June 15, 2020 – Morning Comes

We have a second performance by Dana Takaki and Hugh Birdsall to share from their backyard concert a few weeks ago!

Dana Takaki is a classically trained violinist who plays with the New Britain Symphony, Chorus of Westerly and other local symphonies. She also plays with Hugh Birdsall in a duo (Hugh & Dana) and in a rock band (Dogbite). Hugh and Dana share a love for jamming at summer Farmers Markets in the region, and they enjoy mixing folk music with country, rockabilly, fake jazz, standards, and Hugh’s original songs.  Dana also leads a weekly adult fiddle class in Old Lyme.

Hugh Birdsall, has been playing music in Connecticut for decades, literally. He is a founding member of The Reducers, Dogbite, The Three-Pack, The Original Sinners, and SheSaidHeSaid. Guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and bon vivant, he has toured extensively and has performed and recorded in some of the finest studios, basements, garages, dives and farmers markets in the region. Heavily influenced by 40’s hot jazz, 50’s rock n’roll, the 60’s folk movement, and the 70’s punk rock explosion, his body of work includes songs as diverse as “Black Plastic Shoes,” “Bombs Away, Lock and Load,” “Grace,” and “Wailing City Girl.” His professional and personal manifesto reads, “play for fun,for family, for friends, occasionally for profit, and always for pleasure.”

Hugh and Dana play a mix of covers and original tunes including older swing tunes (La Vie En Rose, Gershwin’s Summertime), popular covers (All Shook Up, Country Roads), fiddle classics (Down by the Riverside, Wabash Cannonball) and newer covers that feature the violin / fiddle (Fisherman’s Blues). Their playlist also includes several original songs written by Hugh Birdsall and his band (When the Morning Comes, Just Maybe).

Dana also plays violin / fiddle duets with her son, Tanner Aikens. Tanner started playing violin for fun at age 6, began formal lessons at 9. He is now a high school senior and plays Paganini for fun. At the Farmers’ Market Tanner and Dana will play classical duets including all 3 movements of the Bach Double, Pachelbel’s Canon and duet arrangements of Bach, Beethoven, Brahms and other tuneful classical composers. They throw in some fiddle tunes like Ashoken Farewell and Millionaire’s Hoedown. Tanner fill any gaps in the program with improvised tunes from video games and internet comics.