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Click to hear “Songs and Stories” #34 (time = 22:59, size = 26.4 mb)

“Dark, Appalachian dance music”. That’s how I’ve always described The Crooked Jades, a bay area-based collective of musicians dedicated to keeping old-tyme string-band music alive and quite well. In this episode of “Songs and Stories”, I talk with Jeff Kazor, who since 1996 has pursued this vision through the Jades and their revolving roster of quite talented musicians. (The band currently features Kazor, along with Leah Abramson, Sophie Vitells, Charlie Rose, and Rose Sinclair.

A California native (born down south, raised in Santa Cruz, now residing in San Francisco) and lifelong musician, Kazor is a music historian, as you’ll learn when he discusses how string-band music gave way to bluegrass (and the advent of radio). He also gives a good argument as to how technology (iPods, the Internet) has *helped* promote old-tyme music in the modern age. You’ll also hear Kazor talk about about about the new Crooked Jades release, “Shining Darkness”, their first album of completely-original material.

Contest Announcement: You can still register to win a Grateful Dread Public Radio t-shirt. Listen to this interview for details.

Here are a few links to go with this episode:

• The Crooked Jades official web site (and their Myspace page)
• “Shining Darkness”, their new record
• Buy tickets for their August 16th show at The Freight and Salvage in Berkely
• My “Songs and Stories” interview with Mark O’Connor
• Recordings of Reverend Utah Smith