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Rob Childs has been “messing about” (his words) with guitars since 1964 when he was 3 and had an early obsession with The Beatles. He didn’t get properly into guitar playing till he was 12 or 13.  He had ambitions to be an actor and got into the National Youth Theatre in 1977 but then he discovered gigging actually paid money so he drifted more towards music. As a guitarist he is totally self taught. Rob did eventually make his acting debut in a short film in 2022 as part of his partner Izzy Archer’s daughter’s BA degree in filmmaking.
In school he was in a 6th form garage band but they only played for fun at parties. His first serious band was Max Headroom and The Carparks which he formed with two schoolmates in 1978 and played lead guitar, they played at local pubs and clubs from 1979 and in 1984 got a tour of Germany. The line up was Rob Childs (lead guitar), Jack Hammer (keyboards), Paul Petitt (bass) and Stuart Hardy (drums).
In 1985 prior to a tour to Italy, there were two changes in lineup following the departure of Stuart Hardy. He was replaced by Adam Standord and Steve Curtis also joined as a second lead guitarist. The band finished after the tour and Steve Curtis went on to join Homer.
Later that year, Rob was a founding member of Country band Greta & The Strayshots as a rhythm guitarist and singer. The band members were in their early 20s and all lived in Hutton, a part of Brentwood, Essex after becoming friends at local youth clubs. Greta Granger asked her friends if they would join her in some of the local pubs where she was singing and it wasn’t long before these musical friends evolved into Greta & The Strayshots; they were soon gigging and earning real money. In its early years, the band line up was quite fluid. In 1988 Rob Childs started to play pedal steel guitar as well as rhythm guitar and following the departure of their lead guitarist Glen Mitchell and as a tour was about to start it was decided that Rob should step up to lead guitar and pedal steel guitar.
In 1994 Rob joined Nadine Summers and Glen Mitchell in a trio working three nights mid week as the house Country band at the Heathrow Sheraton Hotel. Nadine Somers began her musical career when she was just six years old playing keyboards in London clubs. By her early teens, she had started singing Country songs mainly at comedy clubs working on stage alongside comedy legends including Ted Rogers, Paul Melba, Dave Evans (Lee Evans’ dad) and Bobby Davro and entertaining theatre audiences as part of the Ted Rogers Show. She eventually became a dance music session singer and was signed to Pete Waterman’s record label and she had two hit singles as a member of the dance band Marradona. One was called Out Of My Head released in 1994.
At the age of 24, it was time for a shift in direction. Nadine became a Country singer and by late 1994 she was working in a trio at the Heathrow Sheraton Hotel.
With bookings for Greta & The Strayshots in decline Rob started looking for other work to augment his weekday commitment at the Sheraton. He was offered the chance to join The Coal Porters, fronted by one of his big Country rock/Americana influences, Kentuckyan Sid Griffin who had relocated to the UK following the demise of his US band The Long Ryders.
In 1997, Blackjack’s lead guitarist Andy Saphir was involved in a near-fatal road accident where he almost lost a leg. The band were changing a flat tyre on the way home from a gig when Andy was hit by a passing car. Rob Childs filled in as guitarist for several months until Andy was well enough to continue but, by that time, the band were about to fold due to family commitments following extensive touring after three years on the road. They disbanded in early 1998.
In 1998 Nadine gave up the residency at The Sheraton and the Nadine Somers Band was launched full time on the Country circuit.  The trio featured Nadine, Rob Childs and Geoff Hall who was soon replaced by Bob Keeley following the demise of his own band, Blackjack. For three years the band did very well, winning numerous awards.
The three of them enjoyed great success all over the country and abroad recording their first CD album, Different Drum, on Baked Bean Records in 1999. They were regularly played on London’s Country radio station Country 1035. After four years, Nadine decided to part company with the boys to concentrate on her family but Rob and Bob stayed together as Vegas duo.  The Nadine Somers Band continued with a new lead singer 17 year old Hayley Mack and were renamed Rodeo Radio. They disbanded at the end of 2001. Rob and Bob as Vegas duo quickly established a new fan base, especially amongst line dancers with their relaxed and sometimes humorous presentation which always created a good rapport with the audience. They still did occasional gigs with Nadine Somers.
Alongside the Nadine Somers Band, Rob remained a member of The Coal Porters but he left in 2000 following their change in direction from Country rock to psychedelic folk.
Shortly after leaving, US comedian and musician Rich Hall was making a tv special and asked his fellow American, Sid Griffin if he knew of any steel players in the UK; Sid recommended Rob Childs. After working with Rich on what he thought was a one-off DVD appearance he has now been Rich’s musical right hand man since 2001, playing in prestigious venues all over the world. Working with Rich Hall always takes priority over his County bookings.
On stage Rich Hall played a hillbilly redneck jailbird Otis Lee Crenshaw and his (British) band The Black Liars pretended to be American. When Rob joined the original band comprised Christian Reilly (Orson Carson) and Damian Coldwell (The Reverend Alvy Ronson) so he had to choose a ‘band name’ for himself. In the band he became Myron T. Buttram. The name was a combination of famous steel player Myron Weldrick and Hank Williams bass player Hillous Buttram. The T was taken from James T Kirk of Star Trek fame and that stands for Tiberius. Eventually Christian & Damian were replaced by ‘Lonesome’ Dave Lindsay on banjo (also sound recordist on many BBC programmes including all of Rich’s BBC documentaries) and Nigel Portman Smith (Horst Furst II) and eventually Mark Hewitt, ex-Greta and The Strayshots on drums as Les Ismore. Rich eventually dropped the Otis character (although he is constantly asked to revive him) and the band all dropped their names and Rob lost the American accent!
Alongside other commitments Rob remained a member of Vegas duo with Bob Keeley until 2008 when Bob decided to go solo. In 2009 Nadine rejoined Rob and Vegas became Lass Vegas.
Rob has always had irons in many fires and since 2014 he has become one of the busiest soloists on the circuit but he also still does occasional duo gigs with Nadine (as Rob and Nadine) and is once again working with Nadine and Bob Keeley as the Nadine Somers Band.
During lockdown, Rob was busy streaming Country music on two days a week and his Cactus Club, a sort of online Country magazine with plenty of good music, chit chat and some wacky antics from his partner Izzy Archer, quickly won many new friends. He even produced Cactus Club t-shirts.
In 2024 Rob attended guitarist Albert Lee’s 80th birthday shindig at London’s Cadogan Hall.  Albert Lee was a fan of Rich Hall who was invited to the event and was going to introduce him on stage. When it became known that two members of Rich’s band, Rob Childs and bass player Philip Mann were there and available to play, they ended up doing a small spot to open the second half. They also got the chance to hang out with all the other participants for the day who included Chris Farlowe, Marty Wilde, Mike Berry, Ralph McTell, Elio Pace and Vince Gill on a break from his UK tour with the Eagles. Vince played acoustic guitar for Albert and his band for a couple of songs including Albert’s Country Boy, and then sung ‘Til I Gain Control Again a song written and originally sung by his best friend Rodney Crowell.
See Rob playing lead and pedal steel guitar with Greta & The Strayshots at the Mustang CMC, Canvey Island, Essex 20^th January 1992.