The young quartet that refers to itself as Karma Creak plays traditional music with an equal abundance of wit and whimsy. Nevertheless, as their self-titled initial EP makes abundantly clear, they also hold fast to past precepts while celebrating the sheer joy of making music. All skilled musicians, they’re unafraid to break a few boundaries. Their unexpected cover of Get Me To the Church On Time, culled from the classic 1956 musical My Fair Lady, undergoes a remarkable reinvention, one that its composers, Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner, would doubtless never have imagined.
The quartet — consisting of Jackie Scott (guitar, vocals), Will Spaulding (bass, vocals), Chris Looney (mandolin), and Thomas Scott (banjo, vocals) — first formed in the spring of 2024.
Yet even as Karma Creak celebrate their first anniversary, they belie any sense of newcomer status, as evidenced by the fact that in a short span of time they’ve already chalked up a number of festival credits, including the Bluegrass in the Gap Festival, the Bavarian Inn, the Round Hill Hometown Festival, Wheatland Spring Brewery, and Hillsboro Music in Gap.
Nevertheless, it’s the sounds they share here that affirm the fact they’re well-seasoned musicians, capable of making upbeat music that complements bluegrass’ overall appeal.
That’s evident in other selections as well, all of which, save one, are covers. Their take on Some Old Day by Flatt and Scruggs is upbeat and effusive, and the carefree attitude they imbue in Kitty Wells’ classic song Whose Shoulder affirms their enthusiasm. The steady, contemplative read of No Regrets (originally titled Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien when first made famous by the French chanteuse, Edith Piaf) finds a nice fit with the softer sentiments of another Flatt and Scruggs standard, Before I Met You, before it leads into the rousing revelry of Wilhelmina, the album’s sole original.
Granted, this is limited example of the band’s potential and proficiency, but it demonstrates clearly that they posses the karma needed to provide success with future endeavors.
