Copyright © 2007 Polecat Creek
Ordinary Seasons
Polecat Creek has released its third recording, Ordinary Seasons, co-produced by Steven Heller, who has multiple Grammy Awards for his work with Doc Watson and David Holt. Ordinary Seasons was recorded live over five warm June days at Upstream Productions in Asheville , NC. It features Sugar Hill artist Riley Baugus, whose distinctive banjo and guitar work has characterized Polecat Creek's sound over the years. And it introduces two young artists, fiddler Natalya Weinstein and mandolin player Eric Robertson, both of whom bring a fresh take to the traditional sounds, with the virtuosity of veteran bassist Jeff Hersk.
Salt Sea Bound
Polecat Creek's debut CD, Salt Sea Bound was released in March, 2002. Recorded in Rural Hall, NC, with Kari Sickenberger, Laurelyn Dossett, Riley Baugus, Steve Block, and David Bailey.
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Roots Music Report Review - Review of Salt Sea Bound -
Old-Time Herald Review - (Winter 2002/2003)
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Triad Style Review - (March 6, 2002)
Reviews
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Leaving Eden
Leaving Eden, produced by Dirk Powell, features the singing and original songs of Kari Sickenberger and Laurelyn Dossett. With Riley Baugus on banjo, guitar and fiddle, as well as several guest artists. Released September, 2004.
"When listening to this record I feel like a traveler who just scored a ride from the coolest gals in town. Sometimes it feels like we're in a 1955 Chevy pick-up doing forty in the fast lane of a modern interstate. Other times we've got the a.c. cranked, but the four-lane's been forsaken for dusty gravel roads. Like all things of the rural South, this music balances past and present at every turn. It brings us on a journey that skirts mountains, delta, piedmont, and bayou, and it looks at life from as many points of view. We always end up where we want to be, with at least a little dust (or red clay, or swamp mud, or axel grease) on our shoes." - Dirk Powell
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More personal than its predecessor Leaving Eden, Polecat Creek's third CD grabs the Tough Subjects - death, temptation, old age - with both hands and stares them down…in a nice way. Laurelyn and Kari are true roots musicians, rooted in 2007, rooted in life as they see it around them. They're not paying homage to tradition for tradition's sake, and they're not hearkening back to some bygone era. Ordinary life, in Ordinary Seasons, where cardinals fly through the yard, hurricanes happen, temptation is tough to resist, and people around you might speak Spanish. Where ultimately you will grow old and die, and the only thing that matters is what's in your heart. This album takes those seemingly ordinary things, and shows us the extraordinary within them.
"With Ordinary Seasons, Polecat Creek fuses traditional mountain melodies with new lyrics and the result is sublime. The production is nicely transparent, allowing Laurelyn and Kari's beautiful duet singing to shine brightly through a fresh acoustic weave. The group has the knack of fitting new songs and old songs seamlessly together. Simply put, this is plain good music." Tim O'Brien
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