Cordelia's Dad are a
folk/
punk from
Northampton, MA. They
started out covering
traditional folk songs in both a fast
and loud manner (Their first album contained a cover of
Scarborough Fair). Eventually, they started tinkering with the songs and writing bits of their own. They even started
doing
acoustic versions. For a while, they decided to
split they two styles into two bands: the acoustic folk
band would remain Cordelia's Dad, while the loud,
raucous music would be
Io. But, after a while, they just decided
to be Cordelia's Dad again.
Cordelia's Dad is composed, theoretically, of Tim Eriksen, Peter Irvine, and Cath Oss. But at various times, it has
also included fiddler Laura Risk and banjo master Dwight Diller, as well as several others. Eriksen and Oss are also part of a group called Northampton Harmony, and sing unaccompaned 18th and 19th century shape note hymns. Eriksen and Irvine are in a band entitled Zabe i Babe, which plays popular and traditional songs from the former Yugoslavia. All in all, they're pretty cool cats.
Discography:
Cordelia's Dad, 1990 - Noisy
How Can I Sleep?, 1992 - split between folk and catchy loud rock
Joy Fun Garden, 1993 - Mostly acoustic; no longer in print
Comet, 1995 - Almost entirely acoustic; an excellent evening in front of the fireplace album, especially when the last (electric) track jars you out of your seat
Roadkill, 1996 - Live album, much screeching; a great rock album
Spine, 1998 - entirely acoustic, but recorded by Steve Albini . . .
Much thanks to http://www.cordeliasdad.com for this one