Crooked Still at the Pickathon

The Boston-based quasi-Bluegrass, Newgrass, do your own thing-grass band Crooked Still was at the Portland Pickathon this year, sporting two new band members and a new CD. Following the potentially devastating departure of ex-bandmember, cellist Rushad Eggleston, the band has picked itself up and taken to the road with a new set of tunes. The two new band members are erstwhile fiddle prodigies Brittany Haas and Tristan Claridge (Tristan now on the big fiddle, a.k.a. cello). Tristan told me it's a bit difficult to say when they joined the band-- was it when Rushad left last fall, when they sat in the studio putting together the new CD in the winter months, or when they played their first gigs early this summer? Sounds like a lot of relationships. The new CD is cutely called Still Crooked, and I haven't had a chance to listen to most of it yet. Tunes from the first two CDs still got a lot of play at this show. Tristan had learned many of Rushad's cello lines note for note, but they lacked the distinctive drive (perhaps the term is wildness) of Rushad's playing. Brittany's fiddle adds splendidly where there was nothing to replace-- Brittany did play on a few tunes on Crooked Still's first CD Hop High and fiddler Casey Driesen appeared on Shaken by a Low Sound. I think it will take time for this new group to coalesce, though Tristan has certainly come a long way from his strictly flawless, painfully perfect contest days. I'm missing Rushad, but I'm pretty darn happy to see the band keep on going.