Robert “Duke” Tillman doesn’t just play music. He feels it. It’s that connection to the rhythm, the audience and the other musicians that allows Tillman’s soul to exude through him and his keyboard.
“It’s all about the feel,” Tillman said of that moment when he sits behind his keyboard. “You have to let it come to you.”
Tillman, of Bruce, was first introduced to the keyboard by his grandmother, Alberta Herrod, who raised him.
“I started out playing the drums, but she told me I needed to learn to play the keyboard, because that’s where the money’s at,” Tillman said with a grin. “I found out it’s not all about the money when I got older.”
His grandmother bought him a little keyboard and he began teaching himself how to play by ear. Many people were helpful to him showing him a few things here and there, but he mostly taught himself, listening to music and then letting it flow back out of him.
“I could turn the radio on and listen to Blues, rap, Gospel, country music, anything and start playing it,” Tillman said. “If I can hear it, I can play it.”
It was the Gospel sounds that clicked for Tillman, and before he was even a teenager, Homer Judon of the Gospel Warriors heard him and liked his style.
“He asked me if I was willing and interested in learning more,” Tillman said. “It wasn’t long and I started playing with them.”
The more experience he got, the more opportunities began to come his way.
“I get lots of calls today, but I like what I’m doing,” Tillman said.
The travel demands of playing with the Warriors led Tillman to give that up, but he still plays four to five times a week for various churches and gospel groups. His primary church is New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Gore Springs. He also plays with New Creation and The Gospelites, which is made up primarily of family members from the Gospel Warriors.
“I’m busy most every weekend playing,” he said. “We’ve got three shows this Sunday.”
Tillman, who works nights at Ashley Furniture, never pursued a full-time career in music, because he didn’t want to give up playing “his music.”
“I’ve had offers to go play Blues, but I want to stay with gospel,” Tillman said. “To be honest, it’s not as easy to make a living playing just gospel. That’s just the world we live in, but I don’t have any regrets. I’m doing what I want to do.”
Tillman recalls his grandmother telling him, “Play God’s music and he’ll take care of you.”
“I feel like God has blessed me with a talent so I owe it to him,” he said.
“Around the house, I’ll jam to anything, but out in public I’m going to play gospel.”
Tillman has still never had any formal lessons, just hands-on experience, literally. He’s grown as a musician through years of playing and understanding how to read the audience.
“That’s what I’ve learned the most is how to watch the audience and see what they like,” he said.
Because Tillman plays strictly by ear, he may play the same song three different ways for three different audiences.
“You just learn over time to really notice how the audience reacts. Some like a real fast, upbeat jam and others want something slow and easy. You just have to feel it.”
Tillman most “feels it” these days when he gets together with his cousin Dalvin Harris, from Coffeeville, who plays drums.
“We’re on that same level, and when we get together it’s just a special feeling,” Tillman said. “We play off each other. You always want to play with great musicians. It makes you better. I always look forward to getting together with Dalvin.”
Tillman plays the organ every Sunday at church. He plays the piano when needed and at special events uses his own keyboard that he enjoys at home and carries everywhere.
“When you love your craft you just want to play and be the best you can,” he said. “I love playing. It’s the best feeling.”