Comments (0) Best New Artist - 2004
Rough Shop
They trade instruments onstage like eager kids swapping baseball cards, write expansive folk-rock songs called "Destination Anywhere" and "I Wonder What It Means" and, at times, harmonize with the evocative happenstance of the only band they resemble: The Band. The core of Rough Shop derives from the defunct One Fell Swoop, but the addition of Anne Tkach (whose voice, barely audible with the apparently defunct Nadine, suggests Sally Timms) and keyboardist Nate Dahm has given these consummate veterans a slightly licentious, almost slinky nerve. They groove without jamming, play country like rock, rock like soul, bluegrass like pop and pop like completely original, completely refreshed roots music.
