Homecoming

The fundraiser held Feb. 23 at Lanier Elementary School seemed more like a family reunion. Several hundred people showed to support the school’s booster club and to be entertained by Lanier alumni Robin Contreras of Robinella and the CC String Band.

Club president Judy Bass organized the event with the help of her husband, Rick, who is first cousins with Robinella, the singer and songwriter of the group.

The group had just returned from a road trip with shows that included stops in Washington, California, Texas and Louisiana.
"This is the first time I’ve performed in front of so many of my family, friends and teachers," she said. "My old bus driver is here, and maybe even a few old boyfriends."

Bass said the people who have attended Lanier are a tight-knit community.

"Since Lanier is a smaller school, we don’t get as much funding from the school board for athletic equipment. We will take the money raised from this show and use it for things like jerseys, basketballs, concession stand items, whatever we have the funds to improve," Bass said.

Bass said her husband made the tickets, and that Connie and Robert Ledbetter were instrumental in doing anything needed to pull together the event.

The evening’s festivities kicked off with Jerry Tipton, Robin’s dad, playing a few numbers backed by Robin’s husband, Cruz Contreras, on mandolin and David Peeples on stand-up bass. Contreras and the rest of the band -- Tom Pryor on steel guitar and Daryl Johnson on drums -- slipped on stage and seemed to melt right in to what Tipton started.

The set included a rendition of Johnny Cash’s "Folsom Prison." Tipton’s sisters Reba Bass and Lois Russell joined him on "Suppertime."