10 STRING SYMPHONY: Nashville folk duo Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer bring their unique fiddle-driven sound to Wairoa’s EastEnd Cafe next week. Picture supplied
10 STRING SYMPHONY: Nashville folk duo Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer bring their unique fiddle-driven sound to Wairoa’s EastEnd Cafe next week. Picture supplied
Bluegrass surely doesn’t get bluegrassier than in Nashville folk duo Rachel Baiman and Christian Sedelmyer’s Prettiest Girl. Touring under the banner 10 String Symphony, Baiman and Sedelmyer bring that country folk sound to Wairoa’s EastEnd Cafe next Thursday. They will also each bring their five-string fiddle. Online US music magazineNational Public Radio says on its music page All Songs Considered, 10 String Symphony “do things with fiddles you wouldn’t expect”.
Both fiddlers are veteran sidemen of Nashville’s music scene. Baiman is a former Illinois state fiddle champion in the old time tradition while Sedelmyer is a classically trained violinist. Although a touring member of the Jerry Douglas Band, Sedelmyer fulfilled his yearning to get in touch with the impetuous spirit of the rock bands he once played in with the birth of the 10 String Symphony.
Even to the untrained ear the duo’s sound mixes up acoustic-based roots music that hits on old-time, folk and bluegrass with a dash of rock and roll spunk and classical music highlights. The instrumental Rocky Pallet mixes some of those highlights with duelling fiddles in a rollicking yee-hah setting. Bach meets bluegrass — then rolls around in it with Daisy Duke.
10 String Symphony are touring the North Island in support of their new album Generation Frustration, said to take on the polarised political climate and transport progressive folk into ethereal realms.
