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| TOUR DATES
TANDY
- May 2000
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TANDY SNGER MIKE FERRIO
INTRODUCES THE BAND :
"First of all, Tandy is the name of a character in Sherwood Anderson's novel Winesburg, Ohio. We needed a band name a few years ago and I happened to be in the middle of my annual reading of that book. I grew up in a very small town in northern New York state, not too far from the canadian border. It's a place where you can still be a Gordon Lightfoot fan out in broad daylight. As a kid I listened to a lot of A.M. radio at night. You could hear music from places like Pittsburgh, Biloxi, Cleveland, Memphis, Frankfurt, KY., ect. . My grandfather was a semi-professional banjo player who emigrated to North Carolina from County Cork, Ireland, and worked his way all the way up Skyline Drive to the end of that road in upstate New York. My mom was a real good singer and she sang every day. My friend Tom McCrum, (Tandy's drummer), grew up in Dublin, Ireland. He'll be pissed off when he finds out that I wrote this , but he was in the Dublin Boys Choir when he was a kid. Tom is a good friend and a wicked good drummer. He can play drums and sing songs at the same time, ( just like Levon); How cool is that? Miss Darlene Snow is the fiddle player in Tandy. Darlene is from Alexandria, Virginia. She grew up right down the street from where Emmylou Harris grew up. My friend and neighbor Jay Sherman Godfrey, of World Famous Bluejays/They Might Be Giants/Amy Rigby fame is simply one of the very best guitar players I have ever known,(I've known a few). Jay is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, (48507 Central Lightfoot Zone). |
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Sibel Firat, a founding member of Crowsdell and The Disciples of Agriculture, started playing cello with us a couple of years ago and instantly upgraded our sound. You can hear a lot of her beautiful playing on the second record we made called "Some Summer's Day" and on our new CD, "Lichtenstein's Oriole." We were also very lucky to be joined on 'Some Summer's Day" by David Hamburger(dobro), Peter Mattei(accordian), and by Kelly Willis who sang on a hopeful song called "Shine" and on a song called "No Earthly Reason" which I wrote the day I heard that Townes Van Zandt had died. I consider Kelly the best singer of my generation, so i was thrilled to work with her. We just had a hell of lot of fun making our new record, "Lichtenstein's Oriole." It's mostly a live, in the studio record (like our last one), althought we doubled a bunch of electric twelve-string guitar parts and added some backing vocals. We were lucky, once again, to be joined in the studio by David Hamburger (dobro, lap steel), and by Dave Van Ronk, who stopped by to sing with me on a song called "Lorna Boy." Dave has been a musical inspiration to me for some time now and he's certainly one of the most loveable persons I ever have met. We did some pretty different kinds of songs on this record that we did on the first two (you'll know which ones). In the last year and a half we've been fortunate enough to open shows for some of the musicians and bands we admire most, including Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Rick Danko, Steve Earle, Freakwater, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jon Dee Graham, Robert Earl Keen, Michael Hurley, Kelly Willis, and Jonathan Richman. We are looking forward to doing lots more shows in the coming year and we hope people like our new record as much as they like our last one. Thanks for listening. |
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| Review
from MOJO
United Kingdom, October, 1999 By Sylvie Simmons Tandy - named not after the electronics brand but a character in Americana novel Winesburg, Ohio- come from New York/Canada border, "where you can still be a Gordon Lightfoot fan in broad daylight", according to singerÐguitarist Mike Ferrio. Debut Some Summer's Day (Independent) is effortless roots-pop, excellently played (the usual plus cello, dobro, mandolin, accordion, violin, bagpipes)... Review from Time Out London
Review from The Sunday Times
New York five piece Tandy's
second album balances alternative country's typically maudlin strains,
as exhibited on Facing Winterand Hope You Had Fun,with the unashamed euphoria
of Far From Homeand No Earthly Reason,bouzouki, bagpipes, accourdion and
dobro clattering with an undeniable "live in the studio" verite. But even
so, Some Summer's Day remains almost a little too polite and studious,
rarely threatening to combust, the songs perfectly formed, beautifully
arranged compositional exercises. Ironically, the album's most gripping
moment is when mainman Mike Ferrio goes it alone on acoustic slide guitar
for Shannon Goodson.The final three tracks seem invigorated by this late
burst of commitment, especially Ship to Shore,which disappears over the
horizon in a blue haze of lap steel.
Review from the event guide
Dublin's Independent Records
are on a bit of a roll. Not satisfied with supplying us with two of the
best Irish albums of the year from The Stars Of Heaven and The Revenants
(see Album of the Issue), as well picking up licensing on one of 1998's
albums of the year, 'Overcome By Happiness' by Prinice Brothers, they also
seem intent on cornering the imported U.S. country-folk market. New York's
Tandy play country-folk, a heady brew of contented, sun-soaked porch songs,
traditional dancing tunes and mournful, cello-saddened laments. They're
an odd collective of musicians, Tandy. The lineup includes a former member
of They Might Be Giants, a fiddle player who grew up in the same street
as Emmylou Harris, a drummer who grew up in Dublin and was a member of
the Dublin boys choir, a cellist who founded indie types Crowsdell, and
a lead vocalist/guitarist Mike Ferrio, who's banjo-playing grandpa came
from County Cork. Country singing sensation Kelly Willis who many in the
know rate her amongst the greatest of her generation, adds vocals to a
couple of tracks, including the addictively beguiling Shine.Elsewhere,
Tandy fool about with the Ramone's Questioningly,but keep it (country)
slow and sleepy like the rest of this charming record, a perfect summer
acquisition.
Review from The Sunday Tribune
Ah, country music. The evil likes of Shania Twain and the Dixie Chicks may rule the airwaves, but these days y'alternative music is better than it's been since The Byrds released Sweetheart Of The Rodeo. And Tandy's album is a fine example of this. Twangy guitars wind along, fiddles play, melodies chime, and the whole thing is just perfect. It's the sound of a summer evening spent sitting out on the porch in a saggy old armchair and smoking American cigarettes. |