Migrations

1	Ol' Cook Pot 2:34
2	Mountains O' Things 3:49
3	Heaven's My Home 4:02
4	The Fox and the Bee 3:26
5	Down to the River/Jeb's Tune 5:04
6	Who Will Take My Place? 3:39
7	Moses Don't Get Lost 3:03
8	Three Fishers 3:19
9	Domino Party!: Laine's Jig/Close to the Floor/The Domino Party/The ... 4:07
10	Out of the Rain 3:21
11	Turtle Dove 3:07

Barnes & Noble

This Canadian quintet move from strength to strength on their second international release (third, if you count Sugarhill's reissue of their 2003 debut), gracefully eliding the folk elements of their sound to emerge as a sparkling acoustic pop outfit. Jessee Harvey's soulful vocalizing, reminiscent of Joan Osborne's husky croon, blows the cobwebs off the band's trad/arr fixations (the instrumental three-piece "The Fox and the Bee" includes Breton pipes and a washboard), especially on the opening blues number, "Ol' Cook Pot." But the fiddle, banjo, and occasional whistle betray any greater pop ambitions. Their nearest competition is Nickel Creek, but these Manitobans have more soul by half, and even a fair measure of grit. The Creeksters might draw some outré inspiration from Frank Zappa or Yes; the Duhks cover Tracy Chapman, a couple of Sea Island gospel numbers, and a stirring song about IRA martyr Michael Collins. Producers Tim O'Brien and Gary Paczosa keep Migrations shimmering and intimate, encouraging judicious and colorful percussion from Scott Senior. But their efforts are never so overwrought as to obscure the plain joy that the Duhks take in their musicianship, or these deeply felt songs. Mark Schwartz

All Music Guide

The Duhks kick off 2006's Migration with the spunky, jazzed up "(Mama Gonna Bargain with The) Ol' Cook Pot." The song sounds like something the Manhattan Transfer might have recorded had it been a jug band, and captures an easygoing, good-time vibe. This easygoing, good-time vibe, in fact, says a lot about the band. Like Nickel Creek, the Duhks are young and hip, they play and sing well and seem intent on crossing older folk stylings with new ones. One imagines the music -- if a category is needed -- might be called neo-neo-folk, or cool folk by hip young folks. Unlike Nickel Creek, the Duhks are less about innovation than finding the right sound. That sound circles around singer Jessica Havey's buoyant, breathy (with a touch of soul) lead vocals. The production has a professional sheen to it, and Migration, no matter how much the group shuffles the acoustic arrangements, has a similar upscale sound. Because of this approach, the Duhks often remind one more of professional performers than propagators of roots music. On their version of Tracy Chapman's "Mountains O' Things," for instance, the song is simply too pretty to call much attention to the anti-materialism of the lyric. In this sense, the Duhks remind one of folk-pop groups like the Waifs, turning the pathos of an old spiritual like "Turtle Dove" into a happy folk song. Migration, then, is an exuberant contemporary folk album that will remind listeners of folk's happier side. Ronnie D. Lankford Jr.