Carmel High School graduate Rushad Eggleston is a busy guy. Now, with a new collective titled Crooked Still, the cellist plays in four bands, including the Grammy-nominated Fiddlers 4 and his own instrumental outfit the Wild Band of Snee.

His latest musical excursion is a talented quartet that finds its own way with traditional numbers like “Shady Grove” and more modern fare like Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl.” With an eclectic lineup including Eggleston, vocalist Aoife O’Donovan, banjo player Gregory Liszt and double-bassist Corey DiMario, the nascent group creates fresh, jammed-out versions of traditional tunes without sacrificing what made the songs classics in the first place. Throughout their upcoming debut release, titled Hop High, Eggleston’s cello stands in for the fiddle alongside Gregory Liszt’s Bela Fleck-inspired banjo work.

During a phone interview from his mom’s house in Pebble Beach, Eggleston explains that he and Liszt had to switch between rhythmic and melodic sections while recording the songs.

“It’s kind of like baseball more than anything else,” he says of the process.

Eggleston says the group first played together about three and a half years ago at the New England Conservatory, prompted by O’Donovan—whose vocals soar on the CD. Over the last few years, Eggleston says, the group would play gigs at places like Boston’s Club Passim every couple of months. Now, after recording the CD together, Crooked Still has become a serious project. “It’s just taking off right now,” Eggleston says.

The group is already slated to play festivals like Colorado’s Four Corners Folk Festival and Florida’s Magnolia Festival this year. As for a short-term goal, Eggleston hopes that he has time to be a tour guide for his bandmates when they come here to perform at Hidden Valley Theater. “I want to show them the wild, crazy spookiness that makes this place cool,” he says.

Crooked Still plays Hidden Valley Theater, at the corner of Hidden Valley Road and Ford Road in Carmel Valley, this Thursday at 7pm. $20. 625-1229.