The Sacred Shakers

The Sacred Shakers

• Sacred
• Music
• Shaker

For The Sacred Shakers, there's nothing finer than old-time, country and blues-influenced gospel music. Think Hank <br>Williams, The Carter Family, The Stanley Brothers, Son House, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. Beginning in 2005, that music <br>drew a small but ever-widening circle of some of Boston's finest musicians and vocalists together at the Country Gospel <br>Brunch concert series. In short order, The Boston Globe described the group as "a local Who's Who of all-star roots <br>musicians including rising star <b> Eilen Jewell"</b>. On their eponymous debut, The Sacred Shakers offer new life to the gospel genre by revisiting the <br>stripped down country and bluesy gospel material that inspires them. On The Sacred Shakers, respect is paid to the old tunes <br>but don't look for a strict interpretation on this 14-track disc of mostly traditional gems plus a few gospel classics from Hank Williams and George Jones. <P><br> Forget about the R&B grooves and slick sounds of modern gospel. Unlike many modern artists' versions of heavy spiritual tunes,<br> the Shakers don't clean things up or over-produce and make it sound pretty. The Shakers simply play the songs and transition effortlessly from slower <br>acoustic country/bluegrass like "Ready To Go Home," to their rollicking rockabilly version of the traditional "I'm Gonna Do My <br>Best," and on to the droning blues of "Travelin' Shoes." That approach of putting a contemporary spin on older material follows <br>the recipe that the Eilen Jewell Band took on her internationally acclaimed 2007 label debut, <b>Letters From Sinners & Strangers<b>. <br> Of Jewell's original songs and selection of covers, The Washington Post praised "her knack for giving older <br>songs a traditional feel with modern flair." And like that debut, The Sacred Shakers is a wonderful distillation of classic folk, country and blues <br>styles delivered by an unforgettable chorus of voices.