REVIEW: CROOKED STILL
By MIKE DUNHAM
Crooked Still brings a distinct sound to traditional string band folk music by limiting the use of guitar and by avoiding vocal harmonies — but mainly by putting a cello into the mix and spotlighting it. Tristan Clarridge treated it like a fiddle at the group’s concert in Wendy Williamson Auditorium on Saturday night with solo breaks that were both exciting and technically impressive, an equal partner in a group whose sound depends on getting high-flying effects from old time instruments.
Like Gregory Liszt’s sensational banjo virtuosity. There were times when he made it sound like a honkey-tonk piano, with power and precision. Precision also marked the playing of Brittany Haas on fiddle; while her solos tended to be more restrained than those of her colleagues, her playing consistently brought an element of controlled elegance into the roving blend of Celtic, folk and blues with a hint of jazz. Bass player Corey DiMario had no solos but solidly backed up the others throughout the evening.
The guitar, rendered superfluous by the cello, was sometimes taken up by Aoife O’Donovan, but only as an accompanying, not a solo instrument. She was otherwise occupied as the sole vocalist on every song. And that was the weak link in Saturday’s performance.
Her pitch was good with plenty of reach on the soprano end and she has the ability to belt it out. She sang “Come on in My Kitchen” with a strong blues presence that made it perhaps the most successful piece on the program.
However, her enunciation did not match the clarity of her notes or any of the other’s playing. This is a problem in folk music, where the lyrics tell stories and must be understood. I was often distracted by her breathiness; I don’t recall hearing anyone else whose incoming breath was as loud as whatever sound they produced when they let it out again. As the evening wore on, some hoarseness became apparent. It could be that she was worn after a week on Alaska airplanes and in Alaska winter weather, or a disadvantage in the cavernous Williamson, which she called “humongous.”
And of course, with only one singer, one missed the communal sound of vocal harmony that is the crown of roots music.
But the audience of 500 or so enthusiastically received the band’s fresh take on songs with century old roots — songs of love gone wrong, girls gone bad, boys drowned at sea, angels comin’ after me, orphans, murders, most presented in a chipper, up-tempo, square-time, toe-tapping, infectiously cheerful style with a lot of clever touches in the ways the players exchanged musical lines or joined for pairings.
As an encore, Clarridge took a spare violin, DiMario switched to guitar, O’Donovan to a tenor ukulele, and everyone crowded around a single mike so that Clarridge and Haas could show off a little double-fiddle action in “Poor Ellen Smith.” It turns out that Clarridge has won all kinds of major prizes for his prowess on the smaller instrument, including the Grand National Fiddle Championships in Nashville. In 2008, he famously fell asleep onstage during the finals.
He won anyway.
The tour ends Tuesday in Kenai/Soldotna. (7:30 p.m. on Tues., Nov. 17, at Peninsula Grace Auditorium in Soldotna/Kenai, 44175 Kalifornsky Beach Rd., across from J-B Stor’ n Lok. Tickets, $25, available only at the door. For more information, call 907-262-6548 or e-mail mjmorgan@gci.net.) But O’Donovan announced that the group will be back in Alaska on summer solstice, playing in Nome. Make your travel plans now.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.