Ed's Redeeming Qualities

A quirky folk group who defy an easy placement in genre, Ed's Redeeming Qualities' instrumentation -- guitar, violin, ukulele, bongos, accordion, cardboard bass, and drum -- suggests folk music and the songs run the gamut of influences from rock, country, calypso, and klezmer. A reviewer described them as the "David Lynch of folk music," which is as apt a description as anyone has come up with. With a penchant for writing simple, affecting melodies with sophisticated wordplay that makes one either laugh out loud, smile, or scratch one's head in confusion (and sometimes all three simultaneously) along with live performances that ran the gamut from brilliant to painful, ERQ amassed a strong cult following, which hasn't subsided with the band's demise. Founding members Dan Leone, his cousin Dom Leone, and Neno Perotta are from Ohio. The band's genesis began in the mid-'80s at the University of New Hampshire, where Dan met Carrie Bradley, Jonah Winter, and Ray Halliday in the writing program. Dom and Neno eventually relocated to New Hampshire. Amidst this collection of writers, songs were written and informal casual jam sessions -- Dan on the ukulele, Carrie on violin, Neno on percussion, and Dom writing the majority of songs and singing - eventually led to more band-like activities. They began doing shows locally and in Boston at a bar called the Rathskeller, which at the time was featuring an alternative performance space known as "Ed's Basement." The foursome released two cassette demos -- Ed's Redeeming Qualities and Ed's Kitchen -- along with two seven-inch records -- Ed's Day and Safe World Record (although the latter would not be released until 1993). In the midst of this creative activity, Dom succumbed to cancer in 1989. Shortly after this unfortunate incident,...