Rob Mehl
Vista, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
"Hey Rob! We've been listening to your cd out by the pool during our writing breaks - you take us back to the islands and make our minds free to create again. Thanx! Ciao for now, Mark and the rest of the boys from Venice" - VENICE (The Band!)
“Rob’s talent as a musician and songwriter has always inspired me. So much so that I recorded two of his songs. In concert he shows a tenderness and strength mixed with humor and truth.”
- Barry McGuire ("Eve Of Destruction")
"Wow, this CD is soooo good, the songs the tracks, vocals, the whole darn thing...! God's gift to you shows through clearly on all these songs. So many good ones for film and TV too. I'm taking it over to Mountain Apple next week and I sent a few out PenMusic in LA - they do a lot of tv/film placements."
- Michael Ruff - Jazz Recording Artist, Producer
"With a poetic lyrical delivery of Lou Reed and a tenor that reminds us of John Denver (can you imagine a cross between the two?) - country narrative with alternative vocals. .and you come close to the pop professional production of Rob Mehl's artistic output. His CD, "Could You Be More Pacific?", includes 14 songs that Jackson Browne would also be proud of inspiring. Lush harmonies and solid melody crafting ... so nice." - earBuzz -
"Buy the CD if only for the song, "When I'm Old". Huge songwriting talent and that voice to deliver the lines with emotional penetration using extended chords and adventurous melodies. Mehl is supremely talented in his musical abilities, clearly, but he also has a poetic license that drives with a rawness and truth that hides nothing." - earBuzz
“The sun, the sand, and the sea permeates every note of his beautifully produced album. Rob Mehl’s easy-going, warm voice and able acoustic guitar playing hold the ship on course like a keel. Explicitly escapist, “Just Give Me The Keys”, a reference to the Florida Keys, offers an exit strategy from the harsh reality of modern mainland life. His warm, simple, slow-paced vision of the good life, island-style, is so real it’ll leave sand in your shoes! Rob is a safe harbor when the hard winds blow.” - San Diego Troubadour Magazine
"This is Rob Mehl's second CD and is described as coastal alternative - not really surf music, not really island, not really Americana...maybe 'Isle-icana'?" Rob Mehl is a fine songwriter and an excellent musician and this album is a soothing blend of these styles and more, providing a unique feel of sun, surf, sand, and the island life." - San Diego Troubadour Magazine
"The new album from Oceanside's Rob Mehl is a sun-drenched album of beach music so soaked with tropical ambience that you can practically smell the sunscreen. Equal parts Jimmy Buffett and Hawaiian slack-key, with a dash of Latin, the music is built around Mehl's warm voice and relaxed delivery. While there are some electric guitar and keyboards here and there, for the most part the album is an acoustic affair, and even on the electrified songs, it's a very mellow groove. Think Poco more than the Beach Boys. Eleven of the 14 songs were written by Mehl, and all have a pleasant melodicism to them. "Could You Be More Pacific?" is a nice, fun listen that will transport you straight to your favorite beach." - North County Times (San Diego, CA)
Discography
CD's available on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon, and elsewhere:
•Just Give Me The Keys
•Could You Be More Pacific?
•Out Of The Blue
•Neat, With A Twist
•Key Lime Limbo (Single)
Tracks getting airplay on Sirius' Radio Margaritaville, Beachfront Radio and others:
•Rhythm Of The Sea (Voted Beachfront Radio's #2 Song for 2010!)
•Key Lime Limbo (Margarita Mafia Song Of The Year Nomination...also voted Beachfront Radio's #36 Song for 2010!)
•Neat, With A Twist! (Voted Beachfront Radio's #11 Song for 2010!)
•Slow Down Summer (Voted TropRock Song of the Year for 2009!)
•Don't It Make You Wander
•Check'd Out
•Walk On The Beach
•Over You
•Out Of The Blue
•Better Times
•Waitin' For Jimmy
•When I'm Old
•Cayo Hueso
•Cool, Like Michael Franks
Photos
Bio
Rob Mehl is a well-read and well-traveled singer/songwriter based out of Southern California. He was born in Oceanside, California and spent most of his youth in Southern California and Hawaii. He began surfing in the late 1950’s, started reading classic literature in the early 1960’s, and by the mid sixties was combining the two influences in his own writing. His early music influences include traditional Hawaiian storytelling songwriters like Genoa Keawe and Gabby Pahinui, jazz artists of the day like Martin Denny and Walter Wanderly, and standard vocalists like Marty Robbins and Perry Como. His music has been recognized as having “amazing depth” and “always refreshing because it’s always evolving” by fans and peers alike.
In his own words: “I really do love life, and for reasons that will become very obvious the more you listen! I describe my music as mellow, folk-style beach ballads and stories with little bit of jazz. I’m a beach guy … from SoCal to Hawaii to Mexico to Africa to the Caribbean to the South Pacific. I didn’t move to the coast from somewhere in the Midwest as part of a mid-life crisis trying to live out my dream of not having to wear wing-tip shoes and a tie. I’ve always been a beach guy! My family moved from Southern California to Hawaii in 1958. I learned how to surf that year and nothing’s been the same since. I spent most of my youth moving back and forth from Encinitas (North County San Diego) to Waikiki (Hawaii) and back again ... so surfing, traveling to surf, and, maybe especially, surfing really warm waters for most of my life has influenced my music. So have musicians like Gabby Pahinui, Kui Lee, Jerry Santos, Astrud Gilberto, Harry Nilsson, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Walter Wanderly, Marty Robbins, Michael Franks and James Taylor. As a kid I’d sit under the banyan trees of Waikiki and listen to Pops Pahinui and other Hawaiian players. Then, since my Marine Corps drill sergeant dad had a second job as a radio disc jockey, I’d sit and listen to jazz all night. That mix helped create the musician I am now. And the beach boys (not Brian Wilson and the guys … the ones in Waikiki who actually surf!) would tell me every day, “Read, little haole boy, read!” And they’d bring me books. So I’d have to say that writers like Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, C.S. Lewis, John D. MacDonald, Clive Cussler and J.R.R. Tolkein influenced my own writing. Today I play guitar and ukulele … though not usually at the same time! And I love telling stories between songs … sometimes even between verses! I’m blessed with being able to travel all over the world performing at music and singer/songwriter festivals, beach resorts and house concerts. And, oh yeah, I usually bring my board!”
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