Po' Girl

• Genre: Alt Country
• Po' Girl Website

About

Po' Girl was born when Allison Russell moved into Trish Klein's house in Vancouver, B.C., in 2002, and the two roommates, finding musical common ground, began holding living room jam sessions. But Klein was busy with the Be Good Tanyas and Russell was playing in the alt-folk ensemble Fear of Drinking. In 2003, with both their bands on hiatus, Klein and Russell began Po' Girl in earnest. That same year, they added violinist Diona Davies to the mix, combining their musical expertise and experience. Between the three of them, there was a lot to work with: Klein plays banjo, guitar, harmonica, fiddle, and mandolin; Russell, a dexterous singer, also lays claim to the clarinet, pennywhistle, bodhran, and guitar; and Davies has played fiddle in gypsy, punk, and Celtic bands. Actually, they could've formed 10 bands, especially after drummer John Raham and multi-instrumentalist Awna Teixeira joined in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Instead we got Po' Girl's thoughtful, sumptuous alt-old-timey roots music, built tough and tender out of sweet harmonies, a blues-bluegrass-jazz-country aesthetic, and a penchant for the little particulars (a washtub bass here, a bit of klezmer there) that make a song so rich.

- Rachel Devitt