Digney Fignus Keeps Rocking And Rolling

HARWICH – More than four decades into his career, Digney Fignus is still learning about music.

His radio show “La Vida Local,” which airs every other week on WOMR, finds the veteran musician diving into Boston’s long and varied musical history. One show was dedicated to the various rock bands that frequented the same clubs he used to play in the 1980s. But his next show, “Across The Tracks,” finds Fignus delving into the history of local soul and R&B music.

“One of the things that I enjoy the most about working on the radio stuff is I learn a lot about music,” said Fignus, who lives in Harwich. “Even with the rock bands I’ve been looking up and playing, I’ve learned a lot about them, the incestuous nature of some of these bands and how they moved around, how certain bands blew up. It’s kind of cool.”

The radio show is just the latest creative exploit in Fignus’ career, which has taken him from the Boston club circuit to major label and MTV success. But in recent years, he’s carved out a special niche here on the Lower Cape, where he’s a fixture at various venues and events during the summer months. He also continues to record, growing an audience not just locally but internationally.

“We’ve got a really busy summer coming up on the Cape, so I really don’t have time to tour at this particular point,” he said. “I would love to, because we get airplay all over the world, to tell you the truth.”

Fignus, the alias of Bob Brown, was born and raised in Lexington. He developed an appreciation for music at an early age, thanks in part to his grandmother, who worked for and would often take him to performances at Symphony Hall in Boston. Later he joined the school choir, which he said helped him appreciate harmony and melody.

But it was in high school, when a friend summoned him to play bass, that Fignus turned his ear toward rock and roll.

“He comes over to my house and says ‘Bob! Bob! I got a drum set, and I’m gonna start a band. And you’re gonna be the bass player!’ I was like ‘What the hell are you talking about?’”

The band took inspiration from Cream and other English blues rock acts of the time, while Fignus delved deeper into the work of legendary bluesmen such as Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. He later tried his hand at genres as far ranging as folk and disco before finding his solace in the burgeoning Boston rock scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“I cut all my hair off, bleached it, started wearing a bunch of fatigues,” he recalled. “I was living on tips and prayers, basically, and getting whatever club gigs I could as a soloist. It was humbling, but that was where that whole gritty street stuff came from.”

Fignus caught his break with “The Girl With The Curious Hand.” The new wave-inspired song and accompanying video got MTV airplay and eventually netted him a major label contract with Columbia Records.

“Back when they actually played music on MTV, they had these contests called ‘The Basement Tapes’ and we ended up winning.”

Fignus has continued to record and perform in the years since, venturing further into the blues and Americana music that served as his earliest musical inspiration. His latest record, 2025’s “Black and Blue - The Brick Hill Sessions”, was recorded in Orleans with veteran producer and bassist Jon Evans at his Brick Hill Studio.

“I don’t know if you’ve ever worked in a studio, but your engineer, that’s your lifeline. And he’s really good,” he said of Evans, who has toured and recorded with Tori Amos among others. “He’s very efficient and easy to work with. And because he’s a musician, he’s able to offer good suggestions, positive suggestions. And that’s really important.”

And in an unexpected case of “what goes around, comes around”, the new record helped reconnect him with his musical past. The video for the record’s lead single, “American Rose,” was directed by Luis Aira, who directed Fignus’ celebrated video for “The Girl With The Curious Hand.”

Fignus may be a ways from his Boston roots, but he’s settled nicely on the Cape in the home his parents once owned in Harwich. He and his band are looking forward to another busy summer, with shows planned at Wellfleet’s Mayo Beach and as part of Chatham’s July 4 festivities.

“I’ve been really lucky,” he said looking back on his career to date. “I’ve had support and been able to keep my music semi relevant. I’m amazed everyday and grateful for it.”