Eclectic Music and More

Crooked Still
Non-traditional Bluegrass Quintet

Friday, November 4, 2011 • 8pm
Tickets: $20/advance, $22/door, $10/teens 12-17,
children under 12 are free with paying adult.
Unitarian Fellowship, 4th and C Streets, Ashland

"No one captures the eerie, gorgeous menace of classic Anglo-American folk ballads like this Boston band." – USA TODAY

"Crooked Still's vision of string band and bluegrass music sounds like nobody else's… they play their instruments gorgeously, radiating warmth and [a] deep love of the music and songs they play. Aoife O'Donovan has a voice of rare, stunning purity and clarity." – SING OUT!

 

Crooked Still celebrates the band's ten year anniversary with a new EP release, Friends of Fall. The band will tour in support of the EP through the fall with select dates, including two very special nights of a 10th Anniversary Show at The Somerville Theater.

Since forming in Boston in 2001, Crooked Still has shattered preconceptions of traditional music without sacrificing authenticity. The Boston Globe praised, "Crooked Still may be the most important folk group to emerge from Boston…state-of-the-art musical chops with a deep understanding of American traditional music's raw melodic grace." Comprised of band members Aoife O'Donovan (vocals/guitar), Corey DiMario (double-bass), Gregory Liszt (banjo), Tristan Clarridge (cello), and Brittany Haas (fiddle), Crooked Still's reputation as a raucously energetic live band has earned them invitations to huge events like the historic Newport and Telluride Festivals. Their performances across the country and internationally have cemented them as crowd favorites wherever they play. National Public Radio named their acclaimed 2010 album, Some Strange Country one of the top folk albums of 2010: "Some Strange Country [is] an incredible blend of instruments, voices and lyrics. Mellow, rhythmic and captivating all at once… It can sound old, but this is modern music at its most impressive and thoughtful." With Friends of Fall, Crooked Still cements their position as one of the most impressively visionary performers of string music playing today.

 

A Message from Crooked Still

Following 10 years of successful touring around the world, we've decided to take some time off the road in 2012. We feel that the best thing for Crooked Still right now is to have a little creative space to allow everyone to pursue other projects and to preserve the the friendships and musical kinship that we have cultivated since our formation in 2001. While we are hoping to take a substantial break from traditional touring, keep an eye out for a few special appearances throughout the year!

 

Friends of Fall

Friends of Fall, the new 7-song EP from Crooked Still, offers a fresh and vibrant look at Boston's most innovative folk group on the eve of their tenth anniversary. While Crooked Still is well known for its one-of-a-kind interpretations of traditional American folk songs, Friends of Fall showcases the band's compelling approach to contemporary and original music. This unique song collection coincides with the band's 10-year anniversary tour in October, and features covers of the Beatles, Paul Simon, and John Hartford as well as original pieces and a musical adaptation of a Wendell Berry poem.

Crooked Still recorded Friends of Fall in the midst of a busy summer tour, convening for three days in a beautiful former church house, now the site of Rotary Records studios in West Springfield, MA. For this special project, each band member personally arranged and directed the entire ensemble for a single song. Recorded and mixed by two of the finest engineers from Nashville, TN (David Sinko, Erick Jaskowiak) these gorgeous recordings capture Crooked Still's signature live energy and dynamic musicianship, as well as standout performances by lead singer Aoife O'Donovan.

 

 

Aoife O'Donovan

When USA Today predicted that Aoife O'Donovan would soon become "the newest darling of the Americana set", it had already been true for quite some time. Aoife is renowned for her ability to breathe magic into anything she sings.

Aoife (pronounced EEF-ah) grew up in a musical family, immersed in folk music. She went on to study contemporary improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music in her hometown of Boston. Since her first professional engagement singing lead for the folk group The Wayfaring Strangers, she has maintained a wide variety of side projects and collaborations. Most recently, she has performed and recorded with Ollabelle, Sometymes Why, Karan Casey and Seamus Egan, Jerry Douglas, Jim Lauderdale, Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, Christina Courtin and Chris Thile (Punch Brothers).

For the past 10 years, Aoife has been fronting the alt-bluegrass/string band Crooked Still, which she formed when she was 18. Despite her young age, Aoife has toured in ten different countries, performed with the Boston Pops and the Utah Symphony Orchestra and has appeared on countless radio and television programs.

Her natural talent for songwriting recently came to the attention of Alison Krauss, who recorded Aoife's song "Lay My Burden Down", which is included on Alison's new album Paper Airplane (2011 Rounder Records) and can also be heard in the film Get Low (2010 Sony Pictures). Aoife's crystalline voice has also been heard on True Blood (HBO) and Private Practice (ABC).

In June 2010, Aoife released her first solo recording in the form of a limited edition 7" vinyl. Featuring two original tracks, it garnered rave reviews from audiophiles worldwide. Aoife is currently on tour with Crooked Still, with plans to record a full length solo album this fall, due for release in 2012.

 

Greg Liszt (Banjo)

Dr. Greg Liszt has been leading an unusual life. Born in Charlottesville, VA, he went to college at Yale and got a Ph.D. from MIT in Molecular Biology. He then immediately retired from science and went on tour playing banjo in Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions band. Along the way, Greg developed a new four-fingered banjo picking technique (the other players use three). He currently tours full time in the alt-bluegrass/chambergrass band Crooked Still and sings and plays banjo in The Deadly Gentlemen, an Americana/Rap hybrid.

 

Corey DiMario (Double-bass)

Corey DiMario is a diverse musician. He is a member of Crooked Still, a Boston based quartet specializing in traditional American roots music, and Spin, which performs Celtic music based in the New England Contra Dance tradition. Corey also performs with The Latter Day Lizards, and Dark Carnival. He performs bluegrass and contemporary folk music with Compass Records recording artist, Jake Armerding. Additionally, Corey is in a trio with his wife, fiddler and folklorist Lissa Schneckenburger.

 

Brittany Haas (Fiddle)

Brittany Haas is a 5 string fiddle player from Northern California, currently residing in Nashville. A Princeton graduate, she is a member of the Boston-based alternative bluegrass band, Crooked Still. She has spent the past 11 years touring the world with various musicians and groups such as Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, Yonder Mountain String Band, Tony Trischka, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas, and The Waybacks.

She played fiddle on Steve Martin's Grammy Award-winning CD, "The Crow," and performed in his band on "The David Letterman Show" and "Saturday Night Live". Her debut self-titled solo album was released in 2004, produced by Darol Anger and featuring Bruce Molsky, Mike Marshall, Alison Brown and others. She recently recorded a soon-to-be-released project with hardanger fiddler and composer Dan Trueman featuring their own original music. She also plays in an all-girl indie old-time band called The Fundies and an exciting new duo with fiddler Lauren Rioux.

 

Tristan Clarridge (Cello)

A talented multi-instrumentalist, Tristan Clarridge is the youngest person ever to win the Grand National Fiddle Championships, successfully achieving that title for three years consecutively. Beyond his extensive contest achievements, he is a brilliant acoustic-eclectic musician, spanning many genres of music and instruments with an individual style that is clearly unique and beautifully expressive. Mark O'Connor writes, "It would be very difficult to detect Tristan's youth because of his mature phrasing and old time flair. He has a lot going on in that musical mind of his and will step out in life to make wonderful contributions through his music". In addition to performing with Crooked Still, he also tours with The Bee Eaters, with his sister Tashina Clarridge.

 

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