Uncle Moon weaves an eclectic variety of music drawing on the unique possibilities of instrumentation consisting of guitar, accordion, violin, saxophone and double bass. They have been called an eclectic folk band, but their music transcends those roots, exploring and incorporating elements of jazz, country, punk, bluegrass, klezmer, Cajun, cabaret, poetry and art music.
Uncle Moon performs a great deal of original material as well as unique arrangements of several well-known tunes, including a tortured version of "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" that weaves in Sam Shepard poetry to explore the darker side of a father-son relationship, the Cal-punk classic "Corona" by the Minutemen (known to a new generation as the theme music to MTV's "Jackass"), and a broken-calliope version of "Likes Liquor Better Than Me" by the legendary New York City-based country band The New Lost City Ramblers. They love spoken-word material and have scored music to works from poets including Tennessee Williams and Michael Waters.
The members of Uncle Moon are drawn from a number of bands that are or were popular on the New York scene. Saxophonist Fritz Van Orden played with and wrote many of the tunes for The Ordinaires. Violinist Claudia Chopek has played with Amy Grant, Cyndi Lauper, Chris Butler and Michael Cerveris. Bassist Scott Selig played with Ambulance and Yellowfin. Trey Kay, guitar and vocals, has performed with meredith Monk and was a founding member of The Cheese Beads. Accordionist Carl Riehl has performed in a wide variety of Off-Broadway theater and dance performances in addition to solo appearances at venues including the Brooklyn Academy of Music's BAMcafe.
Uncle Moon has performed with Michelle Shocked and has given command performances for Vaclav Havel and Madeleine Albright. They also wrote and performed the music for High Fidelity Theatre's musical "The Architecture of Sight."
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