Music Review: The Duhks

Remember, how I've been wishing Nickel Creek would someday tour Canada? Well, The Duhks are a new Bluegrass band from Canada and are the closest thing we have to Nickel Creek at the moment.

The group describes themselves as "contemporary acoustic," "progressive soul-grass," and “kick-ass rock/folk fusion”, and it is a hell of an energetic mix that these talented musicians put out. I find myself tapping my feet at the reels, like a marionette on strings, meaning that it's that infectuous.


The lead singer's voice is full of soul, something that one hardly gets out of a bluegrass band, yet she also evokes the old-tyme type of bluegrass voice at the same time. Though these songs are not necessarily all bluegrass. For example, there is one song that resembles old style French-Canadian/Acadian folk songs, and the singer on that one sings it so well, complete with the vocal intonation style of the time, that one would think it were an old-time classic, yet it is an original.

This is clearly a Canadian styled Bluegrass band. A lot of influences here are like Canada itself, with its many languages and ethnicities, including salsa, blues, old-time, celtic, scots-metis, with its band members of different backgrounds and it creates a truly different sound. If we look at Nickel Creek for the moment, we notice that the band has a lot of jazz influences, which is mainly a creation that started out in the states. But even so, it's interesting to note the crossroads between celtic, bluegrass and jazz come together. New Orleans was/is like a hub for all of them, so it's not entirely unplausible that Nickel Creek got some of their influences in jazz. At the same time, The Duhk's influences are entirely Canadian. Well, aside from maybe some American bluegrass bands.

If one could choose a band for Nickel Creek to tour Canada with, The Duhks would be the perfect opener. In fact, it's said that Chris Thile of Nickel Creek is a fan of The Duhks. So, you never know! Maybe on Nickel Creek's next album tour, they'll tour Canada with The Duhks as their opener. We can always wish of course. It's just Ducky!

Album: The Duhks - The Duhks
Label: Sugarhill Records
Release Date: January 2005
Bonus Material?: Yes (Enhanced CD)
Site: www.duhks.com
ecard: http://www.sugarhillrecords.com/ecard/theduhks/