I originally came to know of this Santa Cruz trio via a link in the .sig of an unrelated PR email a year ago, and I’ve been in love ever since. The band consists of Pete Bernhard (guitar/vocals), Lucia Turino (upright bass) and Cooper McBean (guitar). Their sound is largely based on loose around the edges music that’s pulled together by their vocal harmonizing. The first time I ever wrote them I described them as such:

[They're] a vaudevillian mashup of country, punk with a little pirate, and ragtime tossed in for good measure. [Their] dusty old 78 feel will almost make you feel guilty about listening to it on your iPod.

And really, that summary does as good a job here on their fourth cd as it did on their first, so I feel no need to further expound on it.

The other day the wife and I were driving around car shopping and listening to Do Wrong Right when it dawned on me that one of DM3’s strength’s/gifts is their ability to make every song feel like a sing-a-long. I bet that really comes through in their highly praised live shows, Something I hope to experience some day. Till then, I’ll crank this in the car and add one part dissonance to their harmonies.  And despite my best efforts to ruin it by singing along, Do Wrong Right is still Essential Listening.

The Devil Makes Three – Working Man’s Blues
The Devil Makes Three – Gracefully Facedown
The Devil Makes Three – Do Wrong Right

The Devil Makes Three’s Official Site, The Devil Makes Three on myspace, Buy Do Wrong Right

I came across these guys by complete accident. Somebody sent me a PR email about some band whose name I can not even remember, but instead of direct linking to a sample mp3, they gave me link to a directory with a bunch of mp3’s, including a song by the now forgotten band that was being promoted. I went ahead and scanned the other mp3’s to see what else was in there and one particular band name caught my attention. One listen and I was ordering the cd. That’s how I came to know The Devil Makes Three.

This eponymous album was originally released in 2002 but got the reissue treatment in November of 2007. It’s a vaudevillian mashup of country, punk with a little pirate, and ragtime tossed in for good measure. The cd’s dusty old 78 feel will almost make you feel guilty about listening to it on your iPod. It’s the kind of cd you wanna listen to while you’re walking to the market. The Devil Makes Three not only makes the Essential Listening list, the band is on the top of my “need to get the rest of their catalog” list. One could say this Santa Cruz trio has hit the g-spot of my musical soul. Check em out.

The Devil Makes Three – Graveyard
The Devil Makes Three – Old No. 7
The Devil Makes Three – Ten Feet Tall

The Devil Makes Three’s Official Site, The Devil Makes Three on myspace, Buy The Devil Makes Three