Swallow Hill Music is pleased to present "the most important folk group to emerge from Boston since the early '60s" (
The Boston Globe), Crooked Still, as they take the Daniels Hall stage on Friday, September 18 at 8 p.m.
Crooked Still is on the cusp of a new musical chapter. The quartet became a quintet with the addition of fiddler Brittany Haas and Tristan Clarridge on cello and second fiddle, replacing former member Rushad Eggleston (cello), who left the group in November of 2007.
Lead vocalist Aoife O'Donovan told
No Depression magazine, "When you're in a quartet, and one of your members who's been a huge creative part of your sound decides to leave, it definitely crosses your mind to just not do it. But we had spent five years building a name for ourselves. And if you look at almost every band that's successful, there've been lineup changes." If the first album from the new lineup is any indication, success for this young band will be explosive.
Crooked Still continues to perform one of the most compelling forms of alternative bluegrass and string band music today. The band converged to mingle their creative processes at Allaire Studios in upstate New York with producer Eric Merrill for
Still Crooked. The album, released on the Signature Sounds label, balances unknown traditional material with three new tunes from the band, along with "Did You Sleep Well?" by fellow old-time musician Nathan Taylor and a Mississippi John Hurt standard.
The entire album was recorded live in one big room, with everyone playing together. Merrill captured most songs in one or two takes. "I was outside in the hallway, because my voice is so quiet," O'Donovan says. "Recording live, you don't have an option to overdub; that always makes a better album."
With Haas and Clarridge, the band has proven themselves to be even more adventurous, breathing their cosmic fire into old songs. "When Rushad left, we wanted to move in new directions," O'Donovan says. "Brittney adds another female presence to the band; I can hear my voice in her fiddling. Tristan has a refined cello tone, with a powerful, restrained energy. They bring a fresh outlook to the arrangements that keep the music exciting.""
Still Crooked is an ensemble effort of inspired music-making that moves the band's impossible-to-pigeonhole style in new directions while honoring their folk roots. The album's genre-bending sound is the combination of five distinctive talents who are not content to limit themselves to any one project or style of music.
All Music Guide praises: "
Still Crookedis an elegant package of superbly crafted musical styles taking country/folk as the deep foundationand veering off into exciting and exhilarating directions."
Crooked Still is Aoife O'Donovan (vocals, guitar, baritone ukulele, piano, glockenspiel), Brittany Haas (five-string fiddle), Dr. Gregory Liszt (banjo), Tristan Clarridge (cello, fiddle) and Corey DiMario (double bass, tenor guitar).
Tickets are now on sale at
www.swallowhillmusic.org (now with no processing fees) or by calling (303) 777-1003 x2. Discounts are available for Swallow Hill members. Buy in advance and save! Swallow Hill Music Association is located at 71 East Yale Avenue (just off Broadway) in Denver.