Search - Crooked Jades :: Seven Sisters: A Kentucky Port

Cool update of old-time mountain music

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 08/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This SF Bay Area ensemble ably straddles the worlds of old-time stringband music and the more thoughtful end of the modern-day alt.country spectrum. Their performances and various albums are impressive both for their melodic grace and depth of historical knowledge. The "Seven Sisters" album, which is the soundtrack to a documentary film about the women in a Kentucky family, concentrates on more exclusively on the style's Appalachian roots, while "The Unfortunate Rake," produced by well-known twangcore mopemeister Richard Buckner, has a more modern air, and drifts into hick-music-as-high-art territory which I find mildly questionable. Overall, though, these are two of the most compelling and impressive albums I've heard in a long, long time. The band's repertoire and soulful delivery are equally noteworthy. Highly recommended!"