Robert Cristian ZSUGYA (born January 21, 1987), better known by his stage name Southernman Robbie, is a Romanian American roots music singer and songwriter. His debut album, Devil got my name, was released in 2016 and was produced together with the musician Izzy Waan, and garnered substantial reviews from media outlets like Eric Schuurmans ^[1] and Arta Sunetelor ^[2].

In 2017 he was nominated at the Muzza Jazz and Blues Gala^[3] for his 2016 activity, where he gained a price in the section "Revelation of the year".

Robbie was born January 21, 1987 in Orsova, Mehedinti, the last of five children.

His mother was a human resources employ of a local mining company which had a big passion for driving, being a licensed professional truck driver and his father was an automobile electrician and railroad constructor.

He has two brothers and two sisters, which are bigger than him^[4].

Even in his family, during his Childhood, the music was present in a multicultural way, his interest in music began at age sixteen when he found his father old 1965 acoustic guitar. In a very short time he start taking private guitar lesson with a local teacher and he start acting the local stages on municipality events.

After he finished the high-school, he left his home town, moving to Bucharest where he studied cartography at the University of Bucharest^[4].

During his faculty days in Bucharest, the local arts landscape influenced him to pick up a guitar and develop his musical talent.

He combined elements learned as a teen and during his time with Catalin "Tzetze" Radulescu (a Romanina blues harp player) and with his southern accents he debuted in 2010 as a member of Blues Preachers duo, being known as Southernman Robbie.

Robbie's first release was Hard times, a single which was recorded and produced by Izzy Waan^[5].

The song was released as a debut release of the band Stainles, a college band, on which Robbie was acting as vocals and guitarist^[4].

The music was written by Robbie and the lyrics by Dan D.(the bass player of the band).

The tune was released only in digital format..

In the fall of 2011, Robbie gets back on the road, but this time taking the way to the west, making his first and log stop, to Vienna, Austria.

Joined by his black dobro guitar, "Țiganca - The gypsy"^[4] as he likes to name it, he starts being around the local stage.

There he meets the Austrian pioneer of the blues, Mr. Al Cook, who gave Robbie all the support was necessary, to promote him around the local stages.

Robbie joined Al in a couple of gigs, on one of the most know blues bar in town, Louisiana Blues Bar.

After a couple of months, Robbie got back on the road, continuing his trip to a norther place, making his next stop in Papenburg, a small German town where he spent the rest of the year.

From time to time, he was travelling around the area of Papenburg, spending some time in Emden too.

There he was pushed by the needs to get a day time job, being a shipyard worker, but during the nights he was playing blues for his colleagues as he said: "I was building ships all day long, it wasn't easy, but I was happily playing the blues late at night and that was my medicine"^[6][7][8]

In the beginning of 2013, Robbie moved back to Bucharest where he rejoined the blues duo, Blues Preachers and they preached the blues for a while, on the local stages and festivals^[9][10]. At the edge of 2015, the Blues Preachers project had reached to the end and Robbie had start playing alone^[4].

On February 29th, 2016 Robbie has released his debut album, named "Devil got my name"^{[11][12][13][14]}, album that garnered reviews from media outlets like Eric Schuurmans^[1], Arta Sunetelor^[2], La Hora del Blues^[15], The Blues and Roots Music Blog^[16]. Songs from his album have been aired across the glob, being played on European radios and radios from North America^[17][18][19].

In April 2017, he was the Romanian representative at one of the biggest blues festivals from Europe, the European Blues Challenge, where he shared the stage with musician from 22 other European Countries^[20][21][22]

Early this year (February 15,2019), Robbie came out with a new single, "Shadow of my past"^[23][24], an American Roots tune that have been followed by an official video^[25].

In September 2017, Robbie had a tour in Estonia^[26], where he perform along the country on stages^[27][28] from the capital, the city of Tallinn to small towns places, but famous like Võsu.

Since 2014, Robbie has been touring and he has reached the following notable festivals:

Devil got my name (2016, Second Harmonic)^[38][39]

Shadow of my past (2019, Second Harmonic)^[23][41]