Bjorn Jacobsen w/ Robin Chambers

Hot delta gypsygrass and dark folk rhapsodies.

Bjorn Jacobsen was born in Danbury Connecticut but has since, in his words, “called too many places home.” Where he does seem to feel most at home is behind his guitar, which he first picked up at the age of 10, and has been writing songs ever since. While in high school in Lancaster County, Bjorn survived a dangerous fall, but found himself in the hospital fighting a rampant mersa infection. The medical team proposed amputating his hands to save his life, to which the teenager responded, “I’m a guitar player. I’d rather die.”

They saved his hands, and Bjorn commenced his professional musical career at the age of 18, when he also began recording and releasing numerous offerings with his producer, Nick Orr, from New Jersey, including both solo work, and their electronica duo, The Gentry.

Robin Chambers was a Southern California child of the ’60s who first tucked that fiddle under her chin when she moved to Utah in the third grade, and began her career in music in Pennsylvania at the age of 18, performing and recording with many bands, most notably the acoustic trios Gypsy Bleu, Modern Icons, and Lavacave, with whom she served as songwriter, vocalist, and violinist.

Bjorn and Robin met at a songwriter showcase in Lancaster in 2013, and the instant chemistry had them gigging together within the week, for Bjorn’s 22nd birthday. That first year, they performed in an expanding and contracting band, The Wayfarer Experiment, at festivals and venues including Ram’s Head Live at Baltimore Harbor, World Cafe Live, both in Philadelphia and at The Queen in Wilmington, as well as Tellus 360 and The Chameleon, back on their home turf. Bjorn eventually moved to New Orleans, and then to North Carolina, but they continued their shows together when he toured through the area. Upon his return, the two solidified their duo, Bjorn Jacobsen with Robin Chambers. This duo’s music predominantly features Bjorn Jacobsen’s original songs, which reflect his time in The South and The Big Easy, tinged with Middle Eastern and Klezmer influences. Bjorn and Robin, together, are an acoustic power duo, weaving raw, passionate licks on acoustic guitar and violin, with Bjorn’s Tom Waits meets Jim Morrison-tinged voice taking on both bluegrassy and soulful songs of sin and love and pain.

“This group is all about heart and passion, musicality and fine songwriting. These are the tangibles. The intangible is the chemistry.” -Kenneth Vincent Walker, 8/30/14

“Expect dark tales of wit and woe, love unrequited and unforgiving… Bjorn does his psycho-billy, Tom Waits-meets-Jim Morrison best to freak you out, touch you deeply and make you remember it.” -Samuel Campbell