Prepare for an evening of wild invention when pioneering fiddle maestro Darol Anger and his ground-breaking American Fiddle Ensemble join forces with genre-bending old-time singer-songwriter Danny Barnes to take the Freight to places it's rarely been before. The unexpected will be the order of the evening, with sets from Danny and from the AFE, then a joint extravaganza premiering pieces from Danny's new album on Terminus Records.

Violinist, fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is famous as a creator of innovative string techniques. For 25 years, Darol has continually reinvented the American string ensemble to incorporate his explorations into American traditional, bluegrass, jazz, and world musics in groups he helped found such as the Turtle Island String Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, Psychograss, Newgrange, and Montreux.

With the American Fiddle Ensemble, in collaboration with flat-pick guitar master Scott Nygaard, cello phenomenon Rushad Eggleston, and fiddle's newest prodigy, Brittany Haas, Darol once again explodes the limits of tradition. The American Fiddle Ensemble helps redefine the boundaries of the string quartet and the string band, bringing the two forms together and radically altering standard repertoire and technique.

Anger's award-winning original compositions and Nygaard's own intriguing tunes, along with a selection of traditional music from as far away as Appalachia, Sweden, Brazil and Mali, showcase the American Fiddle Ensemble's virtuosity, open-heartedness, and irresistible sense of fun.

Born in Texas, Danny Barnes was raised on the music of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, and Jimmie Rodgers, but when he started playing bluegrass banjo he discovered a penchant for subverting traditional styles with rock spirit and a punk attitude. Known for his work with Austin-based group the Bad Livers, Danny gained a reputation for either offending or amazing (or both) fans of the genre. He also works with various jazz artists, as well as composing scores for film and sitting in with too many other bands to mention.

Danny currently lives in Washington state, where he leads several different combos, including Thee Old Codgers.