“Competitive fiddling” may sound odd, but it’s no joke. Chris Peterson won the State Championship in fiddling in Arkansas, and he’s taken his prestigious skills across the country and even to Europe, touring with guitarist and longtime friend Patrick Conway. Ultimately, the duo settled in Austin, and it’s here that Peterson found his fiddling match. Enter Kimberly Zielnicki, a high school phenom who took classical violin and fiddling lessons from Peterson. He was so impressed that he invited her to join his band Lost & Nameless Orchestra.
The group–which also features accordion and piano player Nathan Quiring–soon began gigging around town, and in 2008 they released their self-titled debut EP. Another EP came in 2011, and last year the band finally let loose Lost & Nameless Orchestra III, its full-length debut. It’s a perfect distillation of the quartet’s sound: a little bit of folk, country, and bluegrass, marrying all the styles to a modern sensibility. The album is a mix of original and traditional songs–sometimes both within the same composition. The record kicks off with “The Red Haired Boy,” an Irish ballad featuring a new arrangement and additional lyrics by Peterson and Conway.
Following tours of Texas and the Southeast, Lost & Nameless Orchestra returns home for February where the band will be the Cactus Cafe’s artist-in-residence. Starting tonight, the group will play a free show every Monday for the remainder of the month. They also recently stopped by KUTX’s Studio 1A and today’s song of the day comes from the live session. Lost & Nameless Orchestra performed “The Red Haired Boy,” bringing a centuries-old song to a modern audience.