Robinella – Solace for the Lonely

Robinella & the CC String Band’s 2003 debut for Columbia was praised to the barn rafters and garnered comparisons to Alison Krauss. Fast forward to now: Robin Ella Contreras has been listening to another Ella, Ella Fitzgerald, as well as Nina Simone, and the vocals, arrangements and instrumentation have gone uptown.

Still, you can take the woman out of the country, but not the country out of the woman, so plenty of Appalachian influences remain in the Knoxville, Tennessee, act (now going solely by the name Robinella). Husband and co-writer Cruz Contreras still contributes mandolin to some of the cuts (particularly “Down The Mountain” and “Teardrops”), but there’s also a Rhodes keyboard and piano in the mix, as well as brushed snares, funky double-bass, and shifting percussion signatures that snake around the languid lyrical poetry.

The leadoff track, “Break It Down, Baby”, eases the listener into the new jazz-based sound, but by the final cut, “I Fall In Love As Much As I Can”, the transformation is done, and the result is gorgeous. Producer Doug Lancio (Patty Griffin) adds maturity and depth to the tunes and settles them into comfortable orchestration. (We could quibble about the occasional vocal exchanges with the baby, but new parenthood will do that to a musical family.)

“Whippin’ Wind”, “Come Back My Way”, “Press On” and “Solace For The Lonely” draw you in and keep you there, but it’s fitting that there’s also a cover of “Brand New Key”, because as much as she admires Ella Fitzgerald, it’s Melanie she sounds like.