Lydia Garrison's CD Albums

The TurtleDuhks were born out of festival jam sessions and fiddle camps, and include fiddler Lydia Garrison of the Trumansberg, NY-based Turtle Island Dream and banjoist Leonard Podolak and guitarist Jordan McConnell, both of the Winnipeg-based Duhks. They finally joined forces in a side project called TurtleDuhks in 2007. The trio released a debut album, True Lover, on Sugar Hill Records (the same label that handles the Duhks' releases) in 2007.

When the hypnotic Trumansburg, NY fiddle band Turtle Island Dream has a head-on with Canada's famed folk giants The Duhks, this is what you get. Members of each have formed the TurtleDuhks, acclaimed for their live sets at the Grassroots Festival(s), now on CD and digital download with "True Lover." A well-thought-out album of trad and new, fiddle tunes and songs, Appalachian and Acadian, it's a bit hard to pigeonhole but overall will satisfy lovers of World Beat Appalachian music (if there ever were such a thing) the most. Each of the members (Lydia Garrison, Jordan McConnell, Leonard Podolak) has his/her chance to shine, and I can't decide whether I like the songs or the instrumentals better. Jordan's rendition of "Moonshiner" is slow and exquisite, the vocal gem here. Of the instrumentals, what is deemed best will depend on your mood. Loads of great banjo by Leonard and Lydia, and Lydia has your attention no matter what she's fiddling -- give a particular close listen to River Ride (by Jeb Puryear of Donna the Buffalo), and then listen again. There is serious nuance there. The medley homage to Chéticamp, Nova Scotia is also particularly satisfying. -- Peter Fraissinet, The Salt Creek Show, WVBR-FM, Ithaca, NY

People who attend the various folk and bluegrass festivals have known for a long time that some of the best and most intimate music at such events doesn't necessarily take place in front of the microphones on the main stages but comes instead in impromptu throw down jams held far from the bright lights. The TurtleDuhks were born out of such casual picking sessions, and fiddler Lydia Garrison of the Trumansburg, NY-based Turtle Island Dreams, and banjoist Leonard Podolak and guitarist Jordan McConnell, both of the Winnipeg-based Duhks, have finally stepped forward as a full-blown side project with the release of True Lover, their debut album. Specializing in old-timey and neo-traditional folk material with just a touch of Celtic influence, the trio has an easy, unhurried feel that is as calmly joyful as it is comforting. It's interesting to note that the strongest tracks are actually originals, including a pair of Garrison compositions, the fine title tune, "True Lover," and the concluding track, "Waterfall (Foss' Tune)," both of which feature Garrison playing clawhammer banjo. "Cooterbone Shuffle/The Mayor of Tendor," which joins a Garrison song to one by Podolak, is another clear delight, as is McConnell's personalized reading of the traditional "Moonshiner." Easy and natural, just like the festival sessions it grew out of, True Lover spotlights three musicians playing for the sheer joy of it, making this set impossible not to treasure. - Steve Leggett, AllMusic.com

Home Remedy

Nodepression.com _ Amos Perrine _ 1/15/2019

While they began in 2013 (as a trio with a bass) I caught this duo, Rosie Newton and Lydia Garrison, last summer in upstate New York and was thrilled to hear some wonderful old-timey music. However, in this, their debut album, I was not expecting one chock-full of original songs demonstrating the self-assuredness in Garrison’s songwriting. While Newton, with her work with The Duhks and Richie Stearns, is a well-known quantity, I was unfamiliar with Garrison. In a recent conversation I quickly learned that she began the fiddle as a child and traveled with her mother to music festivals. She’s also long been a daughter of the GrassRoots festivals, having lived near Shakori Hills and now in the Finger Lakes. So, while the songs have been germinating for quite some time, the music in the duo’s hearts and fingers have been there even longer.

You can hear the maturity and a liveliness in their playing, each switching from fiddle to banjo to guitar so adeptly that I often cannot tell who’s playing what at any given moment. Newton has also recently taken up the accordion. Their maturity is also evident by not doing too much, instead letting the music have its say, in its own way.  Garrison’s songs have both old-time underpinnings and are deceptively melodic, ones that you can swing to. I initially thought their vocals were just a bit too plaintive, but soon revealed melodies so rich that I got lost in them. I think you’ll find them as engaging as I do.