The harmonic blend of their voices never ceases to WOW me and the creative twist of an original phrase passes my "teacher" edits. Okay, so I am Buck's mom, but I still don't have to like the music. However, I flat out love it!!

Cascade Serenade!, just blows our skirt up. Guitarist Erik Clampitt, multi-instrumentalist Sean "Buck" Burke, and singer Marley Gaddis all have beguiling, earthy individual voices, and when they launch into three-part harmonies, the result transcends the sum of its parts. In addition to authentic-sounding originals like "Engine Number 3" and the war ballad "Wayward Brother," the group also throws in seasoned covers by Bill Monroe and the obscure William Golden. Even the liner notes are entertaining; the comment pertaining to Clampitt's "Waitin' on Jesus" simply reads "Some people aren't comfortable with this sort of song material. We respect that."

Much like hiphop, roots/country music is often written off when performed by artists who do not fit the general stereotype of the genre: whites from the suburbs shouldn't rap, much like city-dwellers above the Mason-Dixon line shouldn't bother with country. This in turn leads to the "I'm more real than you" pissing match, with MCs trying to one-up each other (I'm still waiting for the rapper who can top 50 Cent's nine bullet holes), or country artists acting more comically Southern than any one person should be. So the concept of an absolutely bone-dry authentic roots band just happening to be from Portland, should not matter--and with Clampitt, Gaddis & Buck it doesn't. Their second full-length Cascade Serenade! is a splendid collection of country/roots/bluegrass originals (not one Carter Family cover!) that act as a perfect soundtrack to a hot PDX Summer of sitting on the porch and drinking some sweet tea and spiked lemonade. Erik Clampitt takes the time to talk about Jessica Simpson and the touchy subject of his color-blindness. Clampitt, Gaddis & Buck perform Saturday July 9 at ACME, SE 8th and Main Have you found that people will write-off a country/bluegrass band just because they aren't from the South? What? I am from the South. The South Bay... San Jose, CA. Honestly, this issue has never been a problem for us. In fact, the idea that your creativity should somehow be limited to a region is absurd. And those sick purists who subscribe to such a doctrine should be taken out behind the shed and thrashed. After writing a song like "Hazel's Hoedown," did you ever think about just ditching the band and making getaway music for The Dukes of Hazzard? Yeah, if the Duke boys are good enough for Willie and Waylon, they're good enough for us. Besides, you should hear our track off the motion picture soundtrack: "CG&B, featuring Jessica Simpson." The video is hot. I directed it. It's got Marley Gaddis and Jessica Simpson washing the General Lee in daisy dukes. Go to www.cgandb.com to check it out. Since CG&B has toured quite a bit, do you find crowds are more receptive to the sound in the Red States or Blue States? Oh... I get it. Time to bring up the fact that I'm color-blind. I have no idea which state is what color. Low blow, bro. Besides, a fan is a fan--even if they voted to put Satan in the White House... again.