Style Weekly
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It's bad enough that when Cruz Contreras' marriage ended 2007, it also meant the end of his band. Having become a regional favorite in Knoxville, Tenn., over a 10-year period with his then wife Robinella, who served up lead vocals to his bluegrass sound, Contreras suddenly found himself without a Plan B. Giving up music for a bit and driving a truck for a local stone company, the mandolin instrumentalist was eventually encouraged to start singing his own material. Recruiting some of the city's music veterans, including his own fiddle playing brother, Contreras come away with a beautifully dusty Americana-country sound that's full of mountain ballad laments and chug-a-long twang. On the road supporting a debut album, “Whiskey Angel,” written and recorded in a single weekend earlier this year, the Black Lillies are scheduled to perform the Triple on Thursday, Dec. 17, at 10 p.m. with Woven Green. $8.
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