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"Playful and profound."
-The Boston Globe
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"Explodes with energy and relaxed good humor... a heady and very tasty new musical brew. Drink up!"
-Vintage Guitar Review, August 2007
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"Daisy Mayhem, one of America's most inventive string bands, has created its most powerful album yet. Fiddler-singer Arbo, who recently beat breast cancer, spearheads a life-affirming work that gloriously leaps into several rootsy genres, gospel included. Rhythmically masterful, it ranges from the haunting 'Thief' to a brilliantly reinvented 'Farewell, Angelina.'"
-The Boston Herald
"They even manage to make Leonard Cohen sound hopeful..."
-Country Standard Time, June 2007
John Lupton
"Arbo is a triple threat as a fiddler, songwriter, and possessor of a uniquely beautiful, malleable alto. The group's playing is tight, with stylish, unexpected choices, and Anand Nayak is a marvel of stylistic versatility on lead guitar, with a rich resonant tone and soulful, imaginative fills. Big Old Life is brimming with grace, however defined."
-Acoustic Guitar Magazine, January 2008
"If Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem offer to cook at your place, you better open up all the doors, and borrow every table and chair you can because the whole town should come."
-Folk Alley, July 2007
"A sparkling, high energy show marked by breathtaking musicianship."
-East Bay Express, CA, July 2007
"One of the most song- and arrangement-oriented bands in a field overgrown with pyrotechnic, jam- and solo-conscious virtuosos."
-San Francisco Guardian, July 2007, Derk Richardson
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"An ear-to-ear grin of a record."
-Eagle Times - Claremont NH, June 2007
Michael Witthaus
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"Bursting with fun and exuberance, tight sound and spirit... Arbo could be the Kitty Wells of the new millennium."
-All Music Guide, June 2007
"An album of celebratory music with great harmonies, a good dose of twang and timeless melodies. I can't listen without wanting to settle back into a porch rocker with a cold drink and a long brim hat. Don't miss this marvelous Americana music release."
-Star Newspapers, Chicago, June 2007
John Everson
"A foot-stomping musical celebration of the vast mystery that is existence."
-The Local Buzz, Springfield, MA, June 2007
"Big Old Life is a diverse set with a sparkling live sound. Guitarist Anand Nayak's fascinating rethinking of Bob Dylan's 'Farewell, Angelina' could have you wondering why the song was not originally written this way."
-New England Music Scrapbook
"Eclectics from Connecticut, folkie quartet Daisy Mayhem backs the warm, ingratiating vocals of Rani Arbo with rustic strains gathered from around the world."
-Time Out NY
"Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem has the ability to make everything from mountain folk dirges to raucous jug-band rambles speak in new and noteworthy ways... Arbo's alto deftly shifts from smoldering to playful, and her fiddling speaks of old-time blues and jazz, all tinged with a talent for translating anything into accessible music."
-Pacific Sun, Mill Valley CA, 10/2006
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"Can you classify the sounds of Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem? Not really, but rest assured that you are listening to a unique blend, a mix of musical mojo that will stay with you long after your ears first attempt to capture it."
-The Valley Reporter, Waitsfield VT, 4/2005
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"[Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem's] live shows are something to see - a mini music festival of different styles filtered through the vibrant interaction of all four players."
-Dirty Linen, 1/2004
"There is a freshness to daisy mayhem's performances that never feels forced...and seeing this foursome live continues to be a treat. Not only are they tight, fun, and entertaining, but they also do something very difficult to do. They pay respectful homage to the richness of American music (where else can you hear the tunes of Guy Clark, Bessie Jones, Lefty Frizell, and Fiddling John Carson, Satchmo, and Leabelly all in a single musical set?) even as they carve out their own niche within it."
-The Valley Reporter, Waitsfield VT 4/2003
"A reminder that musical categories are a necessity for catalogs and record stores, not for lovers of music."
-Sing Out Magazine, 2/2004
"How refreshing to hear something that sounds as if it has come from people who are genuinely original thinkers. As soon as Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem strike up, you realize this is a band that is unpredictable and impossible to pigeonhole. But, what a thoroughly mellifluous melange - sophisticated, soulful and always handled with care and a lightness of touch that is part folk/jazz/country blues/old time, and all good. There is a togetherness that flows right through the heart of the performance. It never gets too clever and always remains understated and classy."
-Maverick Magazine, 1/2004
"This quartet has a rare gift for fashioning hip, sleek sounds from the solid cloth of vintage American music."
-The Boston Globe, 2004
"A tart, smart meld of American folk melody with buoyant splashes of jazz, pop, bluegrass, and blues."
-The Boston Globe, Scott Alarik's "The Best CDS of 2003", 12/2003
"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, 9/2003
"Neo old-timey with cosmopolitan splashes of modern pop and jazz..."
-The Boston Globe, 1/2001
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