Bearfoot

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Most of Bearfoot's music is on the slower and mellower side, though, and the bluegrass banjo, fiddle, and mandolin ornament the work of Mike Mickelson's guitar at the center of the song. Lead singer Odessa Jorgensen, formerly of the California old-time band the Biscuit Burners, has a voice with a sort of rough delicacy. Her range is limited, but the group's harmonies, both vocal and instrumental, are subtle and inventive. They do a nifty cover of the Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down," which you might think was the Beatles song least susceptible to bluegrass translation.

One of a couple of new bluegrass bands the Ark is bringing to town after the New Year (NewFound Road arrives just three days later), Bearfoot appears on a double bill with the Irish band Solas on Thursday, January 14.   

[Originally published in January, 2010.]