Now content as a mom, wife, and employee, Carin Treibs still loves to sing. Photo by Phil Houseal

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Carin Treibs: Singing wherever she can

by Phil Houseal
Jan 21, 2009

Last spring as I walked a few laps around the high school track at the Relay for Life, I heard a fantastic voice belting out a country song. As I ambled past the finish line, I craned my neck up to gal singing from the bleachers and asked, "Who are you?"

She was Carin Treibs, who graduated from that same high school in 2001 as Carin Hartmann. I was surprised I had not heard her sing before, but a few weeks later I learned why.

The next time I saw Carin, I was limping rather than ambling. I had blown out my ankle one too many times on the basketball court and faced 6 weeks of rehab at Fredericksburg Physical Therapy. There, making me fill out stacks of paper, was Carin.

The reason I had never caught her act was because she mainly performs at weddings and funerals, and it had been my good fortune to not attend either for several years.

Carin has musical roots. Her father is Rick Hartmann, who was the long time drummer for Southern Image. I had been in bands with her uncle Gene, who played bass guitar.

Carin has been singing since she was a little girl. Her mom, Rocki, claimed she started as soon as she could put words together. Her dad would make up silly songs that little Carin would warble with him.

"I sang everywhere I could," she said. "At church, at home, at school; anywhere people would listen to me."

You would think someone like that would be a ham, but Carin is self-conscious about her voice.

"I am my own worst critic," she confessed. "I am afraid of messing up, and of what people think of me. No matter how good I have done, I still think I could do better."

In spite of her fears, Carin takes on solos at trying times. Musicians will back me up in saying there is no more intimidating performance than being asked to sing at someone's funeral or wedding. Both are once-in-a-lifetime occasions, and the audience doesn't start drinking until afterwards.

Although she has sung since she was 3 years old, Carin's first public performance was at a 4th grade talent show. Since then she has competed at pageants and several country showdowns, winning in 1997. That nurtured her desire to become a famous country singer and move to Nashville.

But something happened on the road to stardom.

"I met the love of my life," she said. She and her husband Kyle are now the parents of 1-year-old Jayecee.

Carin is "content, domesticated, and loving it." She has revived a tradition her parents performed with her - singing to her little girl every night. "She likes it, too," she said. "She thinks she has to make noises with me."

Will there be another generation of singers in the family?

"I hope so," she said. "I hope so."

Even though she gave up her dream of music fame, Carin has absolutely no regrets. She won her share of contests and pageants, and even took a shot at American Idol.

And she still sings at weddings and funerals.

"If anybody asks me to sing, I pretty much do it," she said.