Big THANK YOU to everyone who made our sell-out weekend a success! As always, we love to perform for the wonderful folks at the GAR Hall in beautiful Peninsula Ohio! We were also thrilled to play a new venue in Saline, Michigan...Acoustic Routes Concerts at Stony Lake Brewing! Not only did everyone at Stony Lake treat us like royalty, we were also blown away that the show was SOLD OUT. Thank you Michigan!!
Hey Mavis has appeared on Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know
Hey Mavis has appeared on NPR's Mountain Stage
About Hey Mavis
For more than thirteen years, Northcoast Americana band Hey Mavis has been weaving a musical tapestry and igniting a following of dedicated fans. With heartfelt vocals, honest songwriting, blazing instrumental solos, and an undeniable onstage musical chemistry, this quartet is the definition of great Americana music.
Banjoist/songwriter Laurie Michelle Caner and violinist/fiddler Eddie Caner formed Hey Mavis while serving as artists-in-residence in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Producer Don Dixon (REM/Smithereens/Red Clay Ramblers) “discovered” the group on a local Christmas compilation CD and went on to produce their first two albums, both of which hit the top 10 on the national Folk DJ-L radio charts and amassed favorable reviews across the globe. Hey Mavis’s third release, produced by Yonder Mountain String Band’s Adam Aijala, features guitar playing by Aijala as well as a title track co-written by Chuck Auerbach, who has written lyrics to several Black Keys songs. Hey Mavis's latest release, Silver Ribbon Dream—Songs & Stories of the Ohio & Erie Canal, is a book/CD of original songs by Hey Mavis songwriter Laurie Michelle Caner with illustrations by nationally-acclaimed artist Leandra Drumm. Funded by John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, reviews have ranged from "unconventionally beautiful" to "startlingly original." Hey Mavis has performed the work in cities throughout the East and Midwest, including appearances with several symphony orchestras.
Hey Mavis has appeared on NPR’s Mountain Stage, NPR’s Whad'ya Know?, PBS’s Applause and PBS's Songs from the Center. The group has performed standing-room-only shows at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival as well as countless sell-out concerts in Northeast Ohio and Michigan. In 2018, Melissa Etheridge hand-picked Hey Mavis to be one of the headliners for her music cruise.
Band Members
Laurie Michelle Caner (vocals, banjo, songwriting) is a homeschooling mom, a songwriter, visual artist and Ms. May in the 2015 Banjo Babes Calendar. She continuously strives to honor her own artistic vision while simultaneously raising a healthy family. Her banjo playing is of curious origin, but beautifully serves as a foundation for her lyrics. Laurie’s songwriting tells the story of life—with all of it’s beauty, heartache, disappointment and joy—weaving a musical tapestry that speaks the truth of love, life and the human condition.
Eddie Caner (violin, viola profunda) spent a dozen years performing as a sideman in national touring bands and orchestras, including Page & Plant, Luciano Pavarotti, Smokey Robinson, and Natalie Cole. Eddie always amazes the audience with his Hendrix-like tone and precision—he can soar beautifully over Laurie’s vocals or play a raucous, dirgy groove. He was once labeled by the legendary music critic Jane Scott as “the most versatile musician on the planet”. Eddie spends his free time as a physics instructor at Case Western Reserve University.
Bryan Thomas (bass) comes from a background of classical and jazz bass traditions and has sought out musical interactions in as many cultures as possible. His many first-hand experiences and lessons with giants of the double bass, notably soloists Gary Karr, François Rabbath, Cleveland Orchestra bassists Anthony Knight, Scott Haigh, and Mark Atherton, jazz legend Ray Brown, and great Cuban bassist, Carlos del Puerto, shape his approach to the instrument. After earning his BM in Music Performance at Kent State University, he spent many years as a road musician, touring with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, as a staff musician on Norwegian Cruise Lines, and as a freelance copyist and musician in Germany. In addition to being a sought-after sideman for decades, Bryan has been expanding his roles as an arranger, music director, composer and recording artist.
Anthony Taddeo, endorsed by “Out of the Drawer Percussion” and “Byrne Cymbals” as a performing artist, is a percussionist, composer, and performer residing in Cleveland, Ohio. He has studied with world-renowned percussionist Jamey Haddad and at The New School’s School for Jazz and holds an MFA in composition from Youngstown State University. Featured on over 30 albums, Taddeo has toured North America and Europe at festivals such as Bern Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Ciclo 1906 Jazz Fest in Spain, and Cleveland’s Tri-C Jazz Festival. His film score for Making Montgomery Clift recently debuted at the LA Film Festival. Currently, Taddeo leads and composes for his groups AlbaTrio and Alla Boara.
"With seven words, you took me there, I was standing exactly where you stood, and I knew the emotions that flooded your heart."
~Hey Mavis Fan
Hey Mavis has had the privilege of performing at venues such as:
Emmens Auditorium (Muncie (Indiana) Symphony Orchestra)
Melissa Etheridge Cruise (main stage headliner)
Telluride Bluegrass Festival (Telluride, CO)
Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival (headliner at The Little Theater)
Cain Park (Cleveland, OH--main stage headliner)
LC Pavilion (Columbus, OH)
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (headliner)
The State Theater (Cleveland, OH)
The Kent Stage (main stage headliner)
Lock 3 (Akron, OH)
The Sportsmen's Tavern (Buffalo, NY)
The Abilene (Rochester, NY)
The Rongovian Embassy (Trumansburg, NY)
Culture Center Theater (Charleston, WV)
Hamilton Center for the Arts (Hamilton, OH)
Fairfield Community Arts Center (Fairfield, OH)
Paw Paw Festival (Athens, OH)
Turtle Hill Folk Festival (Rochester, NY)
Eastman House (Rochester, NY)
Tuscora Park (w/ Tuscarawas Philharmonic Orchestra)
The Historic Taos Inn (Taos, NM)
Adelphia Music Hall (Marietta, OH)
Lancaster Music Festival (Lancaster, OH)
Jefferson Barracks (St. Louis, MO)
The House of Blues (Cleveland, OH)
Myer's Memorial Bandshell (Ashland, OH)
Hoover Auditorium and Pavilion (Lakeside, OH)
The Beachland Ballroom (Cleveland, OH)
Cuyahoga Valley National Park House Concert Series
Mill Creek Concert Series (Youngstown, OH)
Human Rights Coalition Annual Gala (Cleveland, OH)
First Night Akron (Akron, OH)
Akron Firestone Auditorium w/ the Firestone H.S. Orchestra (Akron, OH)
Brookstock (Cleveland, OH)
Alliance Symphony Orchestra
What a joy it was to perform our songs with the brilliant Alliance Symphony Orchestra! Thank you to Conductor Eric Benjamin, and all the hardworking members of ASO for their passion and time on this project!
Captain Dickey~Whiskey-stealing Canal Boat Captain
The Stroede Center for the Arts recently enlisted Hey Mavis, in collaboration with The Tuttle Museum, to write a song about Defiance people, events or folklore. And what tasty bit of history did Laurie find? A mischievous, whiskey-stealing canal boat captain? Captain Al Dickey hauled pig iron from Paulding Furnace to Toledo, then returned with a boatload of iron ore. Whiskey was also a part of just about every shipment made on the canal. Mischievous and thieving Dickey would have his crew siphon whiskey off the kegs they hauled.
"Here come Capt Dickey, Look out now
Gonna bump that bridge,
Slowing traffic way down
He’s been up all night
That stolen whiskey makes him tight
Here come Capt Dickey, Look out now"
It ain't your childhood Cracker Jack!
Music and hot sauce...what a pairing! Hey Mavis recently partnered with The Karma Sauce company in Rochester NY to create their live show release: Hey Mavis Red Hot Sauce~Live at Lovin' Cup. The live show was recorded at The Lovin' Cup, a well-known and beloved music venue in Rochester. The album is downloadable from a QR code on the beautifully designed label (by Cleveland artist Hannah Taddeo). Get your bottle and album today and start spicing things up!!
New Music Video Release "It's a Life"
"It's a Life"...perhaps the most difficult song I have written thus far. A song about the life and death of my father, William F. Dent. How do you honor, celebrate and grieve a life...all in a 5 minute song? I mean, the great songwriters make it seem so easy (don't we all marvel at how effortlessly a John Prine song can wrap its arms around you and transfer the love, humor, beauty and pain of someone else's life?). I wanted the song to be bigger than my own grief...bigger than my own sense of loss and regret. I didn't want the song to bring the listener into a valley of mourning for 5 minutes...only to leave them there, with no way out. I needed the song to lift me out and, hopefully, lift us all up.
My dad gave me so much...most of it I did not appreciate until the very end of his life. We know this already, but I will say it anyway: Do not wait until the moment of someone's last breath to say "thank you"..."I love you"..."I appreciate what you did for me".
The time is now...every breath is a gift, every life is important and worth living...hold each other up...breathe deeply...the time is now.