The Artifacts

Call it hip folk-swing that really sings!  The Artifacts - guitarist, mandola player and vocalist Stephen Tamborski; acoustic bassist and vocalist Dorian Bartley, and percussionist and vocalist Karen Tamborski - are a San Francisco Bay Area acoustic trio with their feet firmly planted in American roots music and the hipster tradition.  Their engaging eclectic sound is a pleasing mix of laid-back rhythms, heavenly harmonies, front-porch pickin' and trippy repartee, what Stephen likens to "late-night free-form FM radio hosted by a slightly inebriated DJ."

County and Western, swing, R&B, Latin, blues, surf, Gypsy jazz - it all fits perfectly into the Artifacts' Bohemian groove.

Their debut CD, "Dig It", finds this popular trio cultivating a dozen originals and timeless standards made popular by Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Wills, Fats Waller, Nellie Lutcher, and Ruth Brown, among others.  It's fun, fresh, and frisky.  The songs include the sultry cowboy ditty "Baby That Sure Would Go Good," by Texas songwriting queen Cindy Walker, and a rollicking rendition of R&B queen Ruth Brown's feisty hit "Momma, He Treats Your Daughter Mean," on which ace guitarist Stephen complements Bartley's brassy vocal with one of his trademark stinging slide-guitar solos.

And then there's the band's signature song "California del Norte," a Tex-Mex-inflected nod to the Bay Area's Hispanic roots.  The catchy anthem is one of two songs included on "Dig It" by longtime North Beach musician and songwriter Jack "Applejack" Walroth, a founding member of San Francisco's legendary Blues Power band who has co-written songs with crooner Boz Scaggs.

The CD closes with a stripped-down arrangement of "I Thought About You," a Johnny Mercer/Jimmy Van Heusen song that's been covered by the likes of Mose Allison and Diane Schuur, with Karen delivering a steamy jazz vocal.  It's one of the CD's standout performances, and futher confirmation of this trio's considerable chops and command of a treasure trove of musical styles.  Indeed, when Stephen boasts that the Artifacts offer "sound evidence of diverse musical cultures," take him at his word.  Dig it!