Boston Globe features Crooked Still
Continuing our print media bluegrass news roundup…
This past Friday’s edition of The Boston Globe carried a feature by Globe staffer Joan Anderman on Crooked Still, an innovative Boston-based acoustic quartet which we have lauded in recent months.
What makes this group unique is their combination of traditional music with unorthodox instrumentation. Their newest release, Shaken By A Low Sound, contains such familiar string band classics as Little Sadie, Cumberland Gap and Bill Monroe’s Can’t You Hear Me Calling, but performed by an ensemble made up of banjo (Gregory Liszt), cello (Rushad Eggleston) and upright bass (Corey DiMario), with a female vocalist (Aofie O’Donovan).
Their music is melodic and easily accessible, even while it challenges preconceptions about how a folk/bluegrass group should be configured. Deep respect for the traditional roots of the music is apparent in every note, and their virtuosity and sense of adventure are worthy of the attention of anyone who admires these qualities – and is open to something unexpected and wonderful.
The Globe piece describes how these four young musicians met and began collaborating while they were studying at different Boston institutions in 2001, and includes multiple quotes from the band members.
You can read the full article on The Boston Globe site, and sample Crooked Still’s music on their site, their MySpace page, or via the iTunes Music Store.
Crooked Still is also included in a piece in the Arts section of Sunday’s New York Times, entitled A New Wave of Musicians Updates That Old-Time Sound (free registration required to view). As the title suggests, this piece is an overview of young acoustic acts that are shaking things up on the fringes of traditional string music.


Our friend Richard Hawkins over at The Bluegrass Ireland Blog is reporting that Crooked Still, the innovative Boston-based string band, is heading back to Ireland for a follow-up tour later this month. They made quite an impact when they visited last year, and have ten dates set for this tour between...
For your Sunday reading pleasure I've gathered up a couple links to articles that might be of interest. Here they are in no particular order.
Vince Gill - The Boston Globe has a nice 2 page story about Vince Gill's new 4 disc set that includes one disc of accoustic and bluegrass music.
The Crooked...
This past Sunday's (5/17) edition of The Boston Globe carried a feature by Scott Alarik about the emergence of more and more young folk artists on the scene.
The article has a Boston angle, as you might expect, but it does quote Sierra Hull about this phenomenon.
Tennessee bluegrass prodigy Sierra...
We posted last week about an article in The Boston Globe on Berklee College Of Music's embrace of traditional string instruments as a principal for study at the school.
We are very pleased to note that this Globe article has been picked up by The International Herald Tribune, perhaps the most prominent...
We have posted several times about the recent embrace of traditional bluegrass instruments as a principal of study at the Berklee College Of Music in Boston, MA. While other post secondary schools facilitate the study of bluegrass music - most notably South Plains College in Levelland, TX and East Tennessee...
Word comes from Crooked Still that cellist, and founding member Rushad Eggleston will be leaving the band in November.
Perhaps serving as a testament to his unique abilities as both a musician and a performer, the band will be bringing in two players to fill his spot. Tristan Clarridge on cello and...




Leave a comment
Comments are open and unmoderated for our registered users, only your first comment will require approval before publication. Comments do not necessarily reflect the views of The Bluegrass Blog. Obscene, abusive, silly, or annoying remarks may be deleted, but the fact that particular comments remain on the site in no way constitutes an endorsement of their content by The Bluegrass Blog.
You must