Crooked Still will release “Still Crooked” (Signature Sounds) on June 24th, 2008

Nashville, Tenn.— Signature Sounds recording artist Crooked Still will release their highly anticipated third album on June 24th, titled “Still Crooked.” A world tour to support the record will follow. The band, made up of founding members Aoife O’Donovan, Greg Liszt and Corey DiMario, along with two new players, presents fluidity across musical genres: old time, folk, bluegrass and world music, on all of their recordings. Journalist Greil Marcus recently recognized the worldliness of their capability in Interview Magazine, “The songs to which Crooked Still applies itself were made to capture whole countries of experience, fantasy, forgetting, revenge, guilt and escape…The band takes up the songs as if they contain knowledge far beyond any person who might sing them.”

Crooked Still is an energetic band who thrive from their collective and collaborative energies. After five years together, the departure of Rushad Eggleston forced Crooked Still to amend their ensemble. Moving from a quartet to a quintet, two new members join the group, Brittany Haas on five-string fiddle and Tristan Clarridge on cello and second fiddle. Crooked Still drew inspiration from the new, raw creative energy when recording their third record, “Still Crooked.”

The band, determined to capture the magic moments of inspiration that happen during live performance and musical exploration, recorded the album “live” in a large room together. In a world of computer-altered music, the band wanted to create a sincere album that respects the musical roots from which their sound stems. After three days of intense rehearsal, the ripening of the new Crooked Still took place. Producer Eric Merrill captured the songs on the album in one day, the fourth day of the new line-up.

Crooked Still

Major players in what is being touted as a “folk revival movement” in both No Depression and The London Times, Crooked Still is singled out as an ensemble who records songs steeped in history, sometimes with such seminal works that go all the way back to oral tradition, all the while delivering them with a modern freshness that demands attention. A testament to their abilities is repeated invitations to participate in classic American music festivals such as Newport Folk Festival, Merlefest and Telluride Folk Festival. Lauded in the foreign press and regular performers on the international festival scene, Crooked Still has a global and ever-growing audience.

The release of Still Crooked cements their reputation as a vital, young band that dances around the tenets of musical genres with acoustic instrumentation of fiddle, banjo, cello and bass. Central to the music is the haunting voice of Aoife O’Donovan, a captivating songbird whose vocal inflection taps into the pathos of the human experience. Songs on the album range from sedate to raucous. “Did You Sleep Well?” is a fast paced and sassy tune while “Captain, Captain” is an over four hundred year old song with hauntingly applicable contemporary lyrics. Every one of the thirteen tracks features virtuosic playing, insightful vocal delivery and clever rhythms.

Crooked Still merges classical, traditional and modern American styles and raises the bar of dynamic musicianship. They are a blended musical family, whose influences - ranging from iconic folk to modern hip-hop and funk - coalesce into a modern musical hybrid played on classical instruments. “We’re a groove-based band without a drummer,” O’Donovan explains. “We push the beat, staying true to the tradition while we bring old songs into the 21st century.”