Unlikely Looters Performers

Erik is a composer, lyricist, and guitarist who has appeared on over 60 rock, pop, and Americana albums. He has toured and recorded extensively with Joan Osborne, Natalie Merchant, and Joan Baez, and has worked with legendary music producer T-Bone Burnett. He is conservatory-trained, holding a BFA in Classical Guitar from the Mannes School of Music (now The New School). He has won two Drama Desk Awards. Erik has written and recorded seven albums of original songs with Kill Henry Sugar, his “metropolitan folk duo” with drummer and producer Dean Sharenow. The Washington Post called the band masters of low-fi storytelling who “wed intriguing lyrics to little textured grooves that have a habit of getting under your skin.” Erik is one of the primary songwriters and provides vocals, guitar, and banjo for Hazmat Modine, a band that The New York Times described as a “category-defying blues-rooted group that can swerve into New Orleans brass-band, jazz, and ska.” Erik has also written two children’s musicals—Toby and the Big Top, produced by Walden Media, and Kitty Hawk, which is regularly produced at the Adrienne Arsht Center. He also wrote the score for the documentary Tree Man on Netflix, and contributed songs for many other documentaries and television shows. Erik and fellow musician David Yazbek collaborated on an original musical called Dead Outlaw which opened on March 10th, 2024, at the Minetta Lane Theater in the West Village. The musical comedy tells the true story of an outlaw named Elmer McCurdy, born in the late 1800s, whose mummified body had a very public second act that lasted until the 1970s. The songs of Dead Outlaw are the result of David and Erik’s long reflection on death, fame, and the aberrations of America. In 2024, Dead Outlaw won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical, and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical. Erik also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.

With roots firmly planted in the fiery passion of the Jazz Manouche tradition, Daisy Castro’s unique style refreshes and renews with a modern edge and global influence and instrumentation, bridging the distance between Django’s generation and her own in a very exciting way. Daisy has been an active member of the “Gypsy Jazz” community both in the United States and in Europe since she was quite young. She has played on stages on both continents and beyond with all of the most revered players of this style, earning the respect of these luminaries and their discerning audiences. With a repertoire encompassing everything from the Django songbook to Salsa to traditional Turkish music to original compositions, along with an occasional addition of effects pedals, a whole new world of musical exploration awaits all who attend a performance.