Come bouncing along folk music’s backroads with Euphonia, a café-style acoustic combo featuring soaring harmony vocals and sophisticated musicianship. This group brings together the compelling voices, restless minds and nimble fingers of four remarkable Northern California musicians.


  1. BulletSinger-guitarist Sylvia Herold (Wake the Dead, Cats & Jammers, Hot Club of San Francisco) delivers assertive guitar work and shoulders most of the storytelling with her clear, captivating voice.


  1. BulletMandolinist Paul Kotapish (Wake the Dead, Kevin Burke’s Open House) dispenses rhythmic drive and weaves tunes like vibrant musical threads through the songs’ fabric while adding his own rich harmony and lead vocals.


  1. BulletAccordionist Charlie Hancock (Swing Farm, Crepes Musette) draws on his deep reservoir of dance-music performance to provide bounce and passion.


  1. BulletBassist Chuck Ervin (The Dialtones, Crepes Musette) supplies a jazz-inflected pulse and contributes harmony and lead vocals.


In its newest recording, The Old Jawbone, Euphonia offers American old-time songs amid fresh renditions of proven winners from John Hartford, Gillian Welch and the Sons of the Pioneers. Fiddle tunes from America and Europe are woven throughout. Guest percussionist Brian Rice adds jumping beans (in a can) along with a jawbone—of course—and a variety of homemade rhythm instruments, giving these folk songs an unexpected and compelling groove.


In its first album, Lovely Nancy (2005), Euphonia used innovative arrangements to breathe new life into songs drawn from the Anglo-Celtic tradition.


Listen to tracks by Euphonia as well as other folk and swing music at Sylvia’s Recordings page.

Euphonia
Not your mama’s folk music!
Performance: Saturday
June 2, 2012, 7:30 PM
What the Critics Say

“Sylvia Herold can sing any kind of music, but her clear tone and diction really shine on

traditional material,...”

– Tim O’Brien, folk and bluegrass recording artist


“Sylvia displays a great voice with a superb taste in material and arrangements. We recommend it highly.”

– Roz and Howard Larman of “FolkScene Radio”, KPFK Los Angeles

From left, Chuck Ervin (double bass, vocals), Paul Kotapish (mandolin, vocals), Sylvia Herold (vocals, guitar) and Charlie Hancock (accordion).

Photo by Anne Hamersky.

Euphonia’s Second Auburn House Concert