The Creaking Tree String Quartet

The Creaking Tree String Quartet is a technically proficient instrumental outfit from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, formed in 2002, that leaps genre boundaries and fuses intricate styles. The result is an intellectual and yet deeply moving original sound: jazz forms sliding over a rootsy bluegrass base, with flashes of chamber music, reverence and avant-garde experimentation. The quartet earned a 2004 Juno Award nomination for their eponymous 2003 debut CD.

The quartet earned a 2004 Juno Award nomination for their eponymous 2003 debut CD. Their 2005 follow-up Side Two won the Pushing The Boundaries trophy at the 2005 Canadian Folk Music Awards and was named Instrumental Album of the Year at the Indie Acoustic Project Awards. Old Crow won Instrumental Song of the Year at the International Acoustic Music Awards.

The group's third album, The Soundtrack, was produced by Grammy winner and Nashville veteran Bil VornDick and won two Canadian Folk Music Awards for Best Instrumentalists and Pushing The Boundaries. The 2007 release was also nominated for Instrumental Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2009.

Andrew Collins - mandolin
Brad Keller - guitar
Brian Kobayakawa - bass
John Showman - fiddle