Tin Hat
Tin Hat
With music that mocks categories and defies stylistic conventions, Tin Hat is a collective quartet dedicated to the idea that beautiful sounds reside at the crossroads of improvisation and composition. Founded in the mid-90s by a triumvirate of conservatory-trained East Coast transplants, the group has morphed and expanded over the years while retaining its avant-chamber sensibility. Tin Hat is anchored by founders Mark Orton, the guitarist and noted film composer, and violinist Carla Kihlstedt, who honed her rock-star charisma in Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and in work with Madeleine Peyroux and Tracy Chapman. Berkeley clarinet master Ben Goldberg and San Francisco accordion ace Rob Reich, who perform widely with the Nice Guy Trio and Gaucho, bring Tin Hat a jolt of improvisational energy. Utilizing a dizzying array of aged, esoteric instruments, the band creates a cinematic soundscape, rife with emotion and drama. After a series of diverse albums featuring guests including Tom Waits and Willie Nelson, their latest project sets music to the poetry of e.e. cummings and is the group’s first album in four years.
Artist Personnel
Carla Kihlstedt violin
Mark Orton guitar
Ben Goldberg clarinet
Rob Reich accordion






