'Hey Mavis' and Firelands Symphony Orchestra, live

VERMILION — Acclaimed Americana band Hey Mavis is happy to be out performing for the people after weathering the pandemic lockdown on concerts. The band will perform a free concert with the Firelands Symphony Orchestra at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, at Paper Moon Vineyards at Vermilion. Audience members are invited to bring a blanket or chair. Food and drink will be available at the venue. It's part of a series of free outdoor concerts presented by the orchestra. The four-piece band, accompanied by the orchestra, will be performing songs from its latest album, "Silver Ribbon Dream," songs about the Ohio & Erie Canal. The orchestra, led by conductor Carl Topilow, also will be playing traditional American tunes. Laurie Michelle Caner, who founded the band with her husband while the pair served as artists-in-residence at Cuyahoga Valley National Park, said she missed live shows. And while she admired musicians who livestreamed performances instead, she couldn't bring herself to do it. "I found that I was completely uninspired to do any of that," she said. "So much of a live performance is that constant dialogue between the audience and the performer." Caner said the audience at Paper Moon can expect to hear a great musical collaboration between her band and the orchestra. "It's our band and the orchestra as one big, cohesive, living breathing thing," she said. Copies of the album will be available for sale at the concert. Based in the Akron-Kent area, Hey Mavis melds elements of folk, jazz, country and rock and features Caner, the band's songwriter, singer and banjo player, with her husband Eddie Caner on violin and fiddle, Bryan Thomas on bass and Anthony Taddeo on drums. The band relies on playing live shows to help its music become better known, although band members don't have the time for constant touring. Caner homeschools her children and her husband teaches physics at Case Western Reserve University. "We all have kids and families," she said. "We have all kind of committed to having them as a priority." "All I really want to do is create good art that resonates and speaks to people and that I'm proud of," Caner said. "I don't want to spend a bunch of time marketing it." Famed music producer and performer Don Dixon, known for his work with bands such as R.E.M. and The Smithereens, discovered Hey Mavis and produced the bands first two albums. Dixon lives in Canton, Ohio, with his wife, the singer and artist Marti Jones. Dixon is great to work with, Caner said, and has a very encouraging style. "He kind of gets you out of your head a little bit," she said. "I love Don Dixon. He is wonderful. He's very laid back. He has a great way of communicating what he thinks without being a dictator, without being a jerk," Caner said.