Vicki Kristina Barcelona Band Plays Tom Waits at Spencertown Academy

Saturday, September 26, 8pm | Spencertown, NY

Spencertown Academy's Roots & Shoots Concert Series presents Vicki Kristina Barcelona Band on September 26, a New York City-based trio playing the songs of Tom Waits. The group is composed of three distinctive singer-songwriters—Rachelle Garniez, Amanda Homi, and Kirsten Thien—layering soaring three-part harmony over an unusual selection of instruments that includes percussion from around the world, an array of squeezeboxes, acoustic and pedal-driven electric guitars, a banjo, and the occasional bell or whistle.

Garniez, a native New Yorker raised on the Upper West Side by a classical pianist mother and a French existentialist literature professor, spent a year busking through Europe at 17 before returning to New York and settling into the East Village, where an accordion picked up almost as a joke ended up reshaping her entire career. She's since released seven albums, composed music for Taylor Mac's Obie-winning "The Lily's Revenge," collaborated with Jack White and Rufus Wainwright, and joined the roots-world band Hazmat Modine. The New Yorker has called her "a certified free spirit."

Homi brings what the group describes as a triple threat's range—keeping the band's pulse whether she's on drums, harmonium, or strings, while delivering vocals the group calls mind-bending in their virtuosity, paired with an equally theatrical stage presence. Thien draws from old-school American soul and the drive of blues, gospel, and rock and roll, her powerful voice grounding the trio's sound firmly in American roots tradition.

Spencertown Academy Arts Center, 790 Route 203, Spencertown, NY. Tickets at viewcy.com.