This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #135 (April/May 2008).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

The Strangelings

Folk-Rock Comes Round Again

by Tom Nelligan

Songs of myth and magic have fascinated people for millennia, and the classic folk-rock of the late 1960s is just plain fun. Those two themes inspired the Strangelings, an exhilarating new seven-person band that draws most of its members from the New England songwriting community. The Strangelings' material spans the centuries from medieval English ballads to 1960s covers to contemporary originals, featuring three women's voices in high-flying harmony backed by driving guitars, buzzing electric sitar, wailing fiddle, and a rhythm section of bass and drums. The mix is exciting and energetic, and, in the best folk-rock tradition, it combines sounds and stories that are both ancient and modern.

The group was organized just over a year ago by Pete and Maura Kennedy, an always upbeat voices-and-guitars duo currently based in western Massachusetts. Over the past decade, the Kennedys have won a large audience due to their optimistic spirit and harmonious, eclectic music that reflects their knowledge of and love for American and British folk and rock. The Strangelings project allows them to branch out even farther. "We always liked the idea of Fairport Convention taking traditional songs and rocking them out," Maura Kennedy explained, "but also having the ability to write songs that sound traditional. Writing our own ersatz traditional songs was really appealing to us."

"It goes back, in a way, to the New Bedford [Massachusetts] Summerfest," Pete Kennedy added, "when we started doing jams with people like Little Johnny England and Le Vent du Nord. We could do songs that we couldn't normally do, because it was a jam, and there were no ground rules. I remember once we were just jamming in D and Maura started singing 'Matty Groves,' and the whole crowd erupted in enthusiasm. That made us realize that there were people longing for that sound." And so they decided to put together a group that could create it.

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #135 (April/May 2008).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Copyright ©2008 Visionation, Ltd.