Songs: Visits, Those Six Years, Train On The Island, Black Eyed Susie, 44 Gun, LUGs & BUGs, Sail Away Ladies, Texas (canon), Medicine Springs, Little Dortie, Going To The Races, Texas, Going Up Home To Live In Green Pastures

Personnel: The Crooked Jades are: Jeff Kazor--vocals and guitars; Lisa Berman--vocals, dobro, Weissenborn, banjo; Tom Lucas--vocals, banjo, fiddle; Dan Lynn--vocals and bass. Special guests: Steve Pottier--mandolin & guitar; Sue Sandlin--vocal and guitar on Medicine Springs; Chad Clouse--fiddle; Stephanie Prausnitz--fiddle; Elise Engleberg--fiddle

The sounds of bluegrass and old-time music conjure up images of mountain folk back in Appalachia singing their hearts and souls out while playing acoustic instruments. Standard subjects sung about are lost love, being poor, working in the mines, and praying on Sundays. One of the last places you would expect to see some fine old-time music being sung is in the hills of one of the most expensive cities in the country. San Francisco is where you will find the bluegrass/old-time band The Crooked Jades and their new CD Going To The Races.

Since the closing of Paul's Saloon, the longtime home to bluegrass in SF, in 1991, bluegrass music has been hard to find in this urban jungle. Fortunately for us fans a little café in the Mission District called Radio Valencia began featuring bluegrass a few years back on Sunday nights, and that is where The Crooked Jades can be found performing once a month. Even though they are young and based in the big city they've got old-time mountain music flowing through their veins.

The Jades are led by guitarist/lead singer/songwriter Jeff Kazor who grew up in the Santa Cruz area. The band really wanted to go for an authentic old-time sound, so they recorded Going To The Races like they did in the old days -- live in the studio and in two days time. The end result is a fine new recording of old and new songs that harkens back to a bygone era.

The first song, Visits, about yearning to go back and see old friends, jumps out of the starting gate like a bucking bronco. The pace is reined in a bit with Those Six Years, a Kazor original about a failed love affair. They learned Train On The Island, a traditional song, from Bruce Molsky, and it features just Lisa Berman's Weissenborn and some fine guitar playing by guest artist and veteran Bay Area bluegrass musician Steve Pottier. The race is on again with the next four songs. Black Eyed Susie is sung by bassman Dan Lynn, and 44 Gun, a song from the 1920s by original Coon Creek Girl Lily Mae Ledford, is sung by dobro player Berman and guitarist Kazor. LUGs and BUGs is an original instrumental composition by banjo player Tom Lucas, who also sings lead on the next song, Sail Away Ladies. The song Texas is on the CD twice. The first one is a short and pretty tri-fiddle version, and the latter is a driving full-band take that displays the "crooked" style of fiddle playing, from where the band gets part of its name. Medicine Springs is a Bill Grant and Ralph Stanley song that is sung as a duet by Berman and guest Sue Sandlin, and they conjure up images of a younger Hazel and Alice. Little Dortie is a high-energy original by Kazor that is a tribute to his mother, followed by the Carter Stanley title cut Going To The Races, a slow, haunting duet by Kazor and Berman with only voices, guitar and dobro. The race finally winds down with the gospel-like Going Up Home To Live In Green Pastures that features just a guitar and the voices of the band.

There is nothing crooked or jaded about the relatively new urban old-time bluegrass band The Crooked Jades. This is a straightforward gem of a recording that sounds like a cross between the Freight Hoppers and The Carter Family. If you're Going To The Races here's a hot tip -- spend some greenbacks on this can't-miss CD. Odds are you will come out a winner and you'll have a real grand old-time.