One of the trio of 1960s acoustic guitar virtuosos who established themselves as innovators on the Takoma label (the other two were John Fahey and Leo Kottke). Like Fahey and Kottke, he was determined to expand the horizons of the acoustic steel-string guitar by utilising dissonance, unusual tunings, and influences from all over the world - especially Arabic, Eastern and Indian modal influences and classical and European folk music.

Born in Baltimore, he became an orphan in his early childhood and was adopted by Dr Donald Robinson and his wife. He grew up as Daniel R.Robinson Jr. within a very typical middle-class environment and attended Catholic schools run by nuns. He later went to a military school and then on to the University of Maryland, where he was a premed student.

After his junior year at university, he bought an ancient Mexican 12- string guitar from a sailor for $200 and explored every possible form of music. He became interested in Japanese literature, began to write his own poetry, dabbled in painting and guitar. After discovering the most famous Japanese haiku poet, Matsuo Basho, he changed his name to Robbie Basho.

Guitar became his main creative outlet and he came to the steel-string after meeting John Fahey in Washington, DC, in the early 1960s. He entered the upcoming musical scene in Washington and was introduced to folk music by Max Ochs.. Basho began playing and singing blues and a mixture of foreign protest songs.

In 1962, Basho heard sitarist Ravi Shankar and was transformed. He dropped blues and started playing raga forms in exotic open tunings.

After a time, Basho settled in the Berkeley area. He became a follower of Meher Baba and studied with sarod master Ali Akbar Khan.

After five albums for Takoma in the 1960s, Basho released Venus in Cancer in 1969 on the Blue Thumb label. After a further album for Takoma in 1971 called Song of the Stallion, he released two albums for Vanguard in 1972 and 1974. It then took him 4 years to find a record company again. The two albums for Windham Hill, the label founded by William Ackerman (who calls Basho one of his main influences), involved Basho in touring  around the world.

After releasing the Rainbow Thunder album based on native American influences on Silver Label Recordings in 1979, he was not able to find a new label for his album projects again until his death, but he published some cassette recordings himself.