Biography All Music GuideWikipedia
All Music Guide:
Neo-bluegrass group Crooked Still combines four musicians with distinguished backgrounds and connections. Singer Aoife O'Donovan, a graduate of the New England Conservatory, is also a member of the Wayfaring Strangers. Cellist Rushad Eggleston, the first string student admitted to the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship, also performs with Fiddlers 4 and Darol Anger's American Fiddle Ensemble while also leading his own Wild Band of Snee. Banjo player Greg Liszt, a Ph.D. candidate in biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also plays with the Wayfaring Strangers and the Jake Armerding Band. And double bassist Corey DiMario, also a member of the Lissa Schneckenburger Band, has played in prestigious venues around the U.S. with such notable performers as Liz Carroll and McCoy Tyner. The four came together as Crooked Still in September 2001 when O'Donovan was asked to assemble a group for an informal concert at the New England Conservatory. Over the next few years, they developed a following in New England before releasing their debut album, Hop High, in February 2005. Their second release, Shaken by a Low Sound, followed a year later.
Wikipedia:
Crooked Still is an alternative bluegrass band consisting of vocalist Aoife O'Donovan, banjo player Dr. Gregory Liszt, bassist Corey DiMario, cellist Tristan Clarridge and fiddler Brittany Haas. They are known for their high energy, technical skill, unusual instrumentation, and innovative acoustic style.
History [edit]
2001-2008 [edit]
O'Donovan and DiMario met at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts in the spring of 2001. Former member Rushad Eggleston, who was studying cello at Berklee College of Music, and Liszt, a graduate student at MIT, were playing music together around the same time, and when the four met that summer, they formed a band that became Crooked Still. While its members finished school, the group played various Boston venues, growing in popularity and collecting favorable reviews from the local press.
In 2004, the group was invited to perform at the Newport Folk Festival and Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, when their debut album, Hop High, was the top-selling album. Following the success of this first festival appearance, Crooked Still went on to appear at concert halls, festivals, coffeehouses, and nightclubs in 23 states and several countries. On August 22, 2006, the group released their second album, Shaken by a Low Sound.
From 2008 [edit]
Cellist Rushad Eggleston performed his last show with the band on November 18, 2007, at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts. He parted ways with Crooked Still to pursue his own music with band Tornado Rider. In January 2008 two new members joined the band: cellist Tristan Clarridge and fiddler Brittany Haas, both of whom have toured in Darol Anger's Republic of Strings. The band released its first album with the new lineup, Still Crooked in 2008, a live album in 2009, and a studio full-length, Some Strange Country, in 2010.
2011 and beyond [edit]
In honor of their tenth anniversary together as a band, Crooked Still embarked on a major tour of the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest, and released a 7-song EP called Friends of Fall in October 2011. After the final show of their 2011 tour, Crooked Still took a one-year touring and recording hiatus for its members to pursue other musical projects.
