Small Potatoes returns to Cornell for April 2 concert in McGraw Hall

Rich Prezioso and Jacquie Manning Courtesy of Cornell Folk Song Club

The Cornell Folk Song Club (CFSC) presents the powerhouse duo Small Potatoes in concert this Saturday, April 2, at 8 p.m. in 165 McGraw Hall. Tickets are $10 for CFSC members, seniors and children and $12 for general admission.

Small Potatoes has been touring for just over a decade. In that time (years of "careful indecision," they joke), Jacquie Manning and Rich Prezioso have established themselves as one of the most broad-ranging acts on the folk circuit, combining broad humor and wide-open genres. They are self-described "eclecto-maniacs." Drawing from country, blues, Celtic and cowboy swing, they have developed an exuberant, energetic, funny-yet-disciplined style distinctly their own. Their concerts, known for lively audience interaction, have a wild but workable mix of traditional and contemporary songs, some which they have written themselves. Manning's "Waltz of the Wallflowers" was a winner at the Kerrville New Folk Songwriting Contest in 1998, and Prezioso's "1,000 Candles, 1,000 Cranes" is deeply moving. They fill a stage with their charisma as well as instruments, including acoustic and national steel guitars, mandolin, a large assortment of flutes and whistles and a serious array of implements of percussion (from bodhrans to toy drums that are altogether unserious). Both are superb musicians, as one critic described, "with vocals so tight you need WD-40 to get them apart."

Familiar to festival goers across the country, the duo has many local fans and won a "Best of 'Bound for Glory' award" in 2000. Perhaps it's because, as Warren Nelson of Wisconsin Public Radio notes, "They don't sound like anybody else. They lay out a blanket and every song is a picnic." If you're ready to cast off winter for picnic time, join the Cornell Folk Song Club in welcoming Small Potatoes for a merry evening.

Tickets are available at Ithaca Guitar Works, GreenStar Market, Small World Music, Colophon Books, online at http://www.cornellfolksong.org/ and at the door. For more information, call 277-8519.