Experimental all-guitar trio The String Revolution is coming to Pittsburgh Winery this Thursday, and although founding member of the band Janet Robin has had a long journey to get where she is, her past does have some local connections:
“My dad was born in Pittsburgh.”
The California native has been in love with the guitar since she was 6 years old.
“My brother was playing guitar and I wanted to do everything my brothers did,” she said.
But something clicked for Robin — no other hobby or interest was the same as getting to play music.
“I got my hands around a guitar and it felt like home and I felt comfortable with it. Throughout the years, nobody had to tell me to practice. It was like ‘Where’s Janet? Oh, she’s with her guitar.’ It became my best friend,” she said.
She stuck with it, even taking guitar lessons with the late Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads. In high school, she joined an all-girl glam-rock band, an anomaly at the time.
“There weren’t a lot of female bands back then. Growing up as a girl, without that many girl guitar players to inspire me … there really weren’t a lot,” she said.
After she graduated, the band, Precious Metal, signed with a label. They made several records and toured for years, until a particular turn in rock history put them on the outs.
“Grunge came along, and that was the end of glam rock, metal, pop metal and all that,” Robin said.
In 1992, she joined the backing band for Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham as he embarked on a solo tour.
“He was specifically looking for two female guitar players because he was putting together a very unique band,” Robin said. Essentially, Buckingham wanted a “guitar army” of five guitarists, and he also wanted vocalists.
Being a part of Buckingham’s band wasn’t easy, but Robin said it was rewarding.
“That gig really took me to another level,” she said. “I feel like in Precious Metal I was in college and in Lindsey’s band I was getting my master’s. I think he ended up mentoring me a little bit.”
But …
“I almost got fired,” she added. “He was hard on everybody, and he expected nothing less than perfection.”
She looks back on the experience with gratitude for what she learned, and she and Buckngham still keep in touch.
After that stint, she went out as an independent solo artist for a long time.
“I started singing more and doing my own thing, booking my own shows, and eventually going over to Europe, making a career out of that over there. It was maybe 15 years of doing that,” she said.
Originally, The String Revolution was meant to be a side project.
“First of all, I really wanted to showcase guitar playing more. I just wanted to try something that was more instrumental,” Robin said.
But there was another big reason: She was having trouble with her voice and, in fact, developed a cyst on her vocal cords that required surgery.
“Frankly, I was an OK singer. I had a character voice and all that, but I’m a guitar player. That’s what I do,” she said.
So she put out feelers on Craigslist for Los Angeles guitarists who might be interested in joining the project.
“Once I met these guys — we were originally a quartet — there was a kind of symbiosis,” Robin said. “It felt like brothers. We all had the same vision.”
They “started playing around and cutting a few EPs,” including their first release, “Stringborn,” in 2016. After a while, two of the band members decided to leave for personal reasons. Robin and remaining original member Markus Illko discussed next steps and decided to make the group a trio. She came across Roberto Luis Gómez online and was blown away by what the recent Cuban immigrant could do.
“I was like, I found a diamond in the rough. He was just super excited to join the band,” Robin said.
The String Revolution won a Grammy Award in 2023 for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella. It was for their cover of “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash, featuring guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, and the song has quite a story behind it.
They have done a number of reimagined cover songs, including a version of Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” as a tribute to Robin’s former guitar teacher. They were trying to decide what to do next.
“In my previous incarnation as a solo artist, I had done two records with John Carter Cash producing,” she said, invoking the son of legendary country artist Johnny Cash. “I had done both of those records at his dad’s studio, Cash Cabin, in Nashville.” So they decided to do a Johnny Cash song and see if the younger Cash would produce it.
“We did a quick demo of ‘Folsom’ our way — we totally rearranged it — and he said, ‘Yeah, this is great. I’m in. You guys need to come here and do it, and we need to get a guest.’ ”
So they got Emmanuel, who is a feature on their version of “Folsom Prison Blues.” “It was exactly what the track needed,” Robin said.
She said that John Carter Cash was a huge supporter of the song.
“He was all in in the session. He sat in the room when we played together, and in a few takes, he said, ‘You know what? I’m going to pull out my dad’s 1932 Martin guitar.’ ”
Cover songs have been a big part of The String Revolution’s repertoire. Robin said they want to make sure they’re doing cover songs their own way.
“When you do a cover, even if you’re a singer, you should never, in my opinion, do it exactly like the song, unless you’re in a tribute band,” she said.
The String Revolution is about trying to produce the sound of a full band with just guitars. “We wanted to experiment with percussion on the guitar, banging on the guitar, but not overdoing it,” Robin said.
They’ve got another big cover and some original music coming, and for right now are enjoying touring. The group will be at Pittsburgh Winery on Thursday for a 21+ show. For tickets, visit events.pittsburghwinery.com, and for more about the band, visit thestringrevolution.com.
Alexis Papalia is a TribLive staff writer. She can be reached at apapalia@triblive.com.
