8:00pm
& DAISY MAYHEM
With special guest
BRAD YODER
$25 ($22 members)
So, what's a daisy mayhem? Wicked grooves, sublime lead singing, great harmonies, sparkling original songs, and a deep repertoire that spans 200 years of American music. Four people who share an irresistible chemistry on stage. An unusually gleeful string band that celebrates both tradition and improvisation and that stumps the categorizers. (Are they an agnostic gospel band? A homeopathic bluegrass band? Are they crazy?). Worth seeing...
What does it sound like? Start with a fiddle, a guitar, and a standup bass. Add a cardboard box with a suitcase bass drum and tin can cymbals, played by an ex-rock and zydeco drummer. Over that fine groove, hang Rani Arbo's expressive alto, seamless four-part harmonies, and a splash of banjo and ukulele, and you have it.
What do they play? The Boston Globe described it as "neo old-timey with cosmopolitan splashes of contemporary pop and jazz." It's an exuberant mix of musical idioms, held together by superb musicianship, impeccable taste, and the band's charismatic vocals. A stage show dips into country blues, vintage swing, modern songwriter fare, and Appalachian fiddle tunes and songs. It's a bracing fusion: listen to Arbo deliver Bessie Jones' version of "O Death" accompanied by fat, bluesy guitar solos and a groove that owes allegiance to the Meters, and you'll see. This is a band that picks up what's lying around "from tin cans to traditional music" and creates something new.
Rani Arbo is the fiddler, lead singer, and founder of daisy mayhem. With a bewitching, expressive alto that is equal parts choir girl, flirty teenager, and world-weary woman, she navigates swing tunes, funky call-and-response songs, and ballads with unusual honesty and ease. Steeped in thirty years of choral singing, Arbo also spent years with a honkytonk band, a Balkan rock band, and folk-bluegrass band Salamander Crossing. A cellist by training, her swampy, self-taught fiddling draws from swing, blues, and old-time music. On stage, Arbo brings a rich life - as a 15-year veteran performer, breast cancer survivor, mother, and songwriter - into humble and compelling performances. Arbo also has toured and recorded with Joan Baez, John McCutcheon and many others.
"Playful and profound."
-The Boston Globe
* * *
Opening the evening will be Brad Yoder. Acknowledged by Pittsburgh Magazine as “ruling the Pittsburgh coffeehouse scene,” Brad logs over 150 performances annually, playing colleges, cafés, churches, festivals, First Nights, and even the zoo. Brad has opened for a diverse range of artists, including Erin McKeown, the Cowboy Junkies, Lucy Kaplansky, Carrie Newcomer, and Emmylou Harris among others. Brad has five self-released CDs, and songs from these recordings have been featured on CBS’s “NUMB3RS,” NPR’s “Car Talk,” the ABC Family Network’s “Beautiful People,” “Dawson’s Creek” 5th season DVD, and as part of the Pittsburgh Regional History Center’s 9-11 Memorial Exhibit.
It’s Brad’s unique mix of humorous, poetic, political, funky and edgy original songs, covering a musical range from folk to indie rock (with unexpected musical and lyrical twists), that has earned him a loyal following ranging from kids in single digits through retirees.
It’s Brad’s unique mix of humorous, poetic, political, funky and edgy original songs, covering a musical range from folk to indie rock (with unexpected musical and lyrical twists), that has earned him a loyal following ranging from kids in single digits through retirees.
“Brad Yoder is my favorite new ‘discovery’ of the year. His CD stopped me in my tracks, especially the song Leave Like This—I was weeping sweet tears by the end of it.”
-Kathy Mattea
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