Plenty Indeed for My Two Hands to Do is a collection of 11 songs performed by guitarist G. Scott Robinson, systems programmer in the University’s computing and communications division.
A benefit for St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Plenty Indeed features both standards and original compositions — arranged for solo guitar as well as for bass-drum-guitar trio — showcasing Robinson’s intricate melody-chord method of playing.
Robinson learned this style, in which rhythm and melody are played simultaneously, during his 35-year friendship with Mel Bay, the renowned St. Louis guitar teacher whose Modern Guitar Method instructional books have sold an estimated 20 million copies.
Several tracks — such as “On a Slow Boat to China,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” “I’m Beginning to See the Light” and “Tangerine” — are songs Robinson first encountered as a teenager hanging out in Bay’s Kirkwood shop.
Other pieces include “1904 Sweet,” performed on a guitar that Robinson designed and recorded to mimic the sound of an early 20th-century “Regina” music box. “Russian Blue” was inspired by a kitten that had crawled inside one of Robinson’s guitars while he changed strings.
The title of the collection comes from its final song, “I Have Two Little Hands,” which Robinson learned as a child living in Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Hospital. Born with a rare genetic disorder called “osteogenesis imperfecta,” or “brittle bone” disease, Robinson spent his first 13 years as a resident of Primary Children’s, where his love of music was inspired by visits from Roy Rogers, The Sons of the Pioneers and other notable players.
The new CD, he explained, is simply a way of giving back to the world of pediatric medicine that cared for him for so long.
“I have a sense of responsibility now that I have beaten the odds and lived my life independently,” Robinson said. “I have a responsibility to others who have this same bone disease or who have problems that they think are insurmountable.
“My faith has taught me that we are here for the support of each other and to overcome our own frailties and imperfections. We can help others learn from our own experiences. That’s called friendship, whether those people are your friends or not.”
The CD is produced by Robinson and Steve Givens, assistant to the chancellor, who also contributes vocals to “Moonlight in Vermont.” Other musicians include bassist Gerry Kasper, percussionist Pat Dillender and vocalists Georgy Rock and Jenny Givens.
Plenty Indeed for My Two Hands to Do retails for $15 and is available at the Campus Store in Mallinckrodt Student Center, by calling 869-9301 or by e-mailing Robinson at gsr@aismail.wuvmd.edu.
— Liam Otten