There is a point in certain musicians’ careers where their music begins to be recognized for its influence on others. At that point, they cease to be part of the crowd, but rather, the standard to build upon. The duo Switchback, has become such a standard, with critical recognition of their contribution to Celtic and Americana music, as well as their overall success as consummate entertainers.
American Songwriter Magazine (along with Americana icon Steve Earle) praised Switchback as one of the seminal groups to blend American roots and traditional Celtic styles. Switchback’s hybrid has an energy and joyous abandon that Matt Malloy of The Chieftains proclaimed “powerful!” In his review of their music, Ron Pen, professor and Director of the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music’s (division of musicology and ethnomusicology at the University of Kentucky) says Switchback is “more than Americana-it is America itself.“
Peggie Miller of the The Courier in Montgomery County, Texas writes, ”Not in recent memory has the Crighton Theatre, through the Montgomery County Performing Arts Society, hosted so personable a duo...Their voices blended in heart-tugging harmony, and they made more music with two guitars, a sometimes mandolin, and those voices than some six piece bands produce.” With three PBS specials, music on NBC, and appearances with the Moody Blues, Jethro Burns, Clifton Chenier, John Hartford, Leon Russell, Dale Watson, the Chieftains, Liz Carol, Martin Hayes and many others, Switchback has earned a place among musical legends.
That said, it is perhaps the continuing mission of playing music for those who need it most, in prisons, special need homes, schools, juvenile detention centers, and nursing facilities that set them apart from their peers. As the creator of the National Poetry Slam and author Marc Smith said, “Switchback hits an everybody note.”
