Crooked Still - Bowery Ballroom (New York, NY; July 16, 2008)

Crooked Still has been through a lot changes since I last saw them in concert in the fall of 2006. Cellist virtuoist Rushad Eggleston left the band in late 2007 for other projects and is now touring with his new band Tornado Rider. This made me somewhat apprehensive about seeing Crooked Still because Rushad plays the cello like I’ve never heard the cello played before. His aggressive playing defines the band’s second album, Shaken by a Low Sound, and frankly, hearing the cello played as if it were a fiddle is a large reason why I find Crooked Still so amazing. I’d been wondering all week whether I should approach the Bowery Ballroom concert as if I was seeing a new band or an old favorite?

First, the details: Rushad’s departure paved the way for two replacements: Brittany Haas on the fiddle and Tristan Clarridge on cello and second fiddle. The two new members are backed up by core members Dr. Gregory Liszt on the banjo (he holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from MIT) and basist Corey DiMario. The new band has released an album called Still Crooked and they are trying to move forward with the name recognition from the previous line up. Lead vocalist Aoife O’Donovan told No Depression magazine, “When you’re in a quartet, and one of your members who’s been a huge creative part of your sound decides to leave, it definitely crosses your mind to just not do it. But we had spent five years building a name for ourselves. And if you look at almost every band that’s successful, there’s been line-up changes.”

I’m not sure whether I agree that “almost every band that’s successful” has had such significant line up changes but there certainly have been a few that have benefited from the departure of an eccentric member or two. But equally important is who the “new” band decides to bring into the lineup to replace the old. On that note, Crooked Still has done some major rejiggering. It became clear from the beginning of the show that Brittany Haas is going to have a stage presence to rival Aoife O’Donovan. As if one beautiful female lead wasn’t enough, the bluegrass band now has two women commanding the audiences’ attention. Newcomer Brittany played the fiddle with passion and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her in the coming year (debuting one of her own songs might have charmed me a bit as well). But what of the familiar Aoife?

In all the noise of Rushad leaving and two new members joining, clearly I had forgotten Aofie O’Donovan’s undelievably beautiful voice. It’s not like I meant to and it’s certainly not like I should have. It’s just that a writer can get distracted when trying to research something as complicated as a core creative member moving on to other projects. When the concert first began I concentrated on Tristan Claridge. Would he be able to play the cello with Rushad’s ferocity? He seemed to handle his own just fine. Next. Does Brittany Haas know what she’s doing? Yes, it seems she does. She surely knows more than I do. Meanwhile, Aofie is crooning in the background and I’m not even paying attention.

And then it happened. I heard Aofie—I stopped worrying about Rushad and I became mesmerized by her voice and the sultry sound she projects. And I realized the ultimate question of this review is simply: Is Crooked Still still crooked? And the answer is yes ... yes, they are. The low sound might be balanced out by a higher fiddle, but the path is still unconventional, the talent is still present and still waters run deep. They may not be the same band but they’re still damn good and you’ll enjoy seeing them now even if you can’t imagine them as anything else than the band they used to be.

The major question of the night answered, the rest are just facts from the night. They played a lot from their new album but there were several old favorites included like “Oxford Town,” “Come Into My Kitchen” and “Ain’t No Grave.” The band finished their set with a foot stomping rendition of “Shady Grove.” Normally a crowd favorite, the band’s decision to play “Shady Grove” was particularly enjoyed by the gentleman to my right who had asked Gregory Liszt in the middle of the set if the band ever played the song live. It seemed a fitting end for the new Crooked Still to play an old favorite with the same passion I had seen previously. I left the show excited about what they have to offer for the future and definitely looking for a copy of their latest CD, Still Crooked. Go see them live. 

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