** Co-winners of the 2006 Northwest String Summit band contest! **
"Flat Mountain Girls - It's some of that corn-slurping old-time craziness, this time psycho-conducted from '30s Appalachia by three clogging, harmony-singing
female maniacs."
Willamette Week
"Exploring the grayscale between the profound and the profane, Flat Mountain Girls' music thrives on the tension between the group's obsession with traditional old-time tunes and the modern twist they instinctively apply to these compositions. Their repertoire and instrumental lineup may be strictly traditional, but the attitude with which they play is decidedly post-everything. You could accurately describe them as "old-time for modern times," even as the groups setlist brims with songs credited to Carters, Louvins and Trad."
Cory Dubrowa NO DEPRESSION MAGAZINE Sept/Oct 2007
"Edgy twang to gutsy blues, with full and lush harmonies. Songs range from Carter Family to sassy lues, with just the right sprinkling of traditional breakdowns. These gals have the knack for making each song their own, stamping it with exuberance and their unique vocal sound and arrangement. They're not afraid to push the boundaries of old-time with wailers like Robert Johnson's "All My Love in Vain" and Sarah Hawker's award winning "Forgiveness". It's all in a lighthearted yet sardonic, good time vein. "
Toni Williams OLD TIME HERALD October 2007
The Flat Mountain Girls are a high-energy old-time string band based in Portland, Oregon, known for tight, raw three-part harmonies, powerful fiddling, and performances that explode with irrepressible glee and bawdy humor. Their repertoire includes arrangements of Carter Family classics, traditional songs from the Southern mountains, cowboy yodels, romping fiddle tunes, and the occasional original, combining tremendous enthusiasm with great respect for the old-time tradition. With Lisa Marsicek playing fiddle, Rachel Gold on banjo, Nann Alleman on guitar and Laura Quigley, the newest Flat Mountain Girl, on bass, the Flat Mountain Girls bring foot-stomping fun to every performance.
"A moment at last winter's RiverCity Bluegrass Festival truly captured Portland's Flat Mountain Girls. This bunch of bawdy string twisters wrapped themselves around one microphone and sang a raggedy-but-powerful chorus full of attitude:
You want forgiveness?/Tell it to Jesus/It's his job, not mine.
The song, "Forgiveness," is found on the Flat Mountain Girls' new CD, "Idle Talk & Wicked Deeds," their third, and a fine capture of their take on old-time music.
Band founders Rachel Gold (vocals/banjo) and Lisa Marsicek (vocals/fiddle) have added the delightfully buoyant vocals and guitar of Nann Alleman and Misty River bassist Laura Quigley. All are featured admirably on this recording. The 15 tunes fairly leap from stereo speakers with urgency and punch.
Long known for their tight-as-a-whiskey-bottle-cork harmonizing, the members also are sparkling instrumentalists. They move effortlessly from Appalachian to Carter Family tunes, with side trips to Texas for swing and blues, rousing Southern fiddle tunes, even a gripping ballad.
Highlights on "Idle Talk & Wicked Deeds" include a rough-and-tumble "Sleepy Eyed John," featuring Alleman's lighthearted chirp and Marsicek's rambling fiddle; the minor-key lament "My Epitaph" highlighting Gold's alto vocals and Quigley's rumbling bowed doghouse bass; the bluesy and shuffling "All My Love in Vain," with its three-part harmony; and "Sandy Boys," boasting tight fiddling and banjo picking.
"Although there is a tendency on the part of many to associate the term old-time music almost solely with the fiddle-and-banjo music of Appalachia, the fact is that old-time music comes in many varieties that include not only string band music, but depending on what part of the country youre talking about can also venture into cowboy music, vintage "turn of the (19th) century" parlor music, "pop" music found only on Edison cylinders and much more."
The Oregonian 2007
"Based in Portland, Oregon, the Flat Mountain Girls demonstrate a fascinating and, at times, eerie talent for harkening back to many of these "side streets" of old-time music. the Girls manage to strike a frightening echo (and this is meant in an entirely approving way) of the DeZurik Sisters, also known as the Cackle Sisters, who were widely heard nationally on radio in the '30s and '40s via the WSL Dance Barn and other popular shows."
Sing Out! Vol. 50 ..3 Fall 2006
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