Crooked Still at the Strand Theatre, Rockland, Maine, November 29, 2008

Concert Review by Jeff Trippe

One drawback to achieving notoriety as a string band is that your audience, many of whom – ironically enough – have come to regard folk music as esoteric, will be watching and listening very closely.  The group that decides to deal, head-on, with dramatic changes risks the Dylan-goes-electric backlash.

“Mm-hm,” mutters the aficionado/critic.  “Did you hear that?  That’s not how they did it on the record.”

These days, the members of Crooked Still might feel that every show is a litmus test, such as the one they gave at the Strand Theater in Rockland on November 29.  Singer Aoife O’Donovan has clarified in various interviews that the departure of cellist Rushad Eggleston from the group a year ago left them wondering about their immediate future.  Undoubtedly, Eggleston’s charisma and creativity were an important ingredient in a mix which brought wide recognition for the Boston band, including raves for their first two albums (Hop High and Shaken By A Low Sound) and invitations to top-tier festivals such as Telluride and Newport. 

At least three bold strokes had set them apart:  O’Donovan’s moody, breathy vocals, Rushad’s virtual re-invention of the cello as a folk instrument, and the omission of the guitar, for the most part.  When I first heard them, I remember thinking, “Is that bluegrass, or what?”  Greg Liszt’s hot banjo riffs and the song selection insisted that it was, but the cello and complex arrangements asked for some other description.  This was something we hadn’t heard before, and yet felt we had.  But mostly, we understood that by the time we got to their interpretation of Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl,” we were hooked.

The loss of Eggleston meant that perhaps the most entrancing element of any stage show – the sense that anything could happen – would be absent.  In this way, he reminded me of Jaco Pastorius, the phenomenal 1980s jazz bassist whose own genius seemed to destroy him by tormented degrees.  By the time Crooked Still splashed onto the circuit, Eggleston’s career at the Berklee School in Boston was already the stuff of legend.  He and O’Donovan, Liszt, and bassist Corey Dimario created a dynamic that forked lightning at every chord change and solo.

So, when he decided to leave Crooked Still late last year, it took a certain type of courage for them to hire on two new, young musicians and to get on with it.  Cellist Tristan Clarridge and fiddler Britanny Haas already have impressive credentials of their own.  Clarridge is a four-time grand-national fiddle champ as well as first-in-line for the bluegrass cello crown, and Haas has quickly gained much attention for her fresh renditions of old-time tunes and for her fine work with artists such as Darrol Anger.  Still, one has to believe that for both of them, an invitation to join Crooked Still was like being called up to the majors. 

There is no question that they have the necessary tools – in fact, they are technically brilliant.  But after seeing the band at the Strand, I would have to say that the jury has not yet pronounced on whether the chemistry is really there right now.  Even though Crooked Still has done a number of shows with the new line-up, I sensed that on this particular night they never felt entirely loose.  Brittany Haas, who gave her all and played extremely well, still seemed not to be having a very good time.  Similarly, Clarridge came off as a bit too self-conscious.  Furthermore, the sound system at the Strand did not help them much:  Britanny’s fiddle was poorly miked, and at times the subtleties of Aoife O’Donovan’s singing were sunk somewhere out on the mud flats.

Still, I’m optimistic.  Aoife (pronounced “E-fa”) has learned to crank things up when necessary, and besides, she is a very cool chick, and not just because her name has three vowels in a row; Greg Liszt (who is likewise cool because he toured with The Boss but doesn’t talk about it much) has a unique four-finger banjo style that allows him to spray peppery fills and leads across the solid canvas stretched out by DiMario; and Clarridge and Haas are cool because they are young and smart and come from California.  The band continues to work up brooding takes on old, dark songs – their new record, Still Crooked, includes works derived from the singing and playing of renowned artists such as Ola Belle Reed, Frank Proffitt, and John Hurt; indeed, the best moments at the Strand concert were their offerings of this new material.

Given a little more time, it’s hard to imagine that these talented musicians won’t find their way once again.