Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise is an American band. It formed in 1994 when former members of the band Second Self met the blind street performer, Robert Bradley. Bradley was born in Alabama, but gained musical experience and spirit by singing as a child at The Alabama School for the Blind. He had spent several years in Detroit by 1994, performing occasionally on the street busking, and playing on Saturdays in Detroit's Eastern Market, when guitarist Michael Nehra, bassist Andrew Nehra, and drummer Jeff Fowlkes (formerly in the Detroit band SECOND SELF) overheard Bradley through an open window while rehearsing for a new project. After listening to Bradley sing for an hour, they invited him up to the studio to record several acoustic songs, then invited him to become their vocalist.