Booking, Inquiries, Opinions, and General Chit Chat:
Brother Paul Harkenback: (650) 201-6101 / paulmcelwee18@yahoo.com
Sister Corry Jo Harkenback: corry.dodson@gmail.com
Appalachian-urban folk heroes, the Harkenbacks play a brand of music that, while steeped in mythic Americana , still decisively confronts the modern age. Trusting in wooden instruments and in their own voices, they sing traditional songs penned yesterday alongside contemporary material written before your grandmother was born.
Fiddle, guitar, mandolin and upright bass figure prominently in their arrangements, while occasional blasts of harmonica, tambourine and even kazoo lend an element of surprise. They clap, stomp, crow and croon, Corry-Jo’s enchanting melodic tenor stitched deftly through the high and low harmonizing vocals of brothers Paul and Jeremiah.
Influenced by The Carter Family, Ralph Stanley, Bad Livers, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Gillian Welch and Jolie Holland to name a few, their music recalls barnyard stomp and back porch bluegrass, dark banjo, gutter-twang, east Texas highway blues and native Mississippi freak folk.
They were born in the heart of the West but have ancestors everywhere, and their music harkens back to a time when people were good to each other. Their stage presence is simple and dignified, their debt to tradition boundless, and you shall never see a lack of chivalry in their eyes.
