Robbi Podrug
Robbi Podrug plays fiddle and sings harmony vocal on Songs From Shannon. A fiddler for the past thirty years, Robbi has also been known to pull a somewhat dusty accordion out of the closet every now and then, but only on very special occasions. A Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, Robbi recently moved to Birmingham with her husband, guitarist/writer/producer Jim Ohlschmidt, and seven-year-old son, Henry. Robbi says her way of fiddling is influenced by Bill Monroe's longtime fiddle player, Kenny Baker, who originated the long-bow style.
She also admires Western Swing giant, Johnny Gimbel, who, Robbi says, "always has a smile on his face. Both of these guys (Baker and Gimbel) have a tone that is impeccable and instantly identifiable."
Robbi says that Songs From Shannon was a surprising project, "I was recommended by a mutual friend to play on a couple cuts. I was prepared with a stage-name in case I didn't feel comfortable using my real name on the project. When I received a copy of the tunes for the project, I was extremely taken with the songwriting and the singing. Unlike some songwriters whose songs are like personal accounts of life events that make the listener feel as though they were intruding on a discussion between writer and therapist, these songs were fresh and wonderful and evocative songs about life with plenty of room to just enjoy the melodies and the singing, if that's what you're in the mood for. It's great music. It gave me a really good feeling to be involved."
Robbi and her husband have worked together in the past in a western swing band called Dusty Drapes and His Shades of Swing. She's also played in the "pit" for a couple of theatre productions (although one of these "pits" was 20 feet in the air on an eight-by-sixteen platform). She's done live radio, toured France and recorded a commercial for Sparky's Restaurant in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, complete with sampled dog barks. These days when she's not working her day job or rollicking in her flower garden with her dogs Ella and Skippy, Robbi most likely can be found playing bluegrass music and having big fun with Herb Trotman and his Music Makers.
Leslie says of Robbi: "Robbi Podrug plays fiddle like an angel. New to the Birmingham area, she came into the studio as a session's player, recommended to Rick Lovelady (of The Golden Mile) by Herb Trottman (a Birmingham musician who's been a member of Claire Lynch's Front Porch String Band and who owns Fretted Instruments in Homewood, Alabama). We didn't know what to expect when Robbi walked into the studio on her night to record. We'd never heard her play. We'd never even met her before. I can't imagine what it must have been like for her! Probably no big deal--she's not one who's easily shaken. She's so cool! So in walks Robbi and she warms up for a minute and we get started. Rick and I had headphones on so we'd know what was going on. I forget what song she started with... maybe Chicago? But I do remember Rick and I looking at each other in amazement and mouthing, "Oh, my God, Oh, my God!" to each other. Robbi would finish a song and look up at me and say, "Kinda like that?" and I would stand there for a minute, looking like an idiot, with my mouth hanging open and all I could do was just sort of nod stupidly. Yes, Robbi. Kinda like that."