I’m a singer-songwriter living in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Some of my life in Music, IT, Arts and Volunteerism are listed below.
Today I write and record and play solo, duo and band shows as well as host a growing radio/podcast show, currently airing on ~10 stations in Canada & USA and as a podcast. I anticipate releasing some of my solo work and more Campbell + Green tracks, on occasion. I am playing live as solo/duo/band, doing sideman work and in a couple of project groups. I have our home studio and do some basic recording there as well as provide keyboard and vocal tracks (myself or Cailin’s) for other people’s projects. If you think I can help you out then I’d love to chat about what you are doing.
Up until now
I’ve been playing keyboards since I was about 7 in Edmonton, where I took piano lessons, just like everyone seemed to back then. After we lost the old Heintzman upright piano to a house fire I ended up with an organ and learned ‘pop’ organ, you know, things like ‘Up, Up and Away” and ‘Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” but after a while I ended up taking classical organ and playing Bach and Handel on pipe organs in churches.
After highschool I went to Grant McEwan College (now a University) and did one year of the jazz program then went to BC, and found rock & roll. I played with bands like ‘The Dreaded Whirlies’ (really, honest, check out that pic… it was the 70’s you know!) and ultimately ended up with ‘Flash Landing’ a top 40 show band. We bought a house in Edmonton and we all went to Grant McEwan, and I completed my second year @ college. Then ensued more years of rock, country and whatever else came along until 1986 when I moved to Vancouver and for a number of years focused on country and some R&B, blues & rock gigs, playing with various recording artists (Patricia Conroy, Susan Jacks, Buddy Knox, Jess Lee, Rocky Swanson, et al).
After 1992 I pulled back from touring to raise a child, stayed in Maple RIdge, BC, played weekends, hosted open mics, jam nights and took over producing a great Jazz & Blues festival for 5 years and then was Theatre Director at the Arts Centre Theatre for a couple of wonderful years, engaged with wonderful shows, major touring artists, and producing & hosting special events.
In 2015 I met Cailin Marie Green. We ended up playing as a duo, Campbell + Green, and had a very good band with us. We decided to try our hand at writing our own music and to that end we hosted house concerts & writing workshops and hosted artists from Shari Ulrich to Valdy to Gaye Delorme. We dove in and loved it. We ultimately moved to Nova Scotia, recorded the albums noted below and toured Canada & the EU.
Credits with Campbell+Green
2020 – International Singer-Songwriter Association – Vocal Duo Of The Year (gold)
2019 – International Singer-Songwriter Association – Duo Of The Year (bronze)
2009 through 2021
– multiple Canadian tours and shows
– 3 tours in Europe – Germany, Denmark, Netherlands
Albums
- Ready-Made Christmas
- On Being Human
- When One Door Closes
- 2 Of Hearts (EP)
- East
- Alright (under previous name “ROCA”)
- ROCA Christmas!
LIsten Here on Bandcamp
Arts Related
My world has had a varied experience in many aspects of the arts, Including:
- radio show host (current)
- emcee and venue manager for many shows & events
- house concert presenter & host – over 50 events in our BC home as well as in our 60 seat home concert recording studio venue in Nova Scotia. Now for the radio/podcast show in venues in the Halifax region. We’ve hosted artists such as Valdy, Shari Ulrich, Lennie Gallant, Lucid (UK), Charlie A’Court, Fin Napier (UK), Tillers Folly, Jim Henman, Terra Spencer, Lynn Miles, Suzie Vinnick, et al
- Theatre Director for the Maple Ridge Arts Centre & Theatre, a 500 seat full facility theatre & a 180 seat ‘black box’ theatre
- five years as President/Festival Producer for the Maple Ridge Jazz & Blues Festival, building attendance to approx. 5000 for the free event (2005 budget and in kind $100k+)
- band and road manager for various touring and recording artists through the ‘80s and ’90’s,
- many years of creative programming, artist booking and liaison, scheduling, promotions, staff & volunteer management, sourcing suppliers & sponsors and budgeting.
Volunteer Related
- I believe it is crucial to serve my local community:
- Wildfire Benefit 2023 (over $27k dollar matched by gov’t to ~$82) and the “Great Canadian Flood Relief” Benefit 2022 (over $26k locally) which was a joint BC & Atlantic production with many active and retired CBC folks involved – both projects all donated to respective Red Cross regional funds,
- Rotary International – Meadow Ridge Club 7 years – Club President 2008/2009, Created / hosted various fundraising projects including “Music For Haiti” raising over $55k, annual ‘Winefests’ raising $15k to 25k per year, etc.
- on the current boards of: Council Of Canadians – Halifax Chapter, Woodlawn Residents Association.
- Director of Ceremonies & Events – BC Disability 2009 Games managing opening and closing ceremonies and ancillary events, booking artists, sound/lights/television camera crews, liaised with community groups and media (budget ~$35k)
- BC Country Music Association – organizing, and playing in backup bands, for Awards, Talent contests, and events.
IT Related
Robert owned Roca IT & Design with his wife/business partner/music partner Cailin Green.
Robert has also worked with:
- Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons
- Coastal Range Systems as Team Leader Network Services,
- Canadian Forest Products in systems administration & special projects.
- IBM Canada as Systems/Technical & pre-sales technical engineer.
- IT skills – specialized in various web applications (inc. WordPress), business processes, LAN/WAN, Application, Databases, Windows Servers, Virtual Servers. Excellent customer service and management skills.