Everglades Rhythm

It all began when Boogie Woogie Pianist Rob Perkin reached out to music producer Darren Clarke to restore an old recording. He had a cassette tape with a low-fi recording of him playing piano, some thirty years earlier in Naples, Florida! You can see Rob on the piano in this photo. 

When Rob and Darren started working on this project at Clarke Lane Studios, little did they know that a wonderful partnership would form had begun. Rob asked Darren to produce the music around the restored piano tracks by adding drums, guitar, and bass to the original recording. What began was a rather unconventional project. The musicians were each on separate coasts of the United States, but Rob’s passion, expertise, stories, and extraordinary insight, fueled Darren’s production prowess, and great guitar talent. 

'Everglades Rhythm’ was born. The name speaks to how Rob grew up visiting Naples, Florida, in the shadow of the Everglades. In 2018, Everglades Rhythm released Brookside Road Vol. 1, followed by Volume 2 early in 2020. These two Boogie Woogie-focused records feature Rob’s incredible piano playing and pay homage to ‘the barbaric basic beat’. Before long they released Volume 3 and 4: Two collections that pay tribute to the Ventures, both rammed full of surf guitar. In 2024, Everglades Rhythm released a new EP, “Echos of The Shadows”. Here you can see a photo of Darren working in his original Clarke Lane studio. 

Along the way, Everglades Rhythm has involved a dream team in its creative process. Notably, featuring Elvis’ lead guitar player, James Burton on their version of ‘Mystery Train.' They were also able to recruit Lee Rocker of the Stray Cats to play stand-up bass,  and ‘The most recorded Horn player of all time,’ Jim Horn. Renowned drummer Todd Sorensen has played on every track to date, recording from his studio in Utah. Here's a photo of James Burton and Darren Clarke working on Mystery Train in Franklin, TN circa 2016 (Photo © Airtime, Inc.). 

Everglades Rhythm didn’t hold back when it came to polishing the music. They have worked with Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios for mastering (see photo below) and Grammy award-winning engineer, Robbie Burrell, in Nashville TN.

With the pure goal of making great music for people to enjoy, the songs are also available to license for film and TV. 

If you enjoy Boogie Woogie piano, rock and roll guitar, and instrumental music in the styles of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, J.J Cale, Link Wray, The Ventures, and The Shadows, this is music for YOU, and as Rob says...“Turn it up and stand back!”