Biography
Mandolinist Cruz Contreras originated Robinella & the CC String Band after launching its predecessor, the Stringbeans, in 1997 during his jazz piano studies at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Singer/guitarist Robin Ella Tipton served as the bluegrass outfit’s co-founder alongside fellow UT students Jay Clark, Clint Cagle, and Joel Keebler. Jazz-inflected arrangements helped the Stringbeans draw regional interest, yet the attention failed to prevent Clark, Cagle, and Keebler from exiting once their schooling ended.
After Contreras and Tipton wed, they reshaped the lineup by 1999 with the addition of Billy Contreras on fiddle, Steve Kovalcheck on electric guitar, and Taylor Coker on upright bass, thereby establishing Robinella & the CC String Band. The ensemble cultivated a Knoxville following and issued its debut, Robinella & the CC String Band (2000), then No Saint No Prize (2001), both on independent Big Gulley Records. Columbia Records next signed the group and, in December 2002, released the EP Blanket for My Soul, culled from earlier material.
National visibility followed from coast-to-coast tours supporting Kasey Chambers, after which the band delivered its self-titled major-label album in May 2003. Three years later, now performing simply as Robinella, the act issued its first Dualtone collection. Producer Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle) shaped Solace for the Lonely, yielding the ensemble’s most cohesive sound to that point.
After Contreras and Tipton wed, they reshaped the lineup by 1999 with the addition of Billy Contreras on fiddle, Steve Kovalcheck on electric guitar, and Taylor Coker on upright bass, thereby establishing Robinella & the CC String Band. The ensemble cultivated a Knoxville following and issued its debut, Robinella & the CC String Band (2000), then No Saint No Prize (2001), both on independent Big Gulley Records. Columbia Records next signed the group and, in December 2002, released the EP Blanket for My Soul, culled from earlier material.
National visibility followed from coast-to-coast tours supporting Kasey Chambers, after which the band delivered its self-titled major-label album in May 2003. Three years later, now performing simply as Robinella, the act issued its first Dualtone collection. Producer Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin, Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle) shaped Solace for the Lonely, yielding the ensemble’s most cohesive sound to that point.
Albums
