Polecat Creek brings ‘original roots country music’ to Down Home stage

Steer wide and far from polecats.
However, listen up for Polecat Creek.
The two-legged critters known as Polecat Creek will step on stage at the Down Home in Johnson City on Nov. 9. Led by Laurelyn Dossett and Kari Sickenberger, the four-person band formed about 12 years ago.
And that name? It came all of a sudden.
“I lived in an old house in Pleasant Garden, N.C. and Polecat Creek ran behind my house,” Dossett said by phone Tuesday from her home in Greensboro, N.C. “We had suddenly booked a show and needed a name.”So Polecat Creek stuck.
“People say we don’t look like polecats,” Dossett said.
Indeed not. They certainly don’t sound like the acrid rascals, either. Polecat Creek leans in part to old-time music, yet they also feature aspects of country and bluegrass. Had folks heard them at their inception, they would have heard a band that was mostly bluegrass. That’s changed.
“We call ourselves original roots country music,” said Dossett, a native of Birmingham, Ala. “We’re not one thing. Kari and I write all the songs. They’re sometimes in an old style, but the content is current.”
Polecat Creek’s new album, “Ordinary Seasons,” reflects that.
Written entirely by Dossett and Sickenberger but for two songs, the album sounds like nothing that’s heard on Top 40 country radio stations.
Per Polecat Creek’s intentions.
“We were not trying to make what the commercial market wanted,” Dossett said. “We have more honky-tonk, old country sounding stuff on this one. [Previous album] ‘Leaving Eden’ is more of a radio record. ‘Ordinary Seasons’ is more cohesive. The songs hang together better.”
As with each of Polecat Creek’s three albums, their latest tackles topics right out of the pages of life. There’s worry and love, heartbreak and hope. Think life when you think of Polecat Creek.
“We just write where we are from and where we live,” she said. “Life does have serious subjects in it. We have children. We have families. It’s a reflection of who we are and where we are in life.”
Don’t drive to the Down Home and expect nonsense from Polecat Creek. Fun, yes. Strong songs, without question.
“We’re always about the song, and we try to put that across as best we can,” Dossett said. “Our shows are very entertaining. We’ll tell stories, involve the audience. And we play from our hearts.”

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .

POLECAT CREEKn Laurelyn Dossett – Lead and harmony vocals, guitar
Kari Sickenberger – Lead and harmony vocals, banjo
Riley Baugus – clawhammer banjo
Natalya Weinstein – fiddle

ALBUMS
“Ordinary Seasons” (October 2007) 
“Leaving Eden” (September 2004)n “Salt Sea Bound” (March 2002)

HEAR POLECAT CREEK
www.polecatcreek.net/Recordings.html

IF YOU GO

Who: Polecat Creek
When: Nov. 9, 8 p.m.
Where: Down Home, 300 W. Main St., Johnson City
Tickets: $10
Info: (423) 929-9822
Web: www.polecatcreek.net  

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .