About Songbird & Scallywag

The Songbird and Scallywag trio is Tricia Michaels on vocals and guitar, Peter Berkow on guitar and vocals, and Matt Christensen on acoustic bass.

As an added bonus, guest artists such as multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, clarinetist Pam Laughlin, instrumental savant Jim Miller, banjo legend Gordy Ohliger, or harmonica players David Eldridge and/or Bob Littell are likely to join them on stage at any given moment, making the group a temporary quartet, quintet, or full backwoods orchestra.

While melodic gentleness of the Brit-Folk/Jazz group Pentangle and the humor of Tom Waits or Dan Hicks might come to mind while listening to this group, the sound is hardly derivative.

If anything, critics struggle to put them in a category. Lorraine Dechter, KCHO Radio calls them,

"An awesome mix of lovely, crazy, lilting, and uplifting repertoire ... (with) the plaintive strains of the lonesome whipporwill." Greg Greening of Bay Area Music Magazine writes, "Peter Berkow is crazy as Frank Zappa, in his own Redneck Way."