I just finished listening to Crooked Road tour bands at the Weinburg Theater in Fredrick, MD and it was incredible. Our own Elizabeth LaPrelle, who sang with her mother at the 2003 Getaway, opens the show with several solo pieces with one spot light on her. It was like "Song-Catcher" on your own porch.

Then several groups move the music from Appalachian Childe Ballads to Old Time to Bluegrass to the present. Wayne Henderson was his usual laid back self but he has a protogee in Josh Picket (playing a Henderson guitar) of the last group on stage, No Speed Limit.

Two other female singers to note for the future, Martha Spenser of the Spencer family White Mountain Band, who is petite, beautiful and has an incredible Alison Krause type of voice. Her family band was there to give witness to the true soul of Old Time.

The second, Amber Collins, is tall, beautiful and a set of pipes that don't need a mic, with a range from valley low to the timberline. She sings with her group, No Speed Limit, as the group demonstrating the current musical trends from the Virginia hinterlands. The three did several one mic group sets and each was distinct and yet an incredible blend of the Original, the Old Time and the present. Elizabeth will haunt you, Martha will set you easy back in your chair and then Amber will blow you out of it.

Several men will play various forms of music, together and apart, but its the women who make this show.

Warning! Failure to make this show goes on your Permanent Record...