Early Spring is great time to be in Northern California and Darol Anger’s powerhouse all-star band Mr Sun convened at the legendary Freight & Salvage near UC Berkeley, Darol’s home turf, in March of 2014 to re-create their repertoire onstage. The band had been touring a bit at that time and had hit a peak of energy. Joe K. Walsh, Grant Gordy and Ethan Jodziewicz all had settled in with the band’s recently recorded repertoire. Like the great Miles Davis bands, on this tour the band was ready to deconstruct each song and re-invent it on the spot; roughly analogous to dismantling and reconstructing one’s automobile while careening down the road… with a friendly audience hanging on all the wild musical acrobatics and commentary.

Darol Anger has helped drive the evolution of contemporary violin through pathbreaking ensembles such as his Republic Of Strings, the Turtle Island String Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, Montreux, Psychograss, and Mr Sun. Composing and performing internationally since 1977, he has produced numerous important recordings and soundtracks. He is an Associate Professor at the Berklee School of Music has an ambitious online Fiddle School at www.ArtistWorks.com. Joe K. Walsh is one of the foremost mandolinists working today, with 4 award-winning years in the Gibson Brothers, 2 solo recordings, and teaching at Berklee. Grant Gordy’s guitar playing is recognized worldwide for kaleidoscopic excellence and startling emotion, fusing Jazz and Bluegrass concepts to an unprecedented degree. This recording features the spectacular young bassist Ethan Jodziewicz, who is at the front of the wave of new bassists inspired by Edgar Meyer. Ethan is now helping to revolutionize the bass' role in American String Music with award-winning mandolinist Sierra Hull.