Creaking Tree

Sun., April 26, 7 p.m., $10-$15, with Tempest, Philadelphia Folksong Society at Chestnut Hill Academy, 500 W. Willow Grove Ave., 215-247-1300, pfs.org.

by Mary Armstrong

folk/bluegrass

Line up their instruments — guitar, mandolin, fiddle and bass — and Creaking Tree String Quartet looks like a stripped down bluegrass band. Their latest CD, The Soundtrack, up for a Juno in their native Canada, was produced by Bil VornDick, one of bluegrass's most respected. But bluegrass is only a distant relative to the complex and fascinating new compositions these young men offer. Drama, without a single word, is a large part of it. Creaking Tree favors harmonies that would cross Bill Monroe's eyes, but undoubtedly please some of their more direct ancestors like Darrol Anger very much.