Carrie Rodriguez plays Sunday at Carson City's Brewery Outdoor Amphitheater
Carson City music lovers have a real treat ahead of them this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. when Carrie Rodriguez brings her violin and other instruments to the Brewery’s Outdoor Amphitheater at 441 W. King St.
Carrie is a classical trained musician who walks the paths of Texas pop, among other genres. She’s a striking 30-something who grew up around music.
On a scholarship at Ohio's Oberlin Conservatory Carrie Rodriguez was, yearning for her homeland of Austin, Texas."I was sitting in my dorm room playing along with Hank Williams records instead of practicing Tchaikovsky," Rodriguez said. "I missed the music of Texas. I missed doing different things with my violin."
Rodriguez has since become a singer-songwriter, creating Americana albums filled with twangs, slides and, of course, plenty of fiddle she continued to study violin at Berklee College of Music.
Rodriguez's album "Love and Circumstances," released April 13, delivers covers of her favorite songs.
"Some of the songs have been a part of my live shows for three or four years," Rodriguez said. "I would often close with my great-aunt Eva Garza's song ‘La Punalada Trapera.' People would come up asking where they could get a recording of the song."
In "Love and Circumstances", the song appropriately closing the album.
Rodriguez also covers her father, popular Texas singer-songwriter David Rodriguez, on "When I Heard Gypsy Davy Sing."
Paying tribute to her dad was important; he introduced Rodriguez to music, giving her a Leonard Cohen record for her 9th birthday she didn't pick it up until angst kicked in at age 13.
They playing music together, touring the Netherlands when Rodriguez was 15.
Other covered artists include Merle Haggard, M. Ward Hank Williams. Rodriguez croons the godfather of country's heart-wrenching song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry."
Chip Taylor, the popular songwriter who penned "Wild Thing," asked Rodriguez to sing backup vocals for a European tour after he heard her perform.
"I wanted the gig, so I tried to give him what he wanted," Rodriguez said.
The two released an album in 2002 and have since released several albums together.
"I'd say to him, People are going to hear this and know I'm a violinist, not a singer,'" Rodriguez said. "I thought since I worked so hard on the violin, I had to work equally as hard at singing."
Rodriguez learned to enjoy singing, discovering it helped her violin playing as well; she teaches at summer fiddle camps, having the kids sing melodies before striking their bow.
"Singing helped me to play the violin more lyrically," Rodriguez said.
So when she appears here in Carson City it’s something of a coup for the Brewery; talent like this usually passes up Nevada’s capital city.
Tickets are $20 with seniors. Students and BAC members paying just $17. Call 883-1976 if you want to buy in advance. And you should.
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