Throughout the '90s, Boston-based singer/fiddler Rani Arbo led the critically-acclaimed acoustic roots band Salamander Crossing. After the group's swan song, 2000's Henry Street: A Retrospective, Arbo pursued a solo career with her support band Daisy Mayhem. Cocktail Swing, a collection of pop, jazz, and country songs given the jug band treatment, arrived in the summer of 2001. 2003's Gambling Eden and 2007's Big Old Life showed off more of her rootsy yet forward-thinking sound. ~ Heather Phares