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Article published Sep 14, 2007 For annual Blue Jeans production, Appalachian Ballet Company gathers around Robin(Ella)
By Steve Wildsmith of The Daily Times Staff
It was one of those days that shows people just how strong they can really be.
For Robin Ella Tipton Contreras, the Blount County native who’s a hometown success story in the national music scene as well as a local favorite for her talent and sweet, down-home demeanor, it was a day she won’t soon forget.
In hindsight, however, she’s come to think of it as her “clean slate day.” It marked a turning point, and while it certainly wasn’t an enjoyable experience at the time, it was a defining moment in her life.
It began, she told The Daily Times this week, with a phone call from her long-time musical partner and now ex-husband, Cruz Contreras.
Their divorce, like those of other Blount County celebrities, is no secret. It wasn’t splashed across the front page of The Daily Times like that of Lady Vols Coach Pat Summitt, but for those who love the girl from the Lanier community and the music she makes, it’s perhaps of a greater interest.
After all, Summit’s husband wasn’t an integral part of the process when the Lady Vols were winning championships. Contreras, however, has always been known as the face and voice behind a musical ensemble in which her husband played a key part. After all, when she was billed as Robinella and the CCstringband, it was her husband’s name — Cruz Contreras — that christened the latter.
For years, they’ve been linked as a couple and a musical partnership. The phone call she received on that fateful day was like a harsh, cold glass of reality washing over her.
“I was touring with The Everybodyfields, and we were on our way to New York, where we had a show,” Contreras told The Daily Times. “At 9:30, Cruz called to tell me the divorce was final. At 2 p.m., I was riding in the Land Cruiser with Jill Andrews (of The Everybodyfields), pulling a trailer with all of my equipment, when the wheel just flew off. It popped the fender right off.
“Well, we got the tire fixed and got rolling back on the road, and then we had to wait an hour at the Holland Tunnel to get into New York. And when we got up there, they told us it was closed and that we would have to go all the way up to the Lincoln Tunnel to get into the city. I was 15 minutes late to the show and just ran all the way up to the stage, plugged in and played for 20 or 25 minutes.”
Just wait. It gets better.
“After the show, we went and stayed with some folks from The Everybodyfields’ record label, and we parked our car in front of their apartment in Brooklyn and went to a club down the street,” Contreras said. “We weren’t gone very long, but when we got back, I realized I had left all of my guitars in the car — the B-25 my dad gave me years ago, my new Les Paul ... and the window was broken out, and they were all gone.
“I didn’t even cry. I just looked at the window and went to bed; laid down and went to sleep. I woke up early and decided, ‘OK, I’m starting again. This is my clean slate day.’ I went down to the trailer and opened it up and got out my art stuff, and just started working on my art for a show I had coming up in Nova Scotia.”
In the end, the trip worked out well — the art show and performance in Nova Scotia were successes, and now Contreras is back home in East Tennessee, playing one-off shows around the Southeast as well as hosting the Sunday night gig at Barley’s Taproom that made her a regional favorite years ago. That gig, along with opening for national acts and an impromptu appearance on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” helped the group sign a major-label contract with Sony.
The band recorded one album for the label, which sold modestly well, but switched to the smaller, more independent Dualtone label for its follow-up, last year’s “Solace for the Lonely.” The “CCstringband” was dropped from the name, and Contreras started going by simply RobinElla. It’s a move that will serve her well, since the CCstringband is now a separate entity altogether.
As with most couples, the details of the divorce are a private matter. Contreras displays no anger, no animosity toward her former husband and said the two will continue to work together to raise their son, Cash, and they’ll continue to make music, albeit separately.
“I’m still playing, with sort of a revolving cast of musicians,” she said. “(Sunday) night, I played with (former CCstringband member) Taylor Coker, (local pedal steel wizard) Tom Pryor and Billy (Contreras, fiddling phenom and her former brother-in-law). I’m trying out a new keyboard player, and Dave Peeples plays the bass for me a lot. Cruz is playing with Scott Miller and R.B. Morris, and he’s doing good, too — we’re just not giving each other advice on our music. We used to have each other to say, ‘What do you think about this?’ Now, I have to ask myself, ‘What do I think about it?’
“It was just me signed to the record deal, and I have some new material, so hopefully I’ll have everything ready to go into the studio in the fall. I went to Nashville the other day and just took time to work on some new sounds with Doug Lancio, who produced the last record. We just sat there and wrote a song called ‘Black Crow’ that day, and it’s a little bit like R&B with some Billie Holiday phrasing and vocals.”
In addition, to working on new material, Contreras is working out her old material for a new artistic medium — ballet. Appalachian Ballet Company director Amy Moore Morton approached her a couple of months ago with the idea.
“What I gathered was that she’s a fan and thought my music would be good for the girls to dance to,” Contreras said. “I gave her my albums so they could learn the songs they wanted for the dances, and I went the other day to the classroom to watch. There were about 25 girls in red leotards, and they saved me a chair right at the front of the room. I had no idea it was going to be so awesome. They’ve worked really hard, and it’s flattering to see my music used in such a production.”
Thursday night, Contreras will perform the music while members of the Blount-based Appalachian Ballet Company dance to it. Morton has selected 14 of the artist’s songs from her four records (and one EP), and according to Contreras, it’ll be an enterprising and creative twist on traditional ballet.
“For the song ‘Dress Me Down,’ there’s one girl resting in another girl’s hands, and she’s just rocking her,” Contreras said. “She chose some of my originals and some of my covers, and for ‘Marie Laveaux,’ the girl who plays Handsome Jack is dressed in a hat, and the playing the witch mimes Marie Laveaux’s scream.
“It’s a little off-the-cuff; it’s not all on tiptoes and in tutus, but it’s still ballet dancing. I guess it’s a little more modern, but it’s pretty cool.”
Contreras’s music has always inspired dancing, however. The jazz and country and Western swing layers to what she does mean that Barley’s employees have to make sure an area near the front of the stage is clear of tables and chairs, because without a doubt, couples will be up and moving before RobinElla is done playing.
“People have always liked to dance, and there are always some folks at Barley’s who do it,” Contreras said. “There’s a wide range — we have some swing dancers, some country line dancers, some people doing the Two Step. We even have one old couple, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, who are in their 90s, and they come up to the show and dance.
“I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s just that it’s very simple. There’s not much going on, and they can dance to it pretty easily. Sometimes, it’s the simplest music that people can relate to.”
More often than not, however, it’s the Blount County native’s warm smile, friendly demeanor and laid-back, unassuming stage presence that encourages fans to dance. There’s no pretension coming from the stage, no attitude or sarcasm or fun-poking. It’s an atmosphere of gentle encouragement, one where everybody seems to be an old friend gathered around the girl who’s voice is warm enough to make honey flow freely.
“It was a little bit overwhelming that someone would want to use my music to dance to, but it seems like a pretty decent match,” she said of next week’s ballet. “It’s really tasteful, and I’m looking forward to playing live while they dance. I’ll probably have a five-piece or a six-piece band with me. I’ll just be the orchestra off to the side, though; Amy didn’t ask me to dance, and it’s a good thing she didn’t, because I don’t have any good moves.”
She may not be fleet of foot, but watch those hands — and those eyes — go to work when she plays. She’s always studying, always looking for a new way to incorporate all of her passions, from motherhood to painting to music to home. The ballet has already got her thinking, she added.
“It makes me think I need to add strings to my live shows,” she said. “I think, ‘Gee whiz, if I had a whole string section, that would sound extra fine.’ I guess it makes me think that you should never limit yourself, because you don’t know what you’re capable of. This has shown me that I can provide music for ballerinas and do a lot of other stuff.
“A lot’s happened over the past year, but really ... I’m fine. There’s a lot going on, and I’ve got a lot to be thankful for. And I’m really happy.”