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Copper Creek Records
CCCD 0204 and CCCD 0203
PO Box 3161
Roanoke, VA 24015

The San Francisco-based band, The Crooked Jades, has now become part of the Copper Creek recording artist group and their first two CDs are now available on a national basis. Since they were reviewed previously, this is just a summary for anyone who may not have heard or seen the group in one of their many performances in the area.

There have been some changes in the group between the release dates of the two CDs, but the current band members are Jeff Kazor, guitar and vocals, Lisa Berman, vocals and resophonic guitar, Tom Lucas, vocals and banjo, Kevin Sandri, bass and Stephanie Prausnitz, fiddle. The powerful intertwining of the dobro, banjo and fiddle gives this group a powerful sound, and while the tunes may be old-time, the vocals and drive put the music on the center stage and not on the back porch. Tom Lucas easily switches from one style of banjo playing to another and with Stephanie's strong fiddle playing, the dance tunes get the listener's toes tapping. Strong vocals by Jeff Kazor and Lisa Berman dig deep into the emotional streams of life and the comings and goings of love affairs going well and poorly.

Unfortunate Rake is the group's latest effort and was produced with Richard Buckner. There are high-energy dance tunes with fiddle and banjo in the forefront, but Lisa Berman's dobro adds accent and spice that aren't found in other old-time group renditions. The group is best at taking the meat and potatoes of an old time tune and adding gourmet touches with dobro, guitar and different vocal harmonies.

Album highlights for this reviewer were the dance-paced "Diamond Joe," "Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase," the mournful "The Evening Train," and Jeff Kazor's "Angel of Mercy." The album art features reproductions of old California and San Francisco scenes from the Gold Rush and statehood days.

One of the group's biggest projects was performing the soundtrack music for Patrick Donohew's PBS documentary, Seven Sisters: A Kentucky Portrait. While the original project was to find songs from the 30s and 40s to represent popular music of the time, the group found many more connections to old-time rural and mountain music. The soundtrack features 20 songs to match the growing up and moving away experiences of the seven sisters. Earlier selections focus on the life of the miner, Lisa Berman's mournful dobro work on Pearl Bryan gives transition to the change from home to a new life in a new location. Many of the tunes are featured both as a vocal and an instrumental. The album's closing songs include two versions of "Wayfaring Stranger". The group is currently working on Unfortunate Rake Part Two and is no doubt being eagerly awaited by the group's many fans. More on Seven Sisters.