Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, described by The Boston Herald as one of “America’s most inventive string bands,” will lead audience members in a bona fide revival when they bring “American Spiritual” to The Alden in McLean for a single performance on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30, $20 for McLean tax district residents. The theatre is located inside the McLean Community Center at 1234 Ingleside Avenue.
The group mixes traditional, original and contemporary sounds on fiddle, guitar, bass and recycled percussion and tops that with joyous harmonies from four skilled lead singers. In “American Spiritual” there is no tent, no potluck dinner—and no preaching, unless you count the band’s uproarious and wise stories. Instead, this charismatic quartet administers songs and tales that explore and revive the human spirit. From a lush setting of Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar” to old American shape-note hymns, prison work songs, blues, gospel and original compositions, “American Spiritual” draws from 200 years of roots music to find songs that uplift and connect.
On stage, band members Rani Arbo (fiddle, guitar), Andrew Kinsey (bass, banjo, uke), Anand Nayak (electric and acoustic guitars) and Scott Kessel (percussion) play and sing, and their four-part harmonies soar, whether on a haunting Appalachian ballad, a Springsteen rocker, or a Bahamian a capella song. In short, daisy mayhem celebrates America’s rich musical past and brings it into the present.
Tickets are on sale now. For more information or to purchase tickets online, visit: www.aldentheatre.org or call 703-790-0123, TTY: 711.