Album Description: It takes courage to release the securityof the familiar and embrace change. After five years of touring and establishing themselves as "the most important folk group to emerge from Boston since the early 60's" (Boston Globe) , Crooked Still announced that cellist Rushad Eggleston would leave the group in November of 2007. The band that had been drawing invitations from huge events like the historic Newport and Telluride Folk Festivals, and numerous rave reviews from publications like USA Today and Interview Magazine, was now on the cusp of a new musical chapter. The quintet became five with the addition of fiddler Brittany Haas and Tristan Clarridge on cello and second fiddle. If the first album from the new line-up 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.
Still Crooked is an ensemble effort of inspired music making that moves the bands' impossible to pigeonhole style in new directions while honoring their folk roots.Crooked Still'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. While Crooked Still is the main band for these talented players, all are involved in other projects including Aoife O'Donovan's work with Solas and Sometymes Why and Gregory Liszt's turn with the Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Band.
Chamber Bluegrass Or "Artgrass," as I call it. They have a cello player. Enough said.
This is bluegrass for aesthetes and city slickers who wouldn't be caught dead at a barn dance or revival meeting.
The girl singer is really annoying, too; all breathy and fragile and folky. I could barely understand the lyrics she was singing.
The musicianship is of a high level, but to what end? There seems to be nothing about life that these folks wish to communicate to the listener. The music sounds like an academic exercise.
What really grips these folks? Where does life grab them? This CD offers no clues.
An extraordinary album from a truly original band I discovered Crooked Still entirely by accident at the Grey Fox bluegrass festival two years ago. After enjoying a few sets of traditional bluegrass music played by well-established bands that have been together for decades, this ragtag group of 20-somethings came on the stage -- one with a double bass and another with a cello -- and blew the audience away. I've been hooked ever since.
Still Crooked is the perfect name their latest album, since it's the first since the departure of their wildly spectacular (and spectacularly wild) original cellist Rushad Eggleston. As a great fan of their first two CDs -- Hop High and Shaken by a Low Sound -- I know I wasn't the only one who was worried about the future direction and quality of the band. But from the very first track it's clear that there's no need for concern. The new incarnation of Crooked Still is very much Still Crooked and still creating music of the highest order.
While the album has a few fun up-tempo tunes (Poor Ellen Smith is a blast all the way to the very end, with its surprise final violin flourish), overall it's definitely quieter and more intense than their other CDs. It opens with the extraordinary Undone in Sorrow, a heartbreakingly plaintive song that showcases the entire band's strengths, from Aoife O'Donovan's breathy vocals to the fine playing of new cellist Tristan Clarridge and new violinist Brittany Haas. Another real standout is Low Down and Dirty, an original song of painful love, vengeful murder, and a touch of cowardice written by O'Donovan that brings visions of Tim Burton's movies to mind. Two of the finest songs on the CD are almost lullabies -- Captain Captain and Florence -- and honestly, there isn't a weak song on the entire CD.
Highly recommended.
Cconsistently surprised their audience Their latest album has pumped up some traditional american music. This time they did it with two new members. A new cellist replacing the old one. And a new fiddler Ms. Haas. She gives the Crooked Still so much more sounds and variations. Her solo part on the tunes are just amazing. Fans love it.
Quality of sound is up to the standard like the previous two albums. The songs that they've chosen on this album is not what i've anticipated. It's always a 'growing' thing. You've to listen to it a few more times to understand the composition of the songs. But it's for sure that the variety of tunes are very limited on this album. I'm giving a four star rating because of that. It's worth listening and a great introduction to the newer generation of bluegrass music!
Best yet! I agree- this is the best CD yet released by this group. and it's awesome. nuff said.
stellar musicianship- amazing arrangements- great track selection- and more notably- this CD flows much fore smoothly from song to song than do the other two crooked still releases.
highly recommended!
For those quiet evenings at home This, the third CD from a somewhat different contemporary-style bluegrass group, is their best thus far. Having unusual sonority achieved through both cello and bass, which contrasts nicely with the banjo, fiddle, and the soft breathy vocals of Aoife O'Donovan, the group offers traditional songs influenced by named artists and, now, a couple of their own. Including more ballads and storytelling than rousing dances, the CD is fine for the late evening or after dinner relaxation. The musicianship is excellent. I happen to be a cello freak and appreciate that instrument's contributions to the sound. I recommend listening to the CD with a good stereo system that allows a brighter, clearer sound, as on lesser equipment the recording, oddly, seems energetically flat and dry in tone, perhaps the fault of a too efficient sound-absorbing studio.
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