Tin Hat

When founding member Rob Burger, Tin Hat Trio's (tinhattrio.com) accordianist and pianist, left in 2004, remaining members Carla Kihlstedt and Mark Orton chose to reinvent the band as Tin Hat rather than to attempt to replace Burger. Removing the 'Trio' and bringing on first clarinetist Ben Golberg and harpist Zeena Parkins (touring briefly as "Tin Hat Quartet", but not recording), then multi-instrumentalist Ara Anderson, Tin Hat recorded The Sad Machinery of Spring and began touring in 2007.

Despite the change of name, Tin Hat Trio to Tin Hat, the band can be considered a continuation, rather than an entirely new entity. The music maintains its unique character, one web site stands for both groups, and the first Tin Hat album has only a single vocal track per album, a tradition Tin Hat Trio has followed since the second album, Helium.

As other sources (wikipedia) suggest, San Francisco's Tin Hat is an accoustic chamber music group. With a mostly-instrumental repertoire, Tin Hat resembles jazz, folk, and classical all at once, maintaining thematic consistency in each album. Mark Orton provides a wide range of textures and surprising rhythmic groundwork with guitar and other stringed instruments. Carla Kihlstedt, the band's violinist, carries and shares lead parts, often improvising, with wide range of voices she conjures from her violin. In Tin Hat Trio albums, Rob Burger played rhythmic groundwork, lead parts, and improvised. (Need more description for Ara Anderson, Ben Golberg, and Zeena Parkins' roles on 'The Sad Machinery of Spring')

Tin Hat's albums feature guest appearances from many artists. Most notably are vocal appearances by Willie Nelson and Tom Waits. The group's members have impressive resumes, and many are involved with numerous musical projects.

Violinist Carla Kihlstedt is also a member of the art metal, anti-rock band Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, her own side project 2 Foot Yard, Book of Knots, and is a former member of Charming Hostess. She has also contributed to numerous recordings, including Vermillion Lies, a collaboration called Carla Kihlstedt and Shahzad Ismaily, an album released by David Shamrock, and others.

Harpist Zeena Parkins has recorded or performed with Björk, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Ikue Mori, Butch Morris, Tin Hat Trio, Jim O'Rourke, Fred Frith, Lee Ranaldo, Nels Cline, Pauline Oliveros, and others. She has also worked with choreographers including Neil Greenberg, Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh, Jennifer Lacey, and video artist Janene Higgins. She is also a member of News from Babel and Fred Frith's band, Keep the Dog.

Multi-instrumentalist Ara Anderson has worked with Tom Waits. (Need Information)
Ben Golberg (Need Information)
Mark Orton (Need Information)

Rob Burger released an album under his own name called 'Lost Photograph' in 2002.