HEAR the 12-minute SOULSKIN segment broadcast on NPR's WEEKEND EDITION January 19, 2003, HERE: http://discover.npr.org/rundowns/segment.jhtml?wfId=926372 The deliciously indefinable music of SoulSkin has been referred to as Cinematic Blues -- a rare and surprising blend of the sweeping and the simple, the old and the new, the earthbound and the esoteric -- a journey across the American musical terrain, by turns visceral, charming, haunting, and infectious, and all the while decidedly askew. The songs of Tom Waits, Hoagy Carmichael, Bettye Jean Crutcher, Randy Newman, and others are interwoven with the group's own strange and wonderful studio improvisations. Eschewing the traditional bombast of the guitar-and-drums battery, SoulSkin, with only viola, soprano sax, keyboards, and double bass, draws its strength from the scope of its arrangements, the unerring taste of its musicianship, and the utterly startling power of diminutive vocalist Karen Kraft. Ms. Kraft has worked with Carla Bley, Pink Floyd, Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports, Lonny Mack, and Roy Head, and was the first white soloist in L.A.'s famed First A.M.E. Gospel Choir. Joe Sublett (soprano sax) is justly famous for his horn work with Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Cobras, Little Feat, and The Rolling Stones, and is a Grammy winner with Taj Mahal's Phantom Blues Band. Rob Meurer (keys) has enjoyed success with Carole King, Christopher Cross, Johnny Otis, Paul Cotton, J.D. Souther, and Jennifer Warnes, and also was music director for Shelley Duvall's celebrated Showtime series, Faerie Tale Theatre. Novi Novog (viola) and Larry Tuttle (double bass), the non-Texans of the group, are half of Freeway Philharmonic; Larry is one of the very few masters of the unusual modern instrument, the Chapman Stick, and Novi is responsible for the famous fiddling on The Doobie Brothers' classic "Black Water," as well as performances on recordings by Prince, Madonna, and hundreds of other pop giants. From the stunning romanticism of "Ruby" to the social conscience of "Drown Yourself," from the brooding mystery of "Pathos Bill" to their deconstruction of the depression-era daydream "Bread and Gravy," from the bleak character sketch of "Shining" to the pure joy of "Concrete and Clay" -- this is the sound that musicians can only make when in a state of focused thrill. Experience the Cinematic Blues -- and the thrill -- of SoulSkin.