The Duhks

[jarkko]

From Dick:

The Duhks
THE DUHKS
Sugar Hill
>From frosty Winnipeg comes this very hot new contemporary acoustic group.
The Duhks, who grew out of a band called Scruj McDuhk, offer an inventive bridge of folk music styles capped by Latin percussion and an overall virtuosity that could make them stars. Singer Jessica Havey, who sat in with Peter Rowan at this year's Rhythm & Roots Festival in Rhode Island, has an exciting physicality that could allow her to be a rock chanteuse if she so desired. She's spellbinding on the gospel of ''Death Came a Knockin'," along with the traditional ''The Waggoner's Lad" (which echoes Montreal's McGarrigle Sisters) and a startling, reggae-etched cover of Sting's ''Love Is the Seventh Wave." The Duhks also feature singer/banjo player Leonard Podolak, whose father, Mitch, was the founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival.
The young Podolak proudly sings Leonard Cohen's ''Everybody Knows." There's plenty of down-home folk to this ensemble, too, especially when fiddler Tania Elizabeth bows her way through Appalachian and Cape Breton styles. She adds heft to the instrumentals ''The Magnolia Set" and ''Gene's Machine,"
which also has fluid, Doc Watson-like flat picking from Jordan McConnell.
The enterprise is put over the top by percussionist Scott Senior, who plays a hand-slapped Cuban drum that brings some salsa to the stew. No one is quite sure how to describe the Duhks' music, but it's a fresh update on some time-tested folk genres. Not all purists might be happy, but there's still enough here to keep them paying attention. The Duhks are at Johnny D's next Thursday.
STEVE MORSE

[Joe Way]

The Duhks also have a very interesting rendition of "CampTown Races" on the Stephen Foster tribute album.

I'm definitely going to have to pick up some more of their work.

Joe

[Sophistikitten]

I wouldn't exactly call them new...

I'm from Winnipeg so I guess I have just heard them one too many times over the past how many years! There's talent there and I have not heard their cover of Everybody Knows, unfortunately. I'm curious though...even though I kind of found them to be a bit annoying (not my bag!).

[LaurieAK]

This thread is a bit dusty, but....Last week a friend loaned me a handful of cd's and this happened to be one of them. I was so surprised when Leonard's, "Everybody Knows" came spilling out (i hadn't read the songlist).

E K is a fast-paced bluegrass rendition that puts a positive spin on the song that isn't there in the slow version.

Other than that, I truly am enjoying the cd. There are a couple of purely instrumental songs that are definately Celtic in nature that I love. It's really a mix of genres: folk, bluegrass, Celtic...and throw in a happy banjo (there are no unhappy ones!) here and there. Great CD.

regards,
Laurie