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For The Sacred Shakers, there's nothing finer than old-time, country and blues-influenced gospel music. Think Hank
Williams, The Carter Family, The Stanley Brothers, Son House, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Beginning in 2005, that music
drew a small but ever-widening circle of some of Boston's finest musicians and vocalists together at the Country Gospel
Brunch concert series. In short order, The Boston Globe described the group as "a local Who's Who of all-star roots
musicians including rising star Eilen Jewell". On their eponymous debut, The Sacred Shakers offer new life to the gospel genre by revisiting the
stripped down country and bluesy gospel material that inspires them. On The Sacred Shakers, respect is paid to the old tunes
but don't look for a strict interpretation on this 14-track disc of mostly traditional gems plus a few gospel classics from Hank Williams and George Jones.
Forget about the R&B grooves and slick sounds of modern gospel. Unlike many modern artists' versions of heavy spiritual tunes,
the Shakers don't clean things up or over-produce and make it sound pretty. The Shakers simply play the songs and transition effortlessly from slower
acoustic country/bluegrass like "Ready To Go Home," to their rollicking rockabilly version of the traditional "I'm Gonna Do My
Best," and on to the droning blues of "Travelin' Shoes." That approach of putting a contemporary spin on older material follows
the recipe that the Eilen Jewell Band took on her internationally acclaimed 2007 label debut, Letters From Sinners & Strangers.
Of Jewell's original songs and selection of covers, The Washington Post praised "her knack for giving older
songs a traditional feel with modern flair." And like that debut, The Sacred Shakers is a wonderful distillation of classic folk, country and blues
styles delivered by an unforgettable chorus of voices.