Single from the Group’s Eponymous Debut, Out May 1 Via Jalopy Records
Trio Draws Repertoire from Obscure Early 20th Century NYC Immigrant Recordings
If one of the functions of music is to transport us, then Vaiano’s Paisanos’ debut album is pulling double duty through time and space. The music starts, and what you hear might bring you to a bar in New York’s Little Italy or Massachusetts’s Little Portugal, to a cafe in the French Quarter, or the deck of a ship steering into a US port of entry; it could be today, or this day one-hundred years ago.
The string band, founded by Rachel Meirs (violin, mandolin); Maxwell Apra(mandolin, tenor banjo, tenor guitar); and Van Burchfield (guitar)—which sometimes balloons to a quintet, thanks to Quentin Bardinet (mandolin, tenor banjo, tenor guitar) and Albanie Faletta (guitar)—is a melting pot of old- instrumentation, with international repertoire gathered from recordings made in New York City. Though the musicians in the band met busking in New Orleans, fiddler in chief Meirs, now based in Louisville, KY, first encountered some of the recordings that inspired this project while working at the Jalopy Theatre over a decade ago. Following in the grand tradition of musical discovery and dissemination by Jalopy Records labelmate and musicological genius Pat Conte, curator of the acclaimed Secret Museum archival reissue series, Vaiano’s Paisanos’ repertoire consists of the masterful melodies immigrants would’ve been humming along and dancing to in the late ’20s and early ’30s. Think Cape Verdean fiddle tunes, Italian mandolin music, pre-Belafonte Calypsos, and Venezuelan waltzes.
“Almost everything in our repertoire was originally recorded in New York City,” explains Meirs. “It’s not that we chose to play immigrant music; it’s that we come from a society largely made up of immigrants, and this music is a beautiful byproduct of that melting pot, as are we.”
Lead single, “Ardo D’amore” (February 25), from the group’s forthcoming eponymous debut (Jalopy Records – May 1), is no exception. HEAR/SHARE.
Meirs’ snaking violin line on the Italian waltz is trapped in a delicate call-and-response with the woodpecker staccato of Apra’s’ tenor banjo. Another highlight from the album, “Una Bambola” is a polka that shows off the group’s playful side, lilting atop an Italian double entendre, which roughly translates to both “doll” and “stylish woman.” And the group’s next single, “Abrew’s Portuguese Jazz,” out March 18, is named for Augusto Abreu’s Cape Verdean trio who recorded only four discs for Columbia Records in 1931. Though varied in geographic origins, the songs chosen for Vaiano’s Paisanos album seem fitting together, and demonstrate how music intermingled in New York City in the early 20th century.
To date, Vaiano’s Paisanos have logged well-received performances at the Brooklyn Folk Fest — where two of the album’s tracks were taped — and the Subdued Stringband Jamboree, and are set to embark on a tour with The Forty Drop Few (Portland, OR) that kicks off in April and finishes at Asheville, NC’s storied record collector gathering, the Shellac Bash.
Vaiano’s Paisanos on Instagram
Album preorder via Jalopy Records
Vaiano’s Paisanos Track Listing w/ Source
1. Masurka Do Meu Pae
Abrew’s Portuguese Instrumental Trio
2. Primore Amore
Giovanni Vicari
3. Ardo d’amore
Frank Fazio/Nullo Romani
4. Abrew’s Portuguese Jazz
Abrew’s Portuguese Instrumental Trio
5. Pioggia di rosa
Giovanni Gioviale
6. Una Bambola
Frank Fazio
7. Sufrimento
Johnny Perry’s Instrumental Trio
8. Riviera bote
Orchestra da Notias
9. Caracas
Lionel Belasco
10. Roses of Caracas Waltz
Lionel Belasco
Vaiano’s Paisanos Tour Dates with the Forty Drop Few
4/24: Nashville, TN – TBD
4/25: Louisville, KY – TBD
4/26: Bloomington, IN – TBD
5/1 & 5/2: Asheville, NC – TBD
Vaiano’s Paisanos Credits
Tracks 1-5 recorded in 2024 at the Jalopy Theatre in Brooklyn, New York, 2024 by Don Fierro
Maxwell Apra (mandolin, tenor banjo), Quentin Bardinet (tenor guitar, tenjor banjo), Rachel Meirs (violin, mandolin)
Tracks 6-8 recorded at Sailor Vineyard in Port Townsend, Washington 2025
Maxwell Apra (mandolin), Rachel Meirs (violin), Van Burchfield (guitar)
Tracks 9-10 recorded live at the Brooklyn Folk Festival, St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn, New York 2024 by Don Fierro
Albanie Faletta (guitar), Maxwell Apra (mandolin), Quentin Bardinet (tenor guitar), Rachel Meirs (violin)
Album mixed and mastered by Don Fierro
Album art by Ethan Frances, Minoot Illustration
