren't a lot of laughs in songs such as Break My Heart Blues), his music never fails to draw you in.
Vocally at times he sounds similar to Paul Heaton of Housemartins and Beautiful South fame, which makes a song like Teardrop Tattoo (about a man killing the first person he sees) especially unsettling. Lost But I Can't Care was perhaps the pick of the opening section, taken from his first album, for which there is a great video on Youtube featuring some suitable rainy Birmingham locations. He also treated us to a very good cover version of For No One by the Beatles, before breaking out his forthcoming single, Right By My Side, which is available for pre-order on iTunes. This was the undoubted highlight of his set, and if there is any justice, the single should do very well indeed.
After a couple of crowd pleasing sing-a-long tracks, including One Of Those Guys for which he was joined on stage by Kyshona Armstrong, it was time for the interval. Lane stayed on briefly to perform with Kyshona, before leaving the stage to her. Like Lane, Kyshona Armstrong is a warm and engaging presence who likes a level of interaction with the audience. It was a rare song that she didn't have the audience singing along with her.
Armstrong has one of the best voices in the business, full of heart and soul. To call her performance captivating would be an understatement, with songs such as On The Line and Burdens Down really drawing in the audience. There was also time for the beautifully haunting Exorcist, written with Jenn Bostic who has been playing the same song as Haunting Me. We got to hear Mistakes, co-written with the up and coming Jess Nolan, and Lonely, before moving on to the powerful Do Nothing (from the quote attributed to Aristotle), Same Blood, and Love Has Got Me Here.
Robert Lane then re-joined his co-headliner for a couple of encore songs, A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke, and To Love Somebody by the Bee Gees. Both were stunningly good, especially the former, and were enough to make me wish that these two would collaborate on a record. They clearly work very well together, and they complement each other musically perfectly.
Hopefully at the very least these two will tour together again, and when they do, I'll be first in line for a ticket."
http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/live/ArmstrongLane.php/
Folk.com have reviewed Right by My Side, Robert's new single.
"ROBERT LANE releases a delightful summer single, ‘Right By My Side’ which is now available to preorder from iTunes. It opens with solo acoustic guitar before the band and strings join in and there is a lovely electric guitar fill towards the end. It reminds me a bit of The Kinks’ ‘Days’ although really they have nothing in common apart from the sunny feeling."
Robert's new single, Right by My Side will be released on the 10th of July. You can pre-order the song on iTunes from today.
Weekend Notes have posted a fantastic preview of Robert and Kyshona's gig at Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham on the 7th of June.
http://www.weekendnotes.co.uk/robert-lane-and-kyshona-armstrong-at-kitchen-garden-caf-birmingham-interview/
Kyshona Armstrong has arrived in the UK and she and Robert have been doing interviews with local BBC Radio station to promote The United Tour;
Paul Franks on BBC WM ahead of a show at Kitchen Garden Cafe in Birmingham 07/06 Interview starts at 2.18.04 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p052zqmc
Rob Underwood on BBC Radio Lincolnshire ahead of a gig at Festival Hall in Market Rasen on 16/06 http://ow.ly/KkE130ceHxo interview at 2.06.24
Monica Winfield BBC Radio Leicester (from a Narrowboat) to promote a gig at The Musician on 11:06 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p053vb8x 2.36.36 interview at 2.36.36
Robert was recently interviewed for Sam Liddicott's Music Musings and Such blog. Robert and sam discussed Ends and Starts, The United Tour, songwriting, Birmingham and a little bit of politics.
https://musicmusingsandsuch.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/interview-robert-lane/
Tickets are now available for The United Tour
After a sold out tour with Sarah Darling and Jenn Bostic as part of Nashville In the Round in September 2016, Kyshona Armstrong returns to the UK for a joint headline tour with Robert Lane.
Originally from South Carolina, Kyshona has been resident in Nashville since 2014. Her songwriting skills and powerful, emotional voice are demonstrated on her latest two albums 'Go' and 'The Ride'. We encourage you to check out Kyshona's songs and voice to understand the buzz that followed her last visit to the UK.
Kyshona was recently named one of the Top 5 Roots Artists to watch by CMT Edge (country music television) been featured on NPR's "World Cafe Live" and network television shows "Conviction" and "Criminal Minds".
Robert Lane is a singer songwriter based in Birmingham. His EP Ends and Starts was released via Fish Records in March 2016. The lead track, My Love's In Deep, has been featured on several radio stations as well as Fatea Magazine's summer showcase session and received a tweet of recommendation from Telegraph Music. He was recently a Laurel Canyon featured artist, performed at Fatea Magazine's Busk Love Folk Festival and embarked on a tour in support of Ends and Starts which has visited venues across UK as well as a two trips to Germany.
"a talented songwriter and singer. EP Ends and Starts is full of deceptively simple songs with clever and witty lyrics across a range of styles." R2 Magazine
"Robert Lane is making a bit of a splash across social and other media just now, due to an engaging manner and a lively presence." Fatea Magazine
Tour dates; Robert Lane and Kyshona Armstrong joint headline tour (plus solo dates with Kyshona supporting some great acts)
5th June Kyshona supporting Sunjay at Stafford Gatehouse
6th June Green Note
http://www.greennote.co.uk/production/kyshona-robert-lane/
7th June Kitchen Garden Cafe
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/391419
9th June Kyshona supporting Carrie Elkin at Town Hall Live Kirton in Lindsey
11th June The Musician Leicester
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/391777
12th June Kyshona supporting Jonathan Byrd at The Hive Shrewsbury
13th June The Stables 2 Milton Keynes
15th June Norden Farm Centre for the Arts, Maidenhead
https://norden.farm/events/kyshona-armstrong-and-robert-lane
16th June Festival Hall, Market Rasen (triple header with Jonathan Byrd)
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/391164
17th June The Manor House Sedgefield
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/391278
After a sold out tour with Sarah Darling and Jenn Bostic as part of Nashville In the Round in September 2016, Kyshona Armstrong returns to the UK for a joint headline tour with Robert Lane.
Originally from South Carolina, Kyshona has been resident in Nashville since 2014. Her songwriting skills and powerful, emotional voice are demonstrated on her latest two albums 'Go' and 'The Ride'. We encourage you to check out Kyshona's songs and voice to understand the buzz that followed her last visit to the UK.
Kyshona was recently named one of the Top 5 Roots Artists to watch by CMT Edge (country music television) been featured on NPR's "World Cafe Live" and network television shows "Conviction" and "Criminal Minds".
Robert Lane is a singer songwriter based in Birmingham. His EP Ends and Starts was released via Fish Records in March 2016. The lead track, My Love's In Deep, has been featured on several radio stations as well as Fatea Magazine's summer showcase session and received a tweet of recommendation from Telegraph Music. He was recently a Laurel Canyon featured artist, performed at Fatea Magazine's Busk Love Folk Festival and embarked on a tour in support of Ends and Starts which has visited venues across UK as well as a two trips to Germany.
"a talented songwriter and singer. EP Ends and Starts is full of deceptively simple songs with clever and witty lyrics across a range of styles." R2 Magazine
"Robert Lane is making a bit of a splash across social and other media just now, due to an engaging manner and a lively presence." Fatea Magazine
Robert provided the music for The Milkbar Podcast End of Year Quiz hosted by Jason Forrest. Recorded at Wolverhampton's Molineux featuring local luminaries Grace Lee - Compton Hospice, Jade Secker - The Haven, Beth Berwick-Lowe - The Bluebird Belles, Kelly Jeffs - CEO of Light House, Cllr Barry Findlay - Mayor of Wolverhampton and Margaret Findlay - Mayoress with Dave Pitt keeping score and the sound by Andy Walters.
You can hear the podcast here
and the quiz will be broadcast 101.8 WCR FM Friday 30/12 9-10pm and Sunday 1/01 6-7pm.
Robert will be joining Emily Ewing for a live stream on Facebook at 11am (UK time) on Friday 23rd December. They will be playing some songs, chatting and premiering a brand new Christmas co write. See you then!
Robert has just finished a mini German tour which visited Köln, Idstein and Berlin. He will be writing a blog post about the trip soon and you can catch up with his adventures via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (links at the bottom of this page.)
Köln Dom
On Monday the 10th of October Robert will be playing a headline set at The Crescent Theatre in Birmingham. Ashland will play the opening slot.
Tickets are £7.50 and available here