“Is that all you’re wearing? It’s cold outside!”
~ Mom DeMaris

I started playing the violin at age 9, taking group lessons in the basement of my elementary school. I didn’t require the same amount of attention as, say, the left-handed kid who cried and threw up during most lessons, so I developed bad violin habits and hygiene that prevented early fame. In fact, right after high school graduation, I put my beat-up $25 instrument in its case and didn’t take it out again for more than 20 years. When I opened the case again, it was to start fresh as a fiddle player. I took some lessons from Jean Tai of the Hartford Symphony, then worked with Gordon Swift for a short time to learn traditional fiddling styles and techniques. I also sweated through Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camp in hot, humid Nashville in June 2002, sitting in workshops with Aubrey Haynie, Bruce Molsky and April Verch. These days, I practice in my kitchen, opening the windows in good weather to torment the high-strung little dog next door.

Musical Influences and Inspirations
  Tim O’Brien, Kenny Baker, Martin Hayes, Randall Bayes, Richard Thompson, Casey Dreissen, Ashley MacIsaac, Natalie MacMaster, April Verch and last but certainly not least, Frank Zappa.

Guilty Musical Pleasures
  House music, techno, trance

Words to Live By
“If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.”
(Fudd’s First Law, Firesign Theatre)

Personal
Arlene DeMaris was born in Plainfield, New Jersey and grew up in neighboring North Plainfield before running away to college in southern Maine. She has lived in Connecticut for a zillion years and currently calls Avon home.