TIN HAT is composed of Carla Kihlstedt violin, vocal, Mark Orton guitar, dobro, piano, Ben Goldberg  clarinet and Rob Reich accordion, piano.

"Tin Hat's music crackles with the improvisational savvy of jazz, but it is unclassifiable - like notes from some dusty heartland attic, restored and polished to a high sheen…The Sad Machinery of Spring, is a marvel of intimate chemistry and resourceful orchestration." -The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Taking the work of the Polish-Jewish writer and graphic artist Bruno Schulz as inspiration, this remarkable quintet of multi- instrumentalists create a series of measured vignettes that brilliantly mix the familiar with the bizarre. Founder members Carla Kihlstedt - fulsomely melodic on violin - and ultra-sharp rhythm guitarist Mark Orton are here augmented by harp and an instrumental assortment that includes wheezy harmoniums, querulous trumpets and plaintive clarinets. Unhurried tempos add to an underlying feeling of uncertainty, creating a genuinely surrealist musical soundscape, highlighted by the only vocal track, a menacing "Daisy Bell"." -Financial Times, London

Forging a new acoustic sound that defies categorization while striking universal chords, Tin Hat makes freewheeling chamber music for the 21st century. Garnering widespread critical acclaim for its six CDs, the group has also earned high marks for their captivating performances. Tin Hat's international audiences have grown over the years through its many concert tours in the United States and Europe.
Hailed by the press for "interweaving Old World Europe with post-modern America, south-of-the-border sensuality with concert-hall propriety, and odd-metered syncopation with deeply soulful grooves" (The New York Press), the ensemble has created an original American ethnic music of its own device.
Other reviewers note "the group blends elements of jazz, folk and classical chamber music to create unique, yet often eerie compositions that seem like the perfect movie score." (Billboard); "Their haunting and strangely familiar music... is a soundtrack for the kind of puzzling dream which leaves you sitting awake in the middle of the night..." (The New Yorker); "Forget the definitions, and simply think of their music as compelling entertainment, rich with whimsy, imagination and intelligence." (Los Angeles Times); and "They make music that blends contemporary classical, Eastern European folk, tango, bossa nova and bluegrass, all with a jazz-improvisation sensibility. What comes out of that mix isn't quite like anything else you've heard - and better than that, it's fun to listen to." (New York Daily News).
Founded in 1997 in San Francisco, the group formed as a composer’s collective committed to creating a purely acoustic music that blurred the lines between composition and improvisation. Original members Carla Kihlstedt (violin), Rob Burger (accordion/piano), and Mark Orton (guitar) often invited special guests to join them on their recordings, among them such luminaries as Tom Waits and Willie Nelson, along with luminescent friends like clarinetist Ben Goldberg and harpist Zeena Parkins. After Rob Burger left the group in late 2004, Goldberg became a permanent member, along with multi-instrumentalist Ara Anderson, a San Francisco native. These new musicians fit easily into the Tin Hat mold as evocative performers, adding new colors, strokes, and textures to the already large canvas that is the ensemble's sound, as evidenced on their two most recent recordings, The Sad Machinery of Spring (Hannibal/ Rykodisc), and their latest release Foreign Legion (Bag Production). Legion is Tin Hat’s first live album and features performances from Palma De Mallorca, Spain and Berkeley, California. Most recently Tin Hat has been exploring both new and traditional song-craft, incorporating Carla’s vocals into the group’s sound; and on the upcoming tours Carla, Ben, and Mark will be joined by newcomer Rob Reich on accordion and piano.
Tin Hat pursues an active touring schedule in both America and Europe, and continually searches for ways to integrate their signature sound into expanded instrumentations – past collaborations include everything from a brass trio to The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Tin Hat has also accompanied the silent insect animations of Ladislaw Starewicz with a series of original scores which are performed live with these groundbreaking films. Made in Russia and Paris in the early 20th century, they feature a number of animated insects, frogs and rats, dressed for roles in decidedly surreal tellings of Aesop's fables and Grimm's fairy tales.
Further attesting to their cinematic qualities, Tin Hat’s compositions are featured on a number of film soundtracks, including "The Good Girl," "The Real Dirt on Farmer John," "Sweet Land,” “Everything is Illuminated,” “La Giusta Distanza,” and Tennessee Williams’ “The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond.” Prominent dance and theater companies have used their music to enhance choreography and for dramatic effect, e.g. Pilobolus, Koresh Dance, Donald Byrd & Spectrum Dance Theater, Lawrence Goldhuber/BigManArts, the Berkeley Repertory Theater, and San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus.
 
Clarinetist/Composer Ben Goldberg, whom John Zorn has called “one of the greatest clarinetists I have ever heard,” grew up in Denver, Colorado, and received degrees from the University of California and Mills College.  He studied with the eminent clarinetist Rosario Mazzeo, as well as with Steve Lacy and Joe Lovano.  His New Klezmer Trio "kicked open the door for radical experiments with Ashkenazi roots music." (San Francisco Chronicle).  In addition to the Ben Goldberg Quintet, he currently performs in several groups: Tin Hat; plays monk (a trio with Scott Amendola and Devin Hoff); Myra Melford’s Be Bread; Nels Cline’s New Monastery; and Go Home (with Charlie Hunter, Ron Miles, and Scott Amendola.)  A new CD of Ben’s compositions featuring Joshua Redman will be released in 2009.  He has performed with, among others, John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Roswell Rudd, Don Byron, Mark Feldman, Ellery Eskelin, Zeena Parkins, Mark Dresser, Vijay Iyer, and Jenny Scheinman.  More info: http://bengoldberg.net/
Carla Kihlstedt plays the violin, sings and composes in an incredibly wide variety of musical circumstances, from the rich and subtle Tin Hat to the dramatic and alarming Sleepytime Gorilla Museum to the intimate and disarming 2 Foot Yard. She has been lucky enough to work with many of her favorite musicians, including Fred Frith, Satoko Fujii, Tom Waits, and Carla Bozulich. She has written music for choreographers Shinichi Iova Koga, Jo Kreiter, and Joe Goode, and together with poet Rafael Oses has created a staged song cycle called Necessary Monsters, based loosely on Jorge Luis Borges' Book of Imaginary Beings. She has also returned to her classical roots through her long-time friendship with composer Lisa Bielawa whose Double Violin Concerto, premiered in Boston and New York with violinist Colin Jacobsen (Silk Road Ensemble). She is currently writing a new piece for the ROVA Saxophone Quartet, and a new trio with Matthias Bossi and Shahzad Ismaily called Causing a Tiger, combining music and field recordings from her travels.                  More info:  http://carlakihlstedt.com/
Rob Reich grew up in Long Island, New York, studying piano from age three.  After graduating with a degree in Music Composition from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.  It is here that he discovered the accordion, now his primary instrument.  His musical interests include jazz, ragtime, klezmer, and classical music.  Rob brings a spirit of openness and improvisation to all music he approaches.  Current bands include The Nice Guy Trio and Gaucho. He has also worked as composer/musical director for Circus Bella, Rococo Risque, and the VaVaVoom Room.  Recently he performed original soundtracks to two classic silent film shorts: Buster Keaton’s “The Playhouse” and D.W. Griffith’s “Corner in Wheat”.  More info: http://www.robreich.com/
Founding Tin Hat member Mark Orton is a composer/guitarist based in Portland, Oregon. Having grown up in a musical family, he is a multi-instrumentalist as well, performing on all manner of keyboards, strings, and percussion. The son of a conductor, he began his studies in composition while in high school with Daniel Deutsch, going on to study at The Hartt School of Music and The Peabody Conservatory. He is active as a film composer having written soundtracks for or contributed music to many features and documentaries including "The Good Girl," "The Real Dirt on Farmer John," "Everything Is Illuminated," "Sweet Land," "Comrades in Dreams," "The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond," and “Mine”. Orton is busy as an arranger as well, working alongside producer Larry Klein arranging strings for Madeleine Peyroux and Vienna Teng, among others. Outside of Tin Hat, Orton performs with both Imaginary Icebergs and The Steel Trio as well as with the alt-country band The Old Joe Clarks. He continues to compose concert music and writes original scores for modern dance and theater. Along with writer/ collaborator Rafael Oses, he is a founder of Famous Last Words and Music, a company dedicated to the production and performance of new radio drama. More info:http://markortonmusic.com