Featuring the unusual instrumental lineup of cello, banjo, bass, and voice, Crooked Still redefines traditional music with their startling -- and mighty infectious -- originality. Drawing from bluegrass, old-time, and contemporary folk traditions, the classically trained, Boston-based quartet put out a killer combination of driving, earthy rhythms and soaring vocals.

Inventive cello virtuoso, Rushad Eggleston (Fiddlers 4, Darol Anger's Republic of Strings) trades solos with bravura banjo player, Gregory Liszt (who has recently been touring as a member of Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Band), while the expressive, feathery voice of Aoife O'Donovan hangs above and Corey DiMario's double-bass grounds it all.

On their debut album, Hop High, the foursome dug deep into classics like "Darling Corey" and "Shady Grove" to reveal the brooding energy at the heart of the music while surprising listeners at every turn with their interplay and shifting harmonies. They recently followed it up with a new CD, Shaken by a Low Sound (Signature Sounds). In the words of the Boston Herald, "Crooked Still manages to amp up its ancient American tunes in unplugged yet groove-crazed ways . . . an expressive sense of dark, wild life ensues."