The Demerits are happiest when tossing off a set of lilting jigs, blazing reels, and bluegrass tunes for anyone who will listen. Formed in 2003 on the campus of Cedarville University in Ohio as an emergency measure to appease angry crowds demanding traditional Irish music, The Demerits have since gone on to record four very reliable CDs, “Plays Well With Others”, "Roadtrip", "Not Far from the Tree", and "Made from Scratch". They have performed in a few different places, none of which was very prestigious, but all of which were a good deal of fun. They play Irish and American roots music, which is cool in itself, but what makes them kind of different is that the traditional tunes are intricately arranged with harmonic and rhythmic complexity that draws on the polyphony of Bach. With this latest release, they have added mandolin to the mix, begun playing in weird time signatures, and singing in close harmonies. Recently they have begun to acquire a reputation in Ireland. What happened was, this one lady got their CD and sent it to her daughter who was staying in Ireland, and the daughter called the mom and said the music was good. Technically that is an international reputation if you think about it. So you can see that things are really picking up. Check out the website for video from live gigs and some nice audio downloads. The Demerits (on this recording) are: John Mortensen: Uilleann pipes, 5-string banjo, mandolin, B/C Irish button box, whistle, Irish flute, acoustic bass, jaw harp, and song Linda Mortensen: Whistle and song Emily Powell: Fiddle and song Sara Craig: Fiddle and song Sean Ewing: Guitar J. Whackford Schlagzeug: Bodhran