Since 1981, Bob Dorr and the Blue Band have played about 100 gigs per year all around Iowa and the Midwest. Over their 30-plus year run, they have become one of Iowa's most celebrated bands, playing their beloved, self-described brand of blues/soul/rockabilly/reggae/Creole/rhythm music at festivals and venues across eastern Iowa, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Chicago. They have shared the stage with such icons as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, and Bobby Rush. Band leader Bob Dorr describes the out-of-body experience that comes with being on-stage playing with the band.
"You can be playing, and when the magic happens, you don't know where you are. You lose track of time. It's just like in some kind of hypnotic trance. And every musician lives for that, and I've never been able to find the magic in any other thing," Dorr says. "The magic of being up there, playing for someone, with a groove really happening, you're totally disconnected from your physical being."
On this Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe speaks with Bob Dorr about his life as a musician, working in radio in Iowa since the 1970s, and the Blue Band's farewell tour.
