Little Bobby Houle, 48, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, July 29, 2024 at his residence in McIntosh, MN.
Gathering time for family and friends will be held 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM on Friday, August 2, 2024 at Obit in Thief River Falls, MN. The service to celebrate Little Bobby’s life will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, August 3, 2024 at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Thief River Falls, MN with Rev. Alex Amiot officiating. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service.
Robert Edward Houle III was born November 28, 1975 in Red Lake, MN the son of Robert Houle Jr. & Theresa Scholin. He was baptized and confirmed into the Lutheran faith.
At an early age, he was lovingly called “Little Bobby”.
At the age of 18 months, Little Bobby became a foster son to Lyle and Sharon trfnews.i234.me and brother to Marlin, Scott (Sandy) trfnews.i234.me, Jeff (Christine) trfnews.i234.me, Tim (Cheryl), Teresa (Lenny) trfnews.i234.me, Jill (Jay) Knott.
Little Bobby attended Our Savior’s Christian Academy, Knox Elementary School and Lincoln High Schools in Thief River Falls. After school, Little Bobby relocated to Stillwater, MN where he learned various trades.
Little Bobby returned to live in Thief River Falls and in 1999, he was blessed with his first-born child, Katherine. On April 10, 2001, Little Bobby was united in marriage to Jessica Marie Timchuk, and together they were proud parents of Tyler and Savanna.
His poor eyesight did not hold him down. Little Bobby could do almost anything, he could navigate, didn’t need to see to play and he was a fantastic pool player.
Little Bobby had a great sense of humor, he had the ability to make anybody laugh and could do a great Beavis & Butthead impersonation.
Born in Red Lake, MN and raised in Thief River Falls, MN, blues musician and multi-instrumentalist Robert Houle III is a third-generation Native American musician who has followed in his father’s and grandfather’s musical footsteps. Little Bobby’s music interest is a family affair. From his father Robert Houle II (“Big” Bobby), to his grandfather, Robert Houle, (Rockabilly Music Hall Of Famer), and all of his close relatives that are artistically gifted in some way, it’s no surprise that Little Bobby is as gifted as he is. His first instrument was a set of drums he got from an aunt and uncle. His passion soon changed as he was turned on by the sound of the guitar style of Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix.
When in his early twenties, Little Bobby met a native brother who said, “You have a blues voice!” After already being mostly self-taught, that improvising blues style seemed like a natural fit to the youngest Robert Houle. In 2005, Little Bobby released his first CD “Before The Storm.” Later that year he landed a spot on the Last Ride Blues Festival in his home town of Thief River Falls, Minnesota which featured blues legend Buddy Guy. What a way to kick off a blues career!
Since then, Little Bobby has released over a handful of blues albums including “Down, Dirty & Mean” (2007), “I’ve Got A Woman” (2009), and a live DVD “A Night At The Empire” (2009). At the end of 2009, Little Bobby combined talents with Nora Jean Bruso. She and Little Bobby started doing concerts and touring in the United States and abroad. They performed at the RAWA Blues Festival in Katowice, Poland and in the USA at the Chicago Blues Festival where the Chicago Sun Times rated Nora Jean & Little Bobby the number one band to see. In 2011, the two put together the CD “Good Blues” which Little Bobby not only played on but co-wrote and produced. The album not only appeared on the blues charts but helped push Nora Jean to her 7th BMA nomination for “Best Traditional Female Blues Performer.”
From there, he went on to release more albums including “Life of the Blues” (2010), “Showbiz” (2015), “Super B” (2016), the single “Grow Old With You” (2018), an autobiographic DVD “Music Is My Life” (2018), “Simple” (2020), and “God Made Me Blue” (2022). On May 4th, 2023, Little Bobby released another album “That Killer B Sting.” As of 4am May 22nd, 2023, it is the number one album in Minnesota, knocking “God Made Me Blue” down by one spot. This is the first time in RMR history that the same artist has had both the #1 and #2 albums at the same time in Minnesota. “That Killer B Sting” entered the Blues Rock category at #20 and two tracks off this album (“That Killer B Sting” and “Bad Girl”) both made the top 50 Blues Rock singles charts. As of May 29th, “That Killer B Sting” held the number 1 position and “God Made Me Blue” was the #2 album in Minnesota and they held those positions for a total of 6 out of 7 weeks between May 29th and July 16th. In total, Little Bobby held the #1 Album in Minnesota from Jan. 1st until the week of July 23rd. As of the day he passed, his most recent album, “Dealing From The Bottom Of The Deck” was number 1 in Minnesota. (Roots Music Report)
He’s now on every jukebox in the world and the only artist from Minnesota to be featured on the largest syndicated blues show in the world, “The Beale St. Caravan Radio Hour” (2009). Since the release of “God Made Me Blue” he’s been on 1,700 blues stations all over the world including The Blues Odyssey in Washington, The Mayflower Hills Blues show in Maine and Sittin’ At The Crossroads in Louisiana, all in the USA. He was featured on the Black and Blues Show in the Netherlands, The Monster Blues Show and the Bear Blues Show in the UK, and The Sunday Morning Hangover Cure in Canada just to name a few. He was interviewed live on the blues show “Music On the Couch” out of Florida on March 6th, 2023. His album was reviewed by Blues Blast Magazine in Dec. 2022 and Jazz Blues News in Feb. 2023 and he was featured in the Jan. 2023 (issue 224) edition of Blue Monday Monthly.
Little Bobby was recently picked up by the worldwide syndicated Blues Show, Blues Deluxe which has 66 channels all over the world. His long running blues show “Little Bobby’s Juke Joint” plays on Pioneer radio at 9pm every Wed. and is syndicated in the UK.
One of the things that makes Little Bobby’s music so unique is that, except for saxophone, harmonica or steel guitar, he plays all the instruments himself and produces his own albums in his own state-of-the-art studio in McIntosh, MN under his label, Untouchable Productions. He also has a long-running blues show, Little Bobby’s Juke Joint every Wednesday night at 9pm on 90.1 FM (www.radionorthland.org). You can buy his albums at Little Bobby’s Bar and Grill in McIntosh, MN or online at www.little-bobby-music.company.site or you can listen to Little Bobby music on local radio stations, YouTube, Pandora, iTunes, Spotify, many other music platforms and on every jukebox in the world!
Survivors include his three wonderful children, Katherine (Chaz Green) Houle, Tyler Houle and Savanna Houle; granddaughter, Charlotte Green; siblings, Jeffrey (Cheyenne) Lacey of Thief River Falls, Kimberly (Tom) Zimmerman of Stewart, MN, Robyn (Tyrone) Benson of Oklee, MN, Rachel Houle, of Thief River Falls, Ryan (Cassie) Houle of Newfolden, MN, Cody (Allison Plante) Houle of Thief River Falls; grandfather, Robert (Colleen) Houle Sr.; Bonus Mom, Darlene Houle of Thief River Falls; special friend Britney Nelson of Thief River Falls; “His Woman”, Tanya Nelson of McIntosh, MN; the trfnews.i234.me Family; numerous relatives and countless friends.
He is preceded in death by his father, Robert “Big Bobby” Houle Jr. in 2019; grandparents, Maurits and Beth Scholin, Kathy Wellner; foster-father, Lyle trfnews.i234.me; bonus grandparents, Orvis and Lorraine Sletten; and cousin, Christopher Scholin.
# Little Bobby Houle, #