Music

WNYC's John Schaefer kicks off a new season of New Sounds Live concerts with the Tin Hat Trio at Merkin Hall. With their own blend of chamber, blues, bluegrass, jazz, tango and classical sounds, the Trio combines genres and time periods. Featuring Rob Burger on accordion, piano, prepared and toy pianos, harmonica; Carla Kihlstedt on violin and voice; and Mark Orton on guitar and dobro, the Trio will perform new works and music from their latest recording, The Rodeo Eroded, as well as selections from their previous recordings, Memory Is An Elephant and Helium.

About the Tin Hat Trio

Forging a new acoustic sound that defies categorization while striking universal emotional chords, Tin Hat Trio makes freewheeling chamber music for the 21st century. After garnering widespread critical acclaim for both its 1999 debut Memory Is An Elephant and 2000's Helium, the trio has just released its most accomplished recording to date with The Rodeo Eroded (Ropeadaope Records, September 2002).

Hailed by the New York Press for the way it "mines a rare middle ground with a subtly insurgent slant" by "interweaving Old World Europe with postmodern America, south-of-the-border sensuality with concert-hall propriety, and odd-metered syncopation with deeply soulful grooves," Tin Hat Trio stands poised on the cusp of an original American ethnic music of its own devise.

Featuring Rob Burger on accordion, piano, pump organ, harmonica, marxophone, Carla Kihlstedt on violin and viola, and Mark Orton on guitar, dobro, and banjo, Tin Hat Trio is an acoustic chamber group that combines intriguing and challenging compositions with a striking command of tone and texture, and a playfully spontaneous approach to improvisation.

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