He was awarded Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association in 1976 and 2000.
He played his first session in 1957, with his first major recording being George Jones's "White Lightning".[3] Thereafter he played keyboards for scores of country music artists.
On October 21, 2012, Robbins was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In Robert Altman's classic, Nashville, a hippie piano player nicknamed "Frog" is fired by Henry Gibson's character (an egotistical country singer), who yells at the studio engineer: "When I ask for Pig, I want Pig!".
He was blind, having lost his sight at age four due to an accident involving his father's knife.