Sad Daddy perks up for show

What's in a name, that famous guy Will Shakespeare once wanted to know.

Sad Daddy is a good example. Or maybe a better descriptive quote would be that of Bo Diddley, who once cautioned in a song that "You can't judge a book by looking at the cover."

In the case of Sad Daddy, you have an Arkansas quartet, two men and two women, none all that sad, they say (and their music tends to back up their claim), and none are fathers. But some of them do have a fondness for fish.

"Brian Martin picked out the band's name," says Melissa Carper. "It was an expression that he had heard before, that when you catch a big fish, someone would no doubt say, 'That's a sad daddy.' And the image of just such a fish is what we have on the cover of our first album."

Sad Daddy, which will perform 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at South on Main, came to the surface in 2010, when singer-songwriter Martin, who then lived in Hot Springs, played a show at that city's bar Maxine's, along with stand-up bassist Carper and banjoist Joe Sundell. All three had other bands and obligations, with Carper and Sundell living in Austin, Texas.

"Now we are all back in Arkansas," Sundell says. "I'm in Little Rock, and Melissa and Brian are in Eureka Springs, and so is our newest member, Rebecca Patek, who plays fiddle. When Melissa, Brian and I first got together, we were aware of one another, and we discovered we had compatible styles.

"Brian has had a solo career and an album out under his own name, and I have three solo albums of my own. Melissa has made albums with folks who are known as The Carper Family, The Maybelles, The Camptown Ladies, and she and I have a trio, the Show and Tellers, with Rebecca. So there are a lot of connections."

Sundell, Carper and Martin write the band's songs and sing their own compositions, accompanied by Patek on vocals.

Sundell, who plays banjo left-handed, describes Patek as a classically trained fiddle player who has been playing and singing since she was 13.

"It's a nice dynamic," he says.

Most of the band's material is original songs, but the group will throw in a few older songs not really recognizable as cover songs, Sundell notes.

"We're working up songs for our second album, and hope to get that done this summer," he says. "We'll go back to Austin to record it there. With any luck, it would then come out in the fall."

Carper adds that all four band members had decided to head to Arkansas at the same time -- some citing congestion and weather.

"I don't like being in a big city," she says. "I wanted to get back to the country, and I had lived in Eureka Springs years ago. Part of the way I got started was playing my bass on the sidewalk, making a little money when the tourists were in town."

She calls the music of Sad Daddy a sort of old blues, with jug band elements.

"We might sound something like Mississippi John Hurt, except for Brian, whose sound is more modern."

Sad Daddy will be spending most of July and August in Arkansas, with three shows in Eureka Springs, a couple in Fayetteville, one in Rogers and shows in Little Rock again -- on July 23 at the White Water Tavern and a return to where the band was "spawned," at Maxine's in Hot Springs on July 24.

Style on 06/23/2015