Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem will be performing at Stone Soup Coffeehouse on March 5, 2011. Stone Soup is off Rt. 95 just north of Providence, RI, and south of the Massachusetts State Line.

(I can't guarantee they will do Crossing the Bar, but I hope they do!)

Tickets are $18.00 in advance through PayPal and $20.00 at the door. http://www.stonesoupcoffeehouse.com/page3/JanMayCalendar2011.html (paypal link)   

One of "America's most inventive string bands" (The Boston Herald), Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem mix traditional, original, and contemporary sounds on fiddle, guitar, bass and recycled percussion — and top that with joyous harmonies from four skilled lead singers (Rani Arbo on fiddle and vocals, Scott Kessel on percussion and vocals, Andrew Kinsey on bass, banjo, and vocals and Anand Nayak on guitar, and vocals). Hailed as "one of the most song- and arrangement-oriented bands in a field overgrown with pyrotechnic, jam- and solo-conscious virtuosos." (San Francisco Guardian), the band tackles the human condition with playfulness, courage and heart.

Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem draw from the deep well of American roots music, and have an adventurous way of mixing things up. They'll hang a 200-year-old Georgia Sea Islands song over a New Orleans groove. They'll set original lyrics to an Irish fiddle tune, then layer it with a groove on a South American box drum. A Leonard Cohen cover gets a clawhammer banjo; Springsteen gets high-octane, bluegrass-style harmonies — and band's originals range from Unitarian funk gospel tune to 1950s swing. With influences from Doc Watson to Django Reinhardt, from Ghanaian drumming to the funky Meters, and from Fiddlin' John Carson to Bob Dylan, daisy mayhem celebrates America's rich musical past and brings it into the present. These are four musicians who pick up what's lying around — from tin cans, to old songs, to human stories — and create something new.

Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem have toured North America for more a decade, playing festivals, performing arts centers, theaters, and schools from coast to coast (and even in the Arctic!). They have three CDs out on the Signature Sounds recording label: "Cocktail Swing", "Gambling Eden" and "Big Old Life." Their most recent release is "Ranky Tanky", a family CD, which won a Parents' Choice Gold award, and has been selected as one of two American Library Association Notable Recordings for 2010.

The band's website is http://www.raniarbo.com