Contreras and his bandmates – harmony vocalist Trisha Gene Brady, multi-instrumentalist Tom Pryor, bass player Robert Richards and drummer Jamie Cook
The Black Lillies will release their new album, Runaway Freeway Blues on March 26th. Download the album’s first single, “The Fall”, below.
By Steve Wildsmith, The Daily Times
After co-founding Robinella and the CCstringband with his wife, Black Lillies front man Cruz Contreras spent nearly a decade traveling the road and making music from coast to coast. When his marriage – and the band – dissolved in 2007, he returned to the road … this time, as the driver of a truck for a stone company. It was here, over a year spent rolling down the highways of East Tennessee, that the songs and sounds that would form the nexus of The Black Lillies were conceived.
And “Runaway Freeway Blues,” the band’s third studio album, was realized exactly there … on the road. When the Lillies weren’t playing their 200-odd gigs during 2012, they were in Wild Chorus Studio in their hometown of Knoxville, Tenn., working with Scott Minor of Sparklehorse to craft a beautiful ode to restless spirits and rambling hearts. Rooted in the mud-rutted switchbacks of Appalachia, “Runaway Freeway Blues” is the sound of a band that’s becoming something of a phenomenon across the country.
Contreras and his bandmates – harmony vocalist Trisha Gene Brady, multi-instrumentalist Tom Pryor, bass player Robert Richards and drummer Jamie Cook – have grown from a few friends sitting around campfires and living rooms to a band that shows up in far-flung cities where folks to whom they’ve never played before already know the words to the songs.
February 15 Grand Ole Opry Nashville, TN
March 9 Young Avenue Deli Memphis, TN
March 10 Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom Little Rock, AR
March 12 – 14 SXSW Austin, TX
March 15 Haileys Club Denton, TX*
March 16 Dosey Doe Music Cafe Conroe, TX*
March 17 House Concert Houston, TX
March 23 Tennessee Theatre Knoxville, TN
March 29 Grand Ole Opry Nashville, TN
March 30 3rd & Lindsley Nashville, TN
April 9 The Melting Point Athens, GA
April 10 Eddie’s Attic Decatur, GA
April 11 – 12 String Break Festival Brooksville, FL
April 26 – 27 MerleFest Wilkesboro, NC
May 8 Old St Francis School Bend, OR
May 9 McMenamins Kennedy School Portland, OR
May 11 McMenamin’s Hotel Oregon McMinnville, OR
May 14 Olympic Club Centralia, WA
May 15 Triple Door Seattle, WA
May 16 Edgefield Winery Troutdale, OR
May 17 Treehouse Café Bainbridge Isle, WA
May 19 Sunbanks Rhythm & Blues Festival Electric City, WA
May 25 Strawberry Music Festival Yosemite, CA
June 8 BrewGrass Music Festival Denver, CO
June 9 Pagosa Folk n’ Bluegrass Festival Pagosa Springs, CO
July 20 Daleville Town Center Roanoke, VA
August 9 St. Clair Park Amphitheater Greensburg, PA
August 10 Wills Mountain Festival Bedford, PA
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