Rob K — trash-blues artist extraordinaire, and front half of both the Jam Messengers and the Workdogs — has broken through to academia. Rob’s solo work, the Purgatory Home Companion, has come to the attention of the Dante scholar Arielle Saiber, associate professor of romance languages at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Professor Saiber is co-editor of a blog called Dante Today – Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. The blog’s latest entry in the music section is a nod to Rob’s work, his take on the second book of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Purgatorio. I was Rob’s collaborator on the Purgatory Home Companion, co-producing, co-writing and playing many of the instruments on the piece.

The Purgatory Home Companion has yet to gain a commercial release, but both Rob and I still hope to interest some enlightened soul in supporting his obsession. If there’s anything new to report, I will post it here in this blog, and probably in Professor Saiber’s blog as well. In the meantime, you can listen to the Purgatory Home Companion here.

The photo of Rob K above is by Mark Stalnaker.