Album Review of
Hurricane Clarice

Written by Joe Ross
April 10, 2022 - 12:21pm EDT
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I’ve been a fan of banjo-player Allison de Groot and fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves for several years as they travel down that rough old road, knee deep in blue, learning lessons never taught in school. In 2016, I saw Alllison perform with The Goodbye Girls (guitarist Molly Tuttle, fiddler Lena Johnson, bassist Britanny Karlson). Then, as a part of Bruce Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, she appears on a couple of their albums.  From my home state of Oregon, Tatiana Hargreaves took first place at the 2008 Oregon State Old-Time Fiddlers’ Contest, and, at only age 13 was the youngest winner in the contest’s history.

In 2009, Tatiana released Started Out to Ramble on the Patuxent record label. She’s also appeared on stage with Gillian Welch and Laurie Lewis. In 2019, Allison and Tatiana released their powerful self-titled duo debut album with its a nice variety of songs and tunes resonating with authenticity of our deepest musical traditions.

On Hurricane Clarice, the spirited old-time journey continues with a theme that pays homage to their matriarchal influences and inspirations. While rollicking instrumentals like “Nancy Blevins” and “Dead and Gone (Hen Cackled)” are clearly their forte, the two mountainous gals impart plenty of rustic quaintness to songs they sing such as Patrick Hurley’s “The Banks of the Miramichi” and Roy Acuff’s “Each Season Changes You,” learned from Queen of Hillbilly Swing Rose Maddox’s bluegrass album. Allison’s self-penned “Wellington” was written for her grandmother, and Tatiana’s tune “Ostrich with Pearls” includes voices of both musicians’ grandmothers.   

The musicians use different tunings for their instruments, and “I Would Not Live Always” is attributed the fiddling of Tennessean Clarence Ferrell and verses from a poem by William Augustus Muhlenberg. Closing with autoharp player Kilby Snow’s “The Road Walked by Fools,” Allison and Tatiana sing about life on the road being a game of chance and paying the piper when they dance, but they’re also hopeful and optimistic about the future as they vocalize, “If you're on this lonesome highway, and your heart is sorrow bound. Someday like me you'll find out there's no place to turn around. Better walk the straight and narrow and live by the Golden Rule. Some day like me they'll find you on a road that's walked by fools.”

A look at Allison & Tatiana’s spring/summer touring schedule already has them booked in about a dozen different states. As superlative purveyors of old-time music, their radiance conveys plenty of exuberance, intensity and emotion.  (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)