Saturday May 17, 2025

BLACKFOOT DAISY Atlanta songwriters Wendy DuMond and Don Sechelski met online in 2008 on a songwriter forum. When they discovered they lived within 5 miles of each other, they got together to jam and a spark was lit. The band size and configuration has changed over the years but the core has always been the songwriting. The current band includes Don Sechelski on vocals, guitar and bass, Wendy DuMond on vocals, percussion, ukelele and guitar and Jim Kirkland on fiddle, flute, and mandolin. In 2014, the band released their first EP, “Jubilee.” This 3-song effort was followed by a full-length release in 2020, "Blackfoot Daisy.” Blackfoot daisies are wildflowers that grow on the prairies of Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The band plays original, Americana style music. We are a little haunted by the prairie, the wind, the shifting of tall grasses, the sound of crickets, and a lonesome train whistle drifting through the night. ATLANTA MANDOLIN ORCHESTRA The Atlanta Mandolin Orchestra has been pushing the possibilities of acoustic music since the mandolin orchestra rage at the turn of the 20th century. We are an ensemble of mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, guitars and bass creating beautiful music ranging from Bach, Mozart, Joplin, Ellington, Zimmer, to name just a few. Our music repertoire ranges from Turn of the Century Rags and Marches, Classical, Latin, Irish, Jazz, Brazilian, Ethnic, POP to Seasonal compositions. From performing arts concert halls to universities, churches, schools and retirement homes, the AMO has a diverse repertoire that is sure to please! We are building on the legacy of William Griffith, a Midtown Atlanta mandolin instructor, performer, and instrument dealer who directed a very fine mandolin orchestra for over thirty years beginning in the early Twentieth Century. The Atlanta Mandolin Orchestra is establishing its own history today under the direction of Ed Davis, conductor!