Today we’d like to introduce you to Robin Salmon.
Robin, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
The Americana / Country duo Surrender Hill is where we are today. The road here has been a long one. In a nutshell, here’s how it went. Afton and I both have pretty eclectic backgrounds, with her growing up going between Homer Alaska and Camp Verde Arizona, and me growing up in South Africa and then on the Y.O Ranch in the hill country of Texas. How we found each other was completely random. Since the age of 18, I’ve been playing music professionally. Throughout my life, that never changed. I worked whatever side jobs necessary to keep playing music. Afton and I are 17 years apart in age and both spent about 10 years of our life in New York City. 15 years apart. During my time in NYC, I had a band called See No Evil that was signed to Epic Records. We were together for 10 years and put out 3 albums. Aftons time in NYC was spent training and working as a professional dancer and choreographer. After NYC I moved to Atlanta where I opened a recording studio in the late 90s. I also had a band called Christopher Robin that was performing regionally.
I then moved to Nashville for two years, California for a year and then Arizona. In May of 2010, I was traveling in the southwest and broke down in the painted desert. Got towed to Winslow and spent 10 days exploring the Winslow saloons. During that time I visited Sedona, AZ and fell in love with the place. So, I stayed. Afton was getting burned out in NYC so she decided to move back to Camp Verde, Az for a little while. She moved back in early 2011 and taught herself how to play guitar and started songwriting. She started turning some of her journals into songs and performing locally. I was performing in Northern Arizona as well and our paths crossed. In 2014 we fell in love and we wrote our first song together. The chemistry between us was immediate and everything became very clear. We made our first full-length album in 2015 and moved to North Georgia in 2017, where we live today. Surrender Hill has a total of seven albums out to date.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Afton and I have both had our ups and downs. New York City is a tough place to live and trying to make it in the arts puts you through the ringer. It’s hard on a relationship and it can harden your soul for sure. I’ve been married twice before. Afton has had her share of failed relationships. Thank goodness for all of it otherwise we would never have found each other. For every bit of success, there is a lot of rejection until “boom” one day you hit another level and things coast for a while. With regards to Surrender Hill, we faced and still face challenges with booking venues and breaking into new markets. We work a lot in all sorts of venues to make a living at this. You are constantly having to prove yourself. Regardless of all the hours of performing and writing. With that said, there is no greater joy for us than performing our songs for an attentive audience.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My wife, Afton and I work together at Surrender Hill, an Americana / Country Music duo. We are singer-songwriters and performers. We make our living performing roughly 250 shows a year in all sorts of venues. From concerts in homes to wineries and theaters. We love them all. We have a recording studio where we produce full-length albums for Surrender Hill as well as other artists. I think Surrender Hill is known for writing and performing songs from the heart. Sounds kind of cheesy but it’s true. The bulk of our songs come from personal experiences, individually or together. A whole lot of love songs and the exploration of the sometimes darker side of love. Where we came from and how we grew up plays into a lot of the themes in our songs. We both come from a pioneering, frontier sort of life. Western melodies and themes resonate in our music. I am very proud of the music we create and I’m blown away by Afton’s voice and her writing. BUT!! Our greatest creation and accomplishment to date would have to be our son Wren. Wow!!
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I love books books books. I read a lot of historical fiction. I think Afton’s favorite app is a meditation one. Sheesh, she needs it too, living in this world with me and Wren.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.surrenderhill.com
- Instagram: www.Instagram.com/surrenderhillmusic
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/surrenderhill
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/surrender_hill
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@surrenderhillmusic
Image Credits
Andrew Pollock, Nathan Burnett
