Rob Duskey and The Rounders

“Cleveland hasn't had a male/female vocalist rock record pairing as enjoyable as this in a long time.” -CoolCleveland.com
“Clearly the audience favorite of the night, Duskey and his Rounders came off as a good jam band, capable of delivering harmony vocals and jingle-jangle melodies that have rightfully drawn comparisons to Rusted Root.” -Jeff Neisel, Cleveland Scene
Getting signed as the first rock act to Boston’s Slanted House dance label really took Rob Duskey, a solo-acoustic singer-songwriter by trade, by surprise. In fact, just convincing him to transpose his coffee house capabilities to the main stage took something of an intervention by family and friends. A disciple of the songs come first mantra, Rob marked this transformation with Slanted’s 2009 release of his first full-length album, Cautiously Optimistic, a straightforward cross-section of Rob’s introspective, hook-heavy songwriting and an instant showcase for the happenstance assembly of his seasoned backing band, The Rounders. Cautiously was released to almost instant critical acclaim, being lauded as “a flat out, a good time rock and roll tale of many loves found and many loves lost.” (Matt Wardlaw, CoolCleveland.com). The album’s admittedly mainstream, readily accessible sound is the byproduct of the homegrown musical personalities behind it: thanks to a zero-pretense coupling of boy-girl vocals (with cabaret singer Jodi Dobos), the band straddles jamband and alt-country genres and has drawn frequent comparisons to Rusted Root, Zac Brown, Blues Traveler and 10,000 Maniacs. In Summer 2010, a nationwide voting audience selected Cautiously track “Start It Again” as a Top 10 finalist in Hanson’s and OurStage.com’s “Shout It Out with Hanson” competition. In Fall 2009, the band appeared in-studio for an unplugged performance on Cleveland's premiere alt-rock station, WKRK 92.3 FM (tracks from Cautiously have seen consistent airplay on the station’s regional music showcase, as well as the University of Dayton’s WWSU 106.9 FM). Commercially, bites from the album were selected as a commercial bumper for The Golf Show with Gary Trivosonno on Cleveland's WTAM 1100 AM (sports talk). Cautiously is admittedly something of an experiment for Slanted House, an established Boston-based dance label dipping a first entrepreneurial toe into the rock and roll pool. But the effort has already had some perks: Slanted DJ-producer D-Lav (RISE Boston, Sirius-XM Radio Guest DJ) released a progressive house remix of Cautiously alt-country track “The Negatives” in Summer 2009. “To tell you the truth, I’m just a fan,” Duskey reflects. “The records I listened to growing up have stayed with me forever. They have been the most consistent thing in my life. It’s something of a curse I have come to embrace.”


Booking: Stu Laven, Jr. stu@lavenartists.com w 216.363.4493 c 216.235.6973 200 Public Square, Suite 2300 Cleveland, OH 44114
slantedhouse.com
sonicbids.com/robduskey