Robillard's on a roll this year. He took home the W.C. Handy Award for best blues guitarist and released Explorer, his second CD for Shanachie, in June. A creativity by no means limited to music spills forth from the man: The booklet for last year's New Blues for Modern Man showcases his budding interest in art photography; later that year, his painting skills were revealed on the cover of Conversations in Swing Guitar, a blues-and-jazz guitar master class between Robillard and the legendary Herb Ellis.
He has expanded his job description musically, too, but make no bones about it: What this man does best is play guitar, usually in front of a huge horn section. Robillard stalks game in a territory where blues, jazz, swing and rockabilly roam and crossbreed; he almost always brings home a rare new hybrid to hang on the walls of his trophy room. It's just such big-game hunting that has prompted no less an authority than B.B. King to call Robillard "one of the great players."