Rob Lincoln

An obscure songwriter, Rob Lincoln – based now in Mt Laurel, New Jersey (USA) – has written over 300 songs, many of them never heard by the public. Even those that have been heard, have been heard by very few. These WebPages are an opportunity to learn more about the obscure little known musical journey of Rob Lincoln and his collection of unusual songs. For those who are interested, you will now be able to acquire limited edition CDs of the obscure songwriter himself. You can download his songs from various links such as Songramp.com (see below). If you are a curious soul interested in hearing music from the groups he performed in, most of which had interesting music to offer the open minded listener-see the "Musical Biography" page or links to those bands' webpages soon to be listed. Limited edition CDs from these groups may also be available.
If you are searching to cover an unknown and original song that is clearly waiting patiently to be covered-see the "Song Catalogue" page. If you like hearing something most people have never heard, you have come to the right website. What follows below are lost songs and sounds from the past, that still may yet live. And new songs too...there will be constant additions.
Just contact Rob Lincoln by e-mail at lincolnsongs@aol.com and he will send to musical performers as well as selected fans his MP3 recordings free of charge. Meanwhile begin listening. His first offerings are two of nearly 300 archival recordings...just Rob and his guitar. The third tune is a multi track recording of Southern Bound. Just click below, when page opens, look to left and hit search. Then type "Rob Lincoln" for site search, click it, hit "Rob Lincoln" under word "Homepage." Mp3s will appear. There will be more there as well!
Songramp Chart News---Southern Bound made the top 5 in the acoustic charts and peaked at #75 in the more competitive Hot 100! (over 11,000 songs). Twilight is still confounding the reviewers at Songramp. No one yet gets it. But it did peak at #6 in the folk charts. Poor Chuckles The Clown only made it to #8 in the novelty charts. But at least someone saw the TV show.
"Typical" or "predictable" are two words that do not describe Rob Lincoln. Whether it's the cannibal's side of the story in Alferd Packer, a brain eating purple dragon in Hrumph or the surrealistic transsexual Larry Ann, Rob as a solo artist has become best known for his off beat songs. But there are many other sides to the man who has written over 300 songs. Historic ballads, impressionistic poeticism and really catchy non-generic pop tunes are all part of his vast original reportoire which he delivers with high energy and humor.

Rob Lincoln songs have been most consistently brought to the public through the performances of the duo, Lessick & Lincoln.
Rob's latest project is with the Men From When. This rock CD, entitled About Time took 9 years to finish and features 9 new songs by Rob all related to the subject of time. It is scheduled to be officially released on April 1st, 2006.
Rob Lincoln is also an accomplished violinist who has appeared on about a half dozen CDs by other artists. Coming soon will be a "violin of the side" webpage which will include an opportunity to hear some of his violin work.
Rob rarely has time to perform, but he is active in the Philadelphia Songwriters Alliance. He is proud to have established their successful monthly house concert series and has brought in more than 60 independent singer-songwriters from the Philadelphia area to share their talents. It is at these monthly events which he MCs that he may occasionally play a tune. He also has created for PSA the unique day-long singer-songwriter event known as the Summer Songfest (named by Erik Balkey) which spawned the equally imaginative Winter Songworks (named by Rob and run by Sharon Abbott and Christine Winchester). More information on these events including performer links will be coming in the future.

Transcript from an Interview with Rob Lincoln

With more than 300 songs and counting and for more than 30 years, I have written in a variety of acoustic styles from novelty tunes to love songs to historical ballads to poetic surrealistic songs to retro-acoustic pop. From bizarre to traditional from funny to poignant, whatever style the song is in, the melodies are usually memorable and the lyrics unpredictable. This site will eventually contain rough often first take demos of my entire song catalogue. Many of the earliest songs when I first started writing will of course be shaky. So expect the songs to get better as time goes on. Feel free to come back and browse often as I will constantly be adding songs, one by one in chronological order, starting in 1974. If you are looking for some unusual songs to cover from a little known but unique artist, you have come to the right place. Just e-mail me. If you find a song here that intrigues you, but you don't like a line or two, or you think it needs a bridge, drop me an e-mail and maybe you can earn writer's credit if it gets that song to be recorded or performed.... otherwise just enjoy. You can become a Rob Lincoln fan at no cost to you. I promise that if you keep coming back there will be some real surprises along the way. While mostly acoustic, some original material will veer into folk rock and even 60's pop, but the garage rock and loudest material will also be found in full band arrangement.
Eventually some of these 300+ tunes may be rerecorded and make it on to CD, including a novelty CD that would be suitable for Dr. Demento or an historical ballad CD or a political song CD--but until then, this is the only site you can hear most of these songs. (A few of my songs CAN be found on songramp.com/RobLincoln and myspace.com/lessickandlincoln)

Why this name?

Lincoln is my real name...though it's my real middle name.
Do you play live?

I have not performed regularly since the late 80's and early 90's when I performed in NJ, NY and PA coffeehouses (Minstrel, Mine Street, Postcrypt, Mermaid Inn etc) as part of the duo Lessick & Lincoln. More recently I have devoted my musical energies to the Philadelphia Songwriters' Alliance where I book and MC the monthly houseconcert series and occassionally play a few tunes. Best moments back in late 80's were opening for the Kennedys at the Postcrypt in NYC, opening for David Massengill at the Minstrel in NJ and getting John Gorka to sing along with my song "Hrumph" at Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem PA.

How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?

People can actually hear my music

Would you sign a record contract with a major label?

Of course

Your influences?

Over the years at least one or more of my songs has been compared to the style of: Steve Goodman, Tom Lehrer, Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton, Bob Dylan, The Byrds, Gene Clark, Robyn Hitchcock, Townes Van Zandt, Warren Zevon, Neil Young, Ray Davies, Pete Seeger, Kurt Cobain, Buffy Saint Marie, Louden Wainwright III, Tom Petty, Donovan and John Lennon.

Anything else...?

Love to get feedback...good or bad. Tell me which songs you like and hate as that will help me to determine which will eventually be worthwhile re-recording with better vocals, more accurate leads and overall better production for possible CD release--Thanks!

Equipment used:

Taylor acoustic guitar, Korg D1600MKII, Variax modeling electric guitar, cheap mandolin, expensive violin

Official Website: http://roblincoln.com/

MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/lessickandlincoln