On Friday, March 12, we welcome special favorite Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem back to the me&thee. All of roots music is a stage for daisy mayhem, and this four-piece string band loves nothing more than choreographing a jubilant mix of traditional, original, and contemporary sounds. Daisy mayhem celebrates America’s rich musical past and brings it into the present with good humor, impeccable musicianship, powerful songwriting, and a clear love of playing together. Here are four musicians who pick up what’s lying around — from tin cans to old songs and wry observations of modern life — and create something new. Americana artist Kelleigh McKenzie opens the show.

With Rani Arbo’s bewitching alto at the helm, stunning vocal harmonies, a 100% recycled drum set, fiddle, guitar, and bass, daisy mayhem “has a grand knack for pumping new blood into old music” (The Boston Globe). Rani and her bandmates cite influences from Doc Watson to Django Reinhardt, from Ghanaian drumming to the funky Meters, and from Fiddlin’ John Carson to Bob Dylan, the band consists of Rani Arbo, Andrew Kinsey, Scott Kessel and Anand Nayak.

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.

Kinsey began his musical life as the youngest bagpiper in his town. Since then, he has taken up the slightly more socially acceptable double bass, with frequent regressions to the ukulele and banjo. Arbo’s singing partner for over fifteen years, his rich, compelling baritone, generous spirit, and rock-solid bass playing keep Daisy Mayhem glued together. Kinsey’s musical and humorous sensibilities inspired the band’s debut CD, Cocktail Swing, which romps through vintage country, swing and jazz chestnuts. Kessel was once a regular (albeit unusually talented) kit drummer — but in Daisy Mayhem he pilots the unforgettable “Drumship Enterprise,” a recycled drum kit comprised of a cardboard box, cat food tins, a Danish butter cookie tin, and a suitcase. Riveting to watch (especially during solos), Kessel mixes up American rock and pop beats with African, Afro-Cuban, New Orleans, and South American rhythms to create the foundation of Daisy Mayhem’s unmistakable groove. Nayak fell for the guitar as a teenager and has been a lost cause ever since, exploring music and instruments from all over the world. A powerful singer and songwriter with a rare gift for arranging and a gutsy guitar style that draws from a century’s worth of jazz, funk, blues and folk masters, Nayak’s work features prominently on Daisy Mayhem’s second record, Gambling Eden. Along with Kessel, he is the band’s enthusiastic pilot through challenging genre crossings.

Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem photo by Samantha Schutz

Opening will be Kelleigh McKenzie, whose first album, Chances, was a long time coming. After moving from Oregon to New York City a decade ago she started this project only to be hit by crippling pain brought on by a mysterious, undiagnosed ailment. A long recovery period, which involved getting out of the city and off to the rural life of Rosendale (in the Hudson Valley), ensued. The time and relative deliberation has resulted in what Fred Mills, Managing Editor at Blurt Magazine says, “a stunning album by any measure — but as a debut it’s one of those lightning-in-a-bottle affairs that we music fans live for.”

Armed with a banjo, guitar and amplified stompbox, Oregonian-turned-New Yorker Kelleigh McKenzie (pronounced Kelly) has a way of mixing folk, blues, old-time and rock into a music all her own. With a whimsical voice and surprising grooves, she takes the well-worn roads of Americana to unexpected places, thumping and plucking out original tales that veer effortlessly from a graceful social consciousness to lusty romps and sinister seductions. Kelliegh has won numerous awards for songs from this CD, has showcased at the international and northeast regional Folk Alliance conferences and opened shows for national artists including Rhett Miller, Patty Larkin, John Gorka, and Maura O’Connell at some of the nation’s premier listening rooms.

On Rani Arbo and daisy mayhem:

Neo old-timey with cosmopolitan splashes of modern pop and jazz The Boston Globe

A reminder that musical categories are a necessity for catalogs and record stores, not for lovers of music. Sing Out! Magazine

This quartet has a rare gift for fashioning hip, sleek sounds from the solid cloth of vintage American music. The Boston Globe

Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem’s sweeping, timeless melodies float above ingenious arrangements. The Boston Globe

As hard to classify as it is to praise highly enough . . . an intoxicating blend of roots music styles, with deep traditional roots and a healthy futuristic outlook. Strongly recommended. The Rogue Folk Review, Vancouver BC

. . .

When greeted by a lone banjo and a high-and-lonesome Appalachian-porch voice, one might expect to settle in for a jaunt through the well-worn byways of dusty Americana. But Rosendale resident Kelleigh McKenzie’s debut CD, Chances, is one rich surprise after another; a bracing mix of earthy folk, crystalline pop, jazz dissonance, and deeply soulful foot-stomp blues. Borne upon this blend are well-wrought lyrics that veer effortlessly from social consciousness to lusty romps and sinister seductions. Robert Burke Warren, Chronogram Magazine

This debut album from Oregonian-turned-New Yorker Kelleigh McKenzie abounds with promise. The triple-threat singer/songwriter/ musician plays guitar, banjo and dobro, contributing songs that address a range of contemporary issues. . . . McKenzie’s versatile chops (she’s a student of jazz and bluegrass) and her unique voice, sometimes channeling the Appalachian melancholy of Dolly Parton or the Texas twang of Nanci Griffith, should carry this adventurous project far. L. Bowen, Performing Songwriter