The Duhks Reunion Concert in Raleigh Friday, Feb. 10

Feb. 2, 2012 - PRLog -- After a short break from the road, The Duhks are back! Their newest release, Fast Paced World, was produced by Nashville’s Jay Joyce (Patty Griffin, John Hiatt). The band’s fusion of traditional bluegrass, folk rock, Afro-Cuban jazz, Celtic, gospel and soul makes their music accessible and yet hard to pigeonhole, giving them creative freedom to explore the full range of roots music from around the globe. The band has been a favorite at MerleFests past, and their unique sound also earned them a Grammy Award nomination in 2006 for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Group or Duo, one Juno Award, and an Americana Music Association nomination for Best Emerging Artists. This show will be a reunion of four of the original Duhks: Leonard Podolak (banjo/vocals), Jordan McConnell (guitar), Scott Senior (percussion), and Tania Elizabeth (fiddle/vocals). Asheville's own Kellin Watson will be the guest vocalist. The Raleigh concert is presented by PineCone, the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, and will be held in Fletcher Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. The show starts at 8 p.m.

The Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Duhks have always gravitated towards traditional roots-based song structures, but they've never stopped evolving. Due in part to a collective musical worldview that knows no boundaries, that evolution led the band to their latest offering, Fast Paced World, the first Duhks record to feature siblings Sarah and Christian Dugas. It's an album that reflects the quintet's newfound confidence, with Sarah bringing five original songs to the band's encyclopedic collection of originals and covers both old and new.

"There's a more liberal attitude in the band when it comes to songwriting approaches," Podolak confirms. "My musical tastes have broadened immensely since we first started. I think we've evolved musically, while maintaining our roots, but everybody in the band listens to so many different things, it was bound to happen."

As the band continues their musical evolution, Fast Paced World illustrates just how far the Duhks have come, and just how far they're willing to go to challenge themselves artistically. Ultimately though, according to Podolak, the Duhks "just want to play music that speaks to everybody."

Asheville’s own Kellin Watson has performed with the Duhks on a variety of occasions and is very familiar with their music. The singer-songwriter’s style blends seemlessly with theirs, as she combines elements of blues, pop, folk, and soul while also drawing on her Appalachian roots. She just released her fourth solo album, Halo of Blue, in 2011.

Watson was selected out of several Western North Carolina performers to perform on CMT’s Big Break, a national program whose winner got the opportunity to open for country music star Sara Evans. In addition to the Duhks, Watson has worked with or opened for artists such as Amos Lee, Susan Tedeschi, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Evans, and many others.

Watson has performed at the Bristol Rhythm and Roots Festival in Tennessee; Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Nova Scotia; Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles; the Alltel Pavilion in Raleigh; and more. She has also been a workshop instructor at Joyful Noise for LEAF in Schools and Streets in Black Mountain.

After the concert, PineCone invites you to keep the music going at Raleigh's Busy Bee Cafe for an acoustic music jam! PineCone is honored to welcome The Duhks back to Raleigh, along with Watson. Tickets are still available via PineCone's box office (919-664-8302 - M-F 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.), online via Ticketmaster, or in person at the Progress Energy Center Box Office. Learn more about this and other Raleigh, NC concerts - http://www.pinecone.org.

This concert is part of PineCone's annual Down Home Concert Series, which receives funding support from Progress Energy, the City of Raleigh based on recommendations from the City of Raleigh Arts Commission, the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County with funds from the United Arts Campaign, and the NC Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.

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PineCone—the Piedmont Council of Traditional Music, is a private, nonprofit, charitable membership organization dedicated to preserving, presenting and promoting traditional music, dance and other folk performing arts.