Texas fiddler Carrie Rodriguez gets back to her roots - Santa Cruz Sentinel

By Bonnie Horgos
Posted: 06/24/2010 12:15:17 PM PDT

For most classical musicians, a scholarship at Ohio's Oberlin Conservatory would be the ultimate career crescendo. Yet there violinist 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."

Getting back to her roots, the 30-something 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, which she'll perform tonight at Don Quixote's.

"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."

That's where "Love and Circumstances" comes in, the song appropriately closing the album.

Family is obviously an important theme of "Love and Circumstances." 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. The two began playing music together, touring the Netherlands by the time Rodriguez was 15.

Musicians didn't have to be blood relatives to get on the album, though. Other covered artists include Merle Haggard, M. Ward and -- how could she not? -- Hank Williams. Rodriguez croons the godfather of country's heart-wrenching song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry;" she seems comfortable with her vocals, giving the classic the emotion it deserves.

Rodriguez wasn't always belting out the ballads, though.

Chip Taylor, the popular songwriter who penned "Wild Thing," asked Rodriguez to sing backup vocals for a European tour after he heard her perform in 2001 at the Austin music festival South By Southwest.

"I wanted the gig, so I tried to give him what he wanted," Rodriguez said.

Pretty soon, the two were singing duets together; they released an album in 2002 and have since released several albums together.

Even with the acclaimed musician's support, Rodriguez was worried.

"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."

With time, Rodriguez became comfortable singing, discovering it helped her violin playing as well; she teaches at summer fiddle camps when she can, always having the kids sing melodies before striking their bow.

"Singing helped me to play the violin more lyrically," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez will bring her fiddle to Don Quixotes's tonight at 7:30 p.m., which will definitely be a change of scenery for the Texan.

"I feel lucky that I get to see so many places on tour, especially Don Quixote's," Rodriguez said. "As I recall, it's up there in the mountains, with ... are those redwoods? Yes, redwoods."