Up & Coming New Nashville- Nell Robinson & Red Level (With Exclusive Interview)

Until recently, bluegrass and country singer Nell Robinson hadn’t sung in public since elementary school. She has traveled a long way since then, and from her family’s small rural town roots in “lower” Alabama, where several generations of Robinsons lived. Nell's sweet childhood memories embrace visiting the local store that sold bottled cokes and boiled peanuts, picking blueberries and shelling peas with her grandmothers, Nell Robinson and Thelma Bates. Raised by a career Air Force father, she and her family moved every few years, and the Alabama farmhouse and local roads were one of very few places where she was recognized and where almost every house along the road had “kinfolk” in it.

In just two short years, Nell has developed a reputation for her “sunny stage charisma”. Her live onstage performances are engaging, entertaining, effervescent. She has been positively recognized by music critics and reviewers for her “warm, sexy vocals,” “twang with a twist” attitude, “rollicking energy, sweet harmonies” and a “smokin’” backup band. The late-blooming chanteuse's decision to pursue a bluegrass and country singing career was serendipitous. A few years ago she surprised her husband by singing a special song in front of family and friends on their wedding anniversary. The audience “turned on a light in her” and the musical bug bit hard. Nell signed on for voice lessons, band workshops, and later came to meet Grammy-Award winning bluegrass sweetheart, Laurie Lewis.

Along with another Grammy-winner, Jim Nunally, Laurie produced Nell's recent debut album "Nell Robinson in Loango." The album includes performances by album producers Lewis and Nunally, and a Who’s Who of world-class bluegrass musicians, including Keith Little, Tom Rozum, John Reischman and the Jaybirds, Todd Phillips, Kathy Kallick, Chad Manning, Patrick Sauber, and others. Her debut album has been met with rave reviews from the biggest bluegrass association in the country to the local papers near the family farm to aficionados of broader musical tastes. (For more reviews, visit nellrobinsonmusic.com/nell.)

“I'm listening to Loango, her amazing debut CD right now. In My Dear Old Southern Home kicks the CD off with a romp and stomp, letting you know that the next 47 minutes of your life will include some fun twang and old time blues.” Tony DuShane, San Francisco Chronicle

She plans to tour in 2010, backed by John Reischman (mandolin), Jim Nunally (guitar), Trisha Gagnon (string bass), Nick Hornbuckle (banjo), and Greg Spatz (fiddle) - aka John Reischman and the Jaybirds.



We had a chance to sit down with the lovely Nell and talk about her music career.

TNS- What brought you to music in the first place?

I have loved singing since I was a little girl. I was just talking with a friend yesterday about the last memory I have of singing in public up until 3 years ago: I was a third grader at the elementary school on the Air Force Academy (my father was career Air Force) and I sang It Came Upon A Midnight Clear for the school holiday show. My voice cracked…and I didn’t sing again for 30 years! Just kidding. I did sort of go underground though and sang alone in my truck until very recently. I am actually classically trained on the flute, but that doesn’t come in very handy for my current tastes in country and bluegrass music.

TNS- Describe your music- what's the mission behind the music?

My family has always teased me about being “too sensitive” – singing and music is an endeavor where that is a really good thing. I love to connect to a song in a very deep way, to feel and experience a broad range of emotions and to share that with musicians and an audience. The songs that I write and cover resonate with my family’s history and rural roots in Alabama and other areas of the south. Southerners are truly great storytellers, and singing and composing is my way of storytelling and remembering my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, great-grandparents etc. I just talked with my 88-year-old Uncle Bill the other day. He said he had heard that I was looking for family stories for songs, and he regaled me with stories from the old farm on the Brooklyn Road in lower Alabama. He told stories from before the Civil War that have been handed down verbatim for generations. I am hoping I can carry these memories forward in music. That’s why I sing under my grandmother’s name, have named my bands after the towns near the old home, as well as my new album.

TNS- What might people be surprised to find out about you?

I sang for the first time (as an adult) in public when I was 45. Also, I believe everyone can sing. It is a joy and a blessing and I hope our culture gets back to traditions of singing together whenever and wherever people gather. I run a workshop in Berkeley meant to build community around music. I quilt and knit. When I am down, yodeling picks me up.

TNS- What kind of music are you listening to? What's in your iPod?

I have very eclectic tastes, and that’s one of the reasons I always have KALX on my radio in the car (that’s the UC Berkeley student radio station) – you just never know what you are going you get. I am a huge fan of Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash. I can’t get enough of them. I am really enjoying Laurie Lewis’ new album (Blossoms), and John Reischman and the Jaybirds (Stellar Jays).

TNS- If you had a crystal ball and looked forward five years, what do you see for yourself?

I see myself with a couple more albums with new original material, especially exploring stories from along the Brooklyn Road. I’d love to visit and sing to the troops overseas if they wanted me. I plan an international tour in 2011. Hey, Nashville? I’d love to sing over there sometime. Singing has changed my life. It has been a lot of fun and I just hope that continues.