the Harkenbacks Bluegrass Band from San Francisco, CA

Appalachian-urban folk heroes, the Harkenbacks play a brand of music that, while steeped in mythic Americana, sure isn't afraid to confront the modern age. Trusting in battered wooden instruments and their own voices, The Harkenbacks clap, stomp, crow and croon, singing traditional songs penned yesterday alongside contemporary material written before your grandmother was born. Fiddle, guitar, mandolin and upright bass roll along behind the vocals, with occasional blasts of harmonica, tambourine and even kazoo. Their eclectic and electric performances have been lighting up stages and festivals around the bay area. The Harkenbacks blend of twanged-out honky-tonk and hard-driving mountain picking could be the just the thing to heal some of our worried blues these days. The recipe to pour a Harkenbacks cocktail would involve one part Corry-Jo Harkenback's enchanting melodic tenor, two parts the high and low harmonizing vocals of brothers Paul and Jeremiah Harkenback, and one part veteran performer uncle-brother Howlin' Ray Wilcox on percussion and guitar. Add a twist of the wry ghost songwriting of Uncle Alex Cory and you'll have a drink with quite a kick, and an idea of the creative forces behind the band. As a quartet, the Harkenbacks have been tearing it up at farmer's markets and festivals, building a name for their high-energy stage show and all-the-way-to-the-back-of-the-room vocals. “They take their country and bluegrass roots deep into the singer-songwriter tradition on their new release, Farmless. Beat the bittercold with some mountain style house music!” —The Bay Bridged