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Rob Reid (musically dormant since 2014)

"The planet is asleep and it’s the fault of musicians who are untrue to themselves."
-Sun Ra

Rob Reid the musician is currently asleep, aspiring to emerge as a truer self some day.
photo courtesy of James Musselman
You're bound to be out-witted here, especially considering if you weren't familiar with Rob Reid before, you likely came into this ill-prepared.
Rob is a storyteller, you see... He is probably from another time. Better catch him before he has to go back to that other time...
Right from the first track, 'The Man Who Slept Too Long,' about a Logan Square Rip Van Winkle who struts down Milwaukee, out of time and out of fashion, I was hooked.





A voracious listener of traditional music from around the world, Rob Reid draws his influences as much from the Chicago Public Library's sprawling collection as from the eclectic songwriting approaches of Paul Simon, Caetano Veloso, and Antonio Zambujo. Building on an eclectic range of American and world roots music, Rob's songs tell stories about real and fictional characters involved in endeavors such as getting struck by lightning, ice skating in Detroit, and holding up banks.

Though lacking basic driving skills and completely devoid of road sense, Rob has brought his act out to countless venues ranging from coffee shops to restaurants, farmers markets to neighborhood taverns, and charity events to house concerts- varying his arrangements based on the audience's place on the alcohol-caffeine spectrum.


Project Featuring the following rascals...
The Landlocked Mariners are the supporting band for Rob's original music.
  • Rob Reid (vocals, guitar, percussion)
  • Ira Ochs (cello, bass)
  • Rami Atassi (guitar, bass)
  • Julie Jurgens (vocals, banjo, trumpet)
  • A mystery assignment determined at the last minute by the Great Roulette Wheel in the Sky (drums)
    • The Astrohillbillies is the melancholy psychedelic dream child of songwriters Julie Jurgens and Rob Reid, a lass and a lad with alliterative names who write songs about planets, big cats and heartache. With topics such as those, and instrumentation that includes banjo, pocket trumpet, hand drums, and hysterical laughter, the Astrohillbillies put on a show that you're very likely to enjoy, even if you don't understand a single minute of it.
  • Julie Jurgens (vocals, banjo, trumpet)
  • Rob Reid (vocals, guitar, percussion)
    • Rob Reid (solo)- when performing solo, Rob often enlists non-unionized, automatic musicians. Honorably, Rob pays them a wage of 9 volts electricity.
  • Rob Reid (vocals, guitar, percussion)
  • El Papagayo Grande (a.k.a. Boss RC-50 loop pedal)
  • El Papagayo Rojo Con Pilas (a.k.a. Boss RC-20 loop pedal)
    • Other collaborations- Rob has also contributed guitar, vocal harmonies, and percussion to more bands than he has fingers to count, including The Hump Night Thumpers, Los Gringos Cantandos, Populele, The Sometimes Family, Them Damn Kids, The Wabansia Brothers, Negative Gain, and Bob and the Hobbits.
    Past show highlights
    Featured on radio
    Uncommon Ground (Chicago, IL)
           weekly residency in March 2011
    Schubas (Chicago, IL)
           Song Circle
    Cafe Mustache (Chicago, IL)
    Crazy Wisdom Tea Room (Ann Arbor, MI)
    Barking Spider (Cleveland, OH)
    Mother Fool's (Madison, WI)
    Circle-A Cafe (Milwaukee, WI)
    		 WLUW (Chicago, IL)
    WUMD (Dearborn, MI)
    KOPN (Columbia, MO)
    WSUM (Madison, WI)