Crooked Brothers

Artist Information

Biography

"I wake up, a mouth full of earth. Sun shining, but not through the dirt."

So begins the chorus of the Crooked Brothers' 'Buried Alive,' and it's a line that aptly describes the trio's sound: beautiful and warm, but with dirt under its fingernails.

Their debut album, Deathbed Pillowtalk, is an exciting blend of timeless country classic sounds, backporch blues and stomping scrapyard funk. Sexuality, death, loss, and loneliness haunt their music, often in three part harmony. The Crooked Brothers will have you falling in love with dying, and dying to fall in love.

The Crooked Brothers' fascination with the past extends well beyond their choice of instrumentation. At times, the histories, landscapes and long winters of their home province of Manitoba boil to the surface and inform both the imagery and the characters of their songs. This is, if nothing else, prairie music.

Instrumentation

Darwin Baker - Vocals, Dobro, Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion

Jesse Matas - Vocals, Mandolin, Guitar, Cajon, Harmonica, Percussion

Matt Foster - Vocals, Banjo, Guitar, Kazoo, Percussion

Discography

Crooked Brothers - Demo 2008

Deathbed Pillowtalk (Debut Album), released November 5, 2009

Lawrence, Where's Your Knife - September 23rd, 2011

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace

Audio

• 17 Horses
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• Sunday Dress
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• Winter's Come
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• Another Sun
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• Rupa's Waltz
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Lyrics

• Buried Alive
• Ghost Town
• Highest Mountain
• When There's Nobody Else
• Sunday Dress
• You Can't Tell Me
• 17 Horses
• Rusty Old Scars
• Honey, Poison, Peaches

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• The Uniter- October 29, 2009 [+ Show ]
  

  Back-porch hymns, drunken hollers, odes to love lost and well-worn lonesome folk melodies mingle wit...Back-porch hymns, drunken hollers, odes to love lost and well-worn lonesome folk melodies mingle with each other in a dangerous blues-infused play between life and death on the Crooked Brother’s debut Deathbed Pillowtalk. Rough three-part harmonies croon the dark tales over mostly acoustic instrumentation: Banjos, mandolins, guitars, dobros, harmonicas, handclaps and assorted percussion, such as an iron rail, hearken back to simpler, unamplified times. The Tom Waits-influenced, boisterous opener Rusty Old Scars sets the mood with sandpaper-larynx vocals before eventually settling down for the heartbreaking Rocking Chair Waltz. In Buried Alive, the husband of a lover is put to death in cheery fashion, while the country tune Won’t Be Needing It Now chronicles the remnants of a bad breakup. Overall, the Crooked Brothers have produced an impressive first record filled with classic-sounding folky country tunes reminiscent of another era. Catch their CD release show Thursday, Nov. 5 at the West End Cultural Centre.
  
  4/5 stars
  www.uniter.ca

• Uptown Magazine, Dec. 3/09 [+ Show ]
  

  CROOKED BROTHERS Deathbed Pillowtalk (Transistor 66) A+ Featuring Matt Foster and Darwin Bak...CROOKED BROTHERS
  Deathbed Pillowtalk
  (Transistor 66)
  
  A+
  
  Featuring Matt Foster and Darwin Baker of SubCity and solo artist Jesse Matas, roots trio Crooked Brothers has crafted a CD that blends blues, bluegrass and country to absolute perfection. The amount of instruments used - and used well - is astonishing. In addition to guitar, bass and percussion, Crooked Brothers bring banjo, mandolin, dobro, harmonica, classical guitar, baby grand piano, beer bottles and even a prayer bowl into the mix. With all three Brothers taking turns singing lead, each song is distinctive yet still consistent with the collection as a whole.
  — Jared Story

• Winnipeg Free Press, Dec 26/09 [+ Show ]
  

  CROOKED BROTHERS Deathbed Pillowtalk (Transistor 66) SubCity dwellers Matt Foster and Darwin B...CROOKED BROTHERS
  
  Deathbed Pillowtalk (Transistor 66)
  
  SubCity dwellers Matt Foster and Darwin Baker, along with their pal Jesse Matas, are the newest addition to Winnipeg's busy roots music roster and can rightfully hold their heads high as their first Crooked Brothers album is a woozy winner.
  
  Right from the opening track, Rusty Old Scars, it sounds like these fellows have lived on a steady diet of whisky, Tom Waits albums and hand-rolled cigarettes. The vibe is pretty dark in general and the songs are riddled with tales of dire road trips, boozy reminiscences of lusty, yet lovely, ladies and those dark thoughts that invade one's mind in the misty times between dusk and dawn.
  
  Tracks like the harmonica-centric Neil Young ode Won't Be Needing it Now and the ethnic aside of Rupa's Waltz are standouts. Watch for these guys staggering onto a stage near you soon. 'Ö'Ö'Ö
  
  --JM
  
  Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 26, 2009 D2

Setlist

Their repertoire includes original songs by each of the members, as well as interpretations of old standards and works by musical inspirations such as Howlin' Wolf, Townes Van Zandt, Merle Haggard, and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee.

17 Horses
Buried Alive
Rupa's Waltz
Sweet Lemons
You Can't Tell Me
Another Sun
Won't be Needing it Now
Look to the Hills
Rocking Chair Waltz
Sunday Dress
Windsor Beer
Ghost Town
Spoonful
Good Man

Basic Requirements

Calendar