Your Daughters & Your Sons
The success of the Winnipeg folk favorites' self-titled stateside debut has sparked the reissue of this 2002 Canadian indie release. Though the Duhks were a drummerless quartet in their initial incarnation (occasionally augmented in the studio by a rhythm section), they were from the start a band with ties to tradition, but unbound by it. The virtuosic range on display here is a freewheeling delight, with the propulsive instrumental dance medleys from a variety of sources and the soulful vocals of Jessica Havey on material that extends from the spiritual resonance of Gillian Welch's "Rock of Ages" to the jazzy inflections of "The Leather-Winged Bat." Much of the music spotlights the progressive interplay of banjoist Leonard Podolak and fiddler Tania Elizabeth. Though this was recorded not long after the Duhks came together, they already had a vision of where they were going.--Don McLeese