Stewart D'Arrietta

Stewart D’Arrietta and his band, America’s Least Wanted, bring a blistering new show presenting some of the best of the American contemporary songbook, including songs by Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Leonard Cohen, as well D’Arrietta’s own from his solo fifth album, My Magnificent Narcotic.

With his trademark cyclonic musicality and irreverent growl, D’Arrietta and his band inhabit the underworld of the lyrical tragedies and the jocular narratives that explore the gamut of life between birth and death, loneliness, war, dreams, and our relationship with God.

He romps through the repertoire with his characteristic razor wire and whiskey vocal style, dark, laconic humour, and passionate performances. Beneath the roaring bluster, the sinewy strands of song weave poignant and compelling stories of love, lust and loss – D’Arrietta’s favourite themes. These are tunes that talk to each other!

The urban poet Waits, depicted the punks and hobos, the lost and invisibles of society, and could write love songs to shatter Cupid’s bow. So could Newman. So could Cohen. Only one of many musical conversations between the three – that of love. Religion too has a peek, with Newman, an Atheist Jew, Jewish wanderer Cohen, and the Catholic-shaped Waits, all bringing a critical spirituality to their songs.

D’Arrietta has a long relationship with the music of Tom Waits, and an affinity deeper than most with the ‘Cease and Desist’ order to prove it, once having to cancel his New York run of his hit show Tom Waits for No Man. He rewrote the entire show in days and maintained his run. His passion for the music is undiminished, enhanced by the years of creative, forensic interpretation. It was then that the roots of the America’s Least Wanted project first took hold. Subsequent stage shows My Leonard Cohen and Feeling Randy over the years further showcased D’Arrietta’s unique interpretive style, culminating now in America’s Least Wanted.

Featuring songs from the tough to the tender to the in-between, just a glance at the titles of is enough to give you an inkling of the grounds D’Arrietta explores, and with deft and devilish irony covers the terrain from tenderness to terror, and everything along the way.

Join D’Arrietta and band in a musical ode to the mysteries of life. A compelling show - legendary songs, magnificent musicians, an unforgettable night. Not to be missed!

America’s Least Wanted are:
Stewart D’Arrietta - Piano and Vocals
Tony Mitchell - Bass and Backing Vocals
Greg Henson - Drums
Danial Moore - Sousaphone, Trombone and Trumpet