Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise
Reported by Erik Smith
Web produced by Christiana Ciolac

Blackwater Surprise Video

It's tough to stick a label on them. Certainly it's not rap. It is. It's not the blues, but it is. It's not pure rock or soul, well, it is. It's not really country, but it's definitely in there. So what is it? What it is is Detroit.

In the new century, a new old sound that's gritty, bucket-bottom and for a legion of new fans irresistible. It is Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, music for the streets that was born in the street.

It's an unlikely blend of diversities: four young white men, once upon a time rockers and a slightly older 50-year-old blind musical poet and street singer, all who found each other on a corner, underneath an open window.

"I heard him singing on the way up, and I just came up here. I was like, 'Did you hear this guy down here?' I parked over at Charlie Plaza and I could hear him almost from over there. I got around the corner and was like this guy can put it out. He's got some pipes."

Robert Bradley

The magic certainly didn't happen overnight. There was more than a little skepticism to be overcome from the lead singer who was happy enough just to be picking up $20 or $30 a day on his favorite sweet street spot. Sweet because he says, he could hear himself in stereo between the building walls and the city.

"You can sing if you got the right place. It seemed like you were in an echo chamber. You forced the ammo and you wouldn't have to sing as strong or as hard because you could be heard."

It took a while for the surprise to really happen, but it did. This he forged a new sound from Motown, a self-produced, self-title album that propelled the surprise into a big record label deal with RCA and under the video charts of MTV.

"We started recording together just for the heck of it. We were rolling tape at the time. A lot of this became our first album.

"RCA loved it so much. Our guy said, 'I don't have to hear it. I don't have to see it. We are just going to sign it. It's done. That's how it happened. We didn't plan any of this."

One of the songs troubled brother even made its way into a movie soundtrack The Devil's Own starring Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford. This should be made into a Hollywood movie. Who would believe it?

"You couldn't dream up this story. People love it. It's cool because it's honest. People see it live and they know it's real. It's not, you know, it's nothing we made up. It's just Robert's kinetics and ours together. It's just good music."

You want to see the next thing to blow out of Detroit? Give it up for Robert Bradley.

Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise is spending a lot of time on the road and singing their hearts out, singing the songs of a blind man who once again put the streets of Detroit on the musical road map. That's a long way from his days at Pershing High School.

"I had this dream when I was 9-years-old to make it in the music business. It just took a little while, got off the track a couple of times. I never gave up," Bradley said.

It's not a real rags to riches story quite yet, but Robert certainly doesn't have to take a tin cup around with him anymore. His days riding the hound are certainly over. No one knows where the road may finally take them, of course, but you can bet that a blind man will show them the way.

Click for more on Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise.

[More From the Heart stories]