Red Rooster

In 1998, friends Jay Erickson and Nat Zilkha launched the alt country group Red Rooster in New York City, where Erickson handles lead vocals, acoustic guitar, and harmonica while Zilkha plays lead guitar and dobro. Their initial duo format gradually grew into a larger ensemble that includes Ted Shergalis on fiddle, Jamie Forrest on bass and mandolin, and Miles Crawford on drums, though any performance may also incorporate horns, DJs, turntables, or full choirs. The band self-produced and issued Porch Songs in 2003, then followed with the ambitious double-disc set Dose in 2005. That release presented ten original tracks in full 21st century electric arrangements on the first disc and the identical ten songs rendered in stripped-down acoustic form on the second, an approach that might have turned repetitive or self-indulgent yet instead proved effective by letting each piece unfold in contrasting lights. The group’s rootsy Americana fuses folk, blues, rock, and hip-hop with a sharp dose of what might be called Mexican klezmer, yielding a style that feels at once startlingly fresh and familiar.