Ole River String Band a Thursday night mainstay at The Point Restaurant

By Fran Thompson
As often occurs in the familiar world that is our local musical hotbed, the four member Ole River String Band started with a back porch jam and a variation of the six degrees of separation concept.
Robin Kingry is a founding member of Bubba & Them, a bluegrass outfit that has been playing bluegrass on weekends at The Point Restaurant for almost 30 years. Nick Biebricher, the owner of Sandy Roots Music Productions, has a connection to The Point through the monthly songwriters series he produces there. Nick’s girlfriend is singer/songwriter Christiana Christian. Justin Fobes has been playing guitar behind Christiana for a few years. Justin started hanging out with bassist Dave Calugar of The Beachbilly’s soon after moving here from Mobile. Dave has been Robin’s beau for eight years.
Or as Fobes put it: “We all sat down to eat dinner and called it a rehearsal.’’
Kingry, a 20 year Innerarity resident, had already played her four hour gig with Bubba & Them when she and Calugar invited Christian and guitarist Chris McCune to jam on Robin’s back porch.
“There was a really cool chemistry right away,’’ Robin said, “especially the female vocals. We sound like angels together. We knew that we had to do something with it. This group is fairly new, but I am excited about it.’’
“We were hanging out one night and Robin invited me and Nick to her house back around the 1st of the year. We started jamming and we all said ‘this sounds pretty good,’’’ Christiana added.
“Everybody had their own little thing, but the sounds of us all together was something magical. It was pretty awesome, and it came together quickly.’’
The Ole River String Band plays originals and covers artists like Sarah Evans, Fleetwood Mac, Kasey Musgraves and Miranda Lambert during what has become an ongoing residency at Innerarity’s The Point Restaurant (850-492-3577) every Thursday from 6-10 p.m.
The band has discussed branching out to other venues on other nights, but the members all have separate projects and ongoing gigs.
“My dance card is pretty full with working a 9 to 5 job and playing every weekend with Bubba & Them,’’ Robin said. “Dave plays every Wednesday with the Beachbilly’s. So our time is limited.’’
Dave, who also plays locally with J. Hawkins, said The Ole River String Band fulfills his wish to play in a band with his girlfriend. “This band just felt right when we got together,’’ said the Nashville transplant. “We sounded good right away.’’
Christiana is just a few years removed from winning talent shows at Foley High and advancing to the Star Search finals at The Wharf.
After a year at Troy, she came home and went to work, playing gigs solo and with others, and writing songs. She plans to release her debut CD, Silent Sea, early next year.
“I’m only in my fifth year of playing live music out, but I played in so many choirs growing up that harmony comes naturally to me,’’ Christiana said. “When Robin and I started singing together, it flowed like we came from the same time era. It just worked.’’
“It is a huge part of what we do,’’ Robin added.
A native Mobilian, Justin has been gigging professionally and writing songs for 21 years. He moved to Perdido a few months back to get closer to most of the venue he plays.
“I have more work than I can really do. I can play five nights with five different people. I can’t express how happy I am about it (moving to Perdido),’’ he said.
Justin plans set up a home studio to record his own songs and produce others.
“Musically, we are all trying to make a living and there are only so many resources,’’ Justin said. “But on any given night when I’m on stage, two or three musicians might walk through the gate and it’s perfectly within the realm of possibility that they will sit in, and they all know it.’’
Fore more info about the band, visit oleriverstringband.com