Too Cool For this Century
The Stop and Listen plays old-time stringband music with a unique set of instruments and voices. We specialize in fiddle tunes, old-time songs, jug band numbers, and country blues. They bring some serious drive and groove with harmonicas (sometimes a couple at once), extraordinary improvisation on cello and fiddle, banjos of uncompromising size, and a bass with a chip on its shoulder. Songs are sung with an old-time swagger, harmonies included.
Daniel Plane (cello, fiddle)
Daniel is a seasoned improviser in a number of styles. Classically trained at Interlochen Arts Academy and The Longy School of Music, he also attended the Berklee School of music where exposure to Bluegrass, Klezmer, and Jazz fanned his passion for roots music. His abilities as a multi-instrumentalist have created fertile ground for developing harmonic approaches to the cello that are shared by only a handful of people in the world. Daniel is also an accomplished cello teacher, who specializes in breaking out of the classical box. He offers master class courses in improvisation and composition at stringlingo.com. Check out his most recent album “Old Favorites”
Adam Helt-Baldwin (bass, guitar)
Adam cut his teeth on the Milwaukee punk music scene. He plays bass, guitar, and harmonica. He is a remarkable singer-songwriter with a powerful and often haunting delivery of his own material, as well original interpretations of compositions by others. Adam provides the funky low end of The Stop and Listen, as well as harmonies and the occasional harp duet. He also plays regularly with John Van Orman, as Van Orman and Helwin. Check out their most recent albums here.
Calvin Woodring (harps)
Calvin grew up surrounded by world class old-time musicians on the east coast. He plays harmonica and sings, and is a master at straight harp (playing melodies that keep pace evenly with the fiddle). He has performed with a number of old-time and blues groups and is in high demand for square and contra dances. He co-hosts an old-time music radio program, Old-Time Echoes with Mike on the local community radio station, 98.7 WVMO. You can livestream their show from anywhere in the world every Sunday at 4PM CT . View their playlists here! Check out his 2024 interview on the Get Up in the Cool Podcast.
Mike Tiboris (Banjo)
Mike brings clawhammer rhythms, two to three fingerstyle, and sometime a honking tenor banjo with its own zip code. A lot of his style was absorbed by hanging around Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. He has played in other old-time bands in Chicago and Madison, and co-hosts an old-time music radio program, Old-Time Echoes with Calvin on 98.7 WVMO in Monona, WI.