I heard these folks on NPR. Out of Boston. I want to know if anyone wants to up their first album or if anyone has a copy of their new release for me. I don't know the names of any of the albums. The song I heard on NPR is great.

No one listens to them?

No, but I like that name. Sounds like a Blind Boy Fuller song or something.

Here you go, you bastards:

This is the new one. Called "Shaken by a Low Sound"




From Amazon.com

Like Nickel Creek and the Duhks (and Alison Krauss and Union Station before them), Crooked Still employ bluegrass elements as a springboard for an eclectic, expansive dynamic. Behind the sweetly ethereal and occasionally jazzy vocals of Aoife O' Donovan, the interplay of Gregory Liszt's banjo, Rushad Eggleston's cello (both bowed and flatpicked), and Corey DiMario's double bass gives the young New England band a sound that is closer to chamber-grass than hoedown. Though none of the material on this label debut is original[Mountain Jumper is an original, written by Rushad], the transformations typically are, with the murder balladry of "Little Sadie" given a surprisingly sprightly reading, Bob Dylan's early "Oxford Town" taken at double-time speed, and Robert Johnson's "Come On in My Kitchen" sounding more meditative than bluesy. The band and veteran producer Lee Townsend enlist a number of guests for harmony and instrumental support, but it's plain that the drummerless quartet[Rushad's cello provides percusive sounds too] has the talent and musical vision to deliver on this album's considerable promise. --Don McLeese

dldng now

Frostedguy,

did you get a chabce to listen yet?

Yeah, listening now. It's very likeable and pure. A bit serene for the lyrics, but that's kind of the point of non-twang bluegrass folk pop. Nice on the surface, but underneath, death, decay and skeletons.

The sisters who played Clooney's kids in O Brother Where Art Thou have a CD out, now that they've grown up a bit. It's supposd to be quite good, though I haven't heard it yet.

This is a Sunday-lis'nin' keeper for me. Thanks a bunch.

Yeah. The Peasall Sisters. I have the album. Of all places, I saw them do about 5 of their songs on the 700 Club. haha. They're pretty dang good. I want them to do some of their own stuff though. I listen to that album every now and again. It's definitely worth a listen, if not a buy.

I think my initial reaction from Crooked Still is that they could have done much more. I feel like the album is good but it just isn't quite as good as it could be. I really dig the first track though.

Jeezub, that's a bouncy version of "Oxford Town."

"Come Into My Kitchen" and "Ecstasy" hopefully will get notice beyond the Nickel Creek fanbase. Maybe Neko Case fans will like them.

It's probably too pleasant for a lot of people, but that's some fine cello-by-way-of-Union-Station goodness there.

That's how I feel about Ollabelle. Their upstate white hippie New York Brickell-Merchant take on spirituals and gospel music is quite good on a track-by-track basis but kind of goofy across an entire album.

I have never heard them.