Gambling
Eden — SIG1278
Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem offer up a musical paradise
with Gambling Eden, their sophomore CD for Signature Sounds.
Percussion-powered string band has always flirted with the
boundaries among American musical idioms, from old-time to
country blues, vintage swing, and original folk-pop. Now,
with Gambling Eden, the band continues to create a bracing
fusion of American music - and, so doing, defines a niche
all their own. Gambling Eden was recorded at the Clubhouse in
Rhinebeck, New York, during two record snowstorms in January
and February of 2003. As snow piled up around the 1800s
farmhouse, light and music spilled out from within, and the
chase was on. The band - Arbo (fiddle), Anand Nayak
(guitar), Andrew Kinsey (bass) and Scott Kessel (drums and
percussion) were in pursuit of a recording in which their
acoustic music could sparkle, but retain all the grit, soul,
tone, and intensity that make roots music what it is. Their
song list included Leadbelly's "Stewball,"
centuries-old songs from the Georgia Sea Islands and the
Appalachians, original folk/pop and swing tunes by Arbo and
her band mates, modern ballads (two covers, by Dave Carter
and Chris Moore & John McGann), and a 100-year-old
protest song by Fiddlin' John Carson. Under the watchful eye
of engineer Paul Antonell and producer Dirk Powell, daisy
mayhem brought those disparate songs into the rich musical
space they call home. |
