Ben Robinson

     As a teenager, Ben Robinson got a taste of success. Introduced to guitar at 9, he was playing with Warrant in his teens, working with Paul Shaffer and appearing on Nickelodeon.
    Now in his early 20s, he's riding a new wave of success — and he's doing it his way.
    "It's always been my dream to be in a band and play on the road," he said. "To be getting all this attention from magazines is exciting, but it's humbling at the same time."
    Robinson is the face of Laguna Guitars for Guitar Center, and had full-page features two months in a row in Guitar World magazine.
    He's also got a new album out, "Best Served Loud," which is burning up Itunes.
    "It's personal satisfaction to know we're doing this the right way, how we want to do it, and people taking to it," he said.
    The Internet has been a great tool, Robinson said, because it dispenses with the need for a huge marketing push to get music out.
    Robinson's "right way" includes signing with a label, 633 Records, that gives him freedom to put whatever he wants on an album.
    "I didn't want to be that guy that had a label writing all my songs for me, and going out on stage and playing music that I didn't want to play," he said.
    "You see that stuff happen all the time, and bands break up."
    That lack of outside pressure helps Robinson keep his head straight, he explained.
    Robinson's album is an eclectic mix, but it keeps a unified sound throughout (he credits producer Robert Willis for that touch).
    "If you listen to one song, it's nice and acoustic and soft, but if you listen to a song like 'Armageddon Express,' it's just in-your-face big, huge guitar riff rock," he said.
    "It's because of my influences and outlook on performing live that it came out that way."
    Robinson's music blends sheer intense emotional technical artistry with some glam-rock show techniques.
    "You meld those two together, and find something that's extremely unique and original," he said. "It's big, great songs, but with intense, soul-wrenching guitar playing."
    Robinson's keeping things simple on tour. He's joined by his half-brother, Hunter Robinson, on bass and drummer Vincent Abelende.
    "It's just the three of us," Robinson said. "We've got the power trio thing going on, and we have a lot of fun."
    There's no tour bus, just a big ol' van the group takes turns driving during six- and eight-week stints on the road.
    "Wake up the guy who's sleeping, and hand him the keys," Robinson said.
    The band's lineup has been solid for nearly two years, and their strong chemistry carries on off the stage.
    "Vinnie will call me and be like 'you want to take the boat out? Let's go fishing,'" Robinson said. "We still spend time together."
    Robinson's played Buffalo's before, and said that he's excited to return for the festival.
    "We had a blast," he said. "It's just a cool place to go."
    The road brings cool venues and not-so-cool venues, he explained. Buffalo's is cool. A place where his music doesn't match what people expect... isn't.
    "You're still expected to go play, and there's three people sitting there looking at you like you have three arms," he said. "It hasn't happened in a long time."

 Blue Eyed Soul

     Blue Eyed Soul is just a bunch of regular guys. Almost.
    "A lot of people may think 'these guys are getting too old to be doing this,' but it's a good band," said lead singer Jay Stewart.
    Sure, they've all got day jobs, but every member of the band has spent a stint playing music for a living, explained lead guitarist Jay Stewart.
    "They melted back into normal life, but everybody kept playing," he said. "Now, the kids are grown, and everybody's playing again."
    That takes off some of the pressure. Blue Eyed Soul isn't out for a record deal, they just want to play some great gigs.
    "We're not trying to get on a tour bus — not that there's anything wrong with it," Stewart said. "I get as excited about rehearsal now as I do looking forward to playing."    
    The group started last Christmas as a pick-up group at a party. "We showed up, set up, and it was a one-two-three go kind of thing," he said. "It just clicked."
    Things went so well that the band decided to keep playing. And they didn't want to do the same covers that audiences are tired of — it may be an oxymoron, but Blue Eyed Soul plays original covers, stuff like Steely Dan, Toto, Joe Cocker, Allman Brothers, Doobie Brothers, Hall and Oates, and even soul-based classics from Wilson Pickett.
    "Let's play the hard stuff," Stewart said. "Let's play the stuff nobody else plays because it's so stinkin' hard."
    The woodshedding started with once-a-week rehearsals in Savannah, and now the band has a one-of-a-kind repertoire.
    "By trial and error, we've got a pretty neat setlist of songs that you just don't hear bands play," Stewart said.
    "Granted, that may be because we're older than most bands that are going to come through, but I think the musicians in the band, the level of material and level of music is good. I'm proud of it."
    The band includes Stewart, singer Scott Rogers, organist Paul Mazo, bassist Houston Hodges, pianist Steven Bryan and drummer Frank Farr.
    Saturday's outing will be their third public performance, but the group has several more shows through November.
    "The original plan was to play once a month, but after we played out the first couple of times, calls started coming in," Stewart said. "We're just having a lot of fun."
    Blue Eyed Soul has a strong charitable streak — and they started up with that in mind. Some of the upcoming shows include a benefit for the American Red Cross Sept. 11 and the Juvenile American Diabetes Association Sept. 25.
    Stewart said he's looking forward to the other acts Saturday. "I'm as excited to see good guitar players," he explained.

 Eric Culberson

     Call him EROK, call him Eric, but Eric Culberson has been a fixture in the Southeastern music scene for nearly two decades.
    Music's in Culberson's blood. It all started early on, when he took the old Harmony acoustic guitar his dad gave and made some modifications.
    Culberson took the tone arm from a record player, stuck the needle into the guitar, and made that acoustic into an electric.
    From there, it was on to real life tempered with the blues. While working in construction and demolition, he'd practice with friends in a tiny apartment that had cushions taped to the wall to deaden the noise.
    Culberson's exploits are the stuff of Savannah legend. There was the night than an ill-timed arm-wrestling match left him with a fractured arm. He had it patched up at a hospital, then played his guitar like an upright bass that night. And kept playing that way until he healed up.
    Culberson has a guitar style that's authentic, energetic, and drips sex appeal and charisma.
    He's racked up nearly a million road miles, and has recorded three albums: "Blues is My Religion" (which went to #24 nationally on blues charts), "No Rules to the Game" and "Live at the Bamboo Room." His fourth disc is due out soon.

 Important details:

     The show starts at 6 p.m., and cover is $10. Check out Connect Statesboro for a coupon to save a couple of bucks at the door!