PUTNEY- Twilight Music presents acoustic swing and alt gypsy jazz quartet Caravan of Thieves plus Americana trio Jug-Tonk Stompers at Next Stage on Saturday, February 25, at 7:30 pm.

For the past three years, Caravan of Thieves has roamed North America recruiting a family of avid thrill seekers at their high-energy shows. Driving gypsy jazz rhythms, acoustic guitars, upright bass, and violin lay the foundation for mesmerizing vocal harmonies and fantastic stories. It’s theatrical and humorous. It’s musical and intense. It entertains, dazzles, and defies classification while welcoming the spectator to join the band throughout the performance in momentary fits of claps, snaps, and sing-alongs. If Django Reinhardt, the cast of Stomp, and the Beatles all had a party at Tim Burton’s house, Caravan of Thieves would be the band they hired.

In the spring of 2008, vocal harmonizing, acoustic-guitar-spanking husband and wife songwriting duo Fuzz and Carrie Sangiovanni extended their family to include fiery violinist Ben Dean and double bass madman Brian Anderson, completing their colorful vision. Since then, the four of them have run away from home and never looked back.

Within that first year, Caravan of Thieves won immediate praise for their unique blend of gypsy swing and popular music, inspiring them to record and release the debut full-length album “Bouquet.” To accompany this collection of dramatic and satirical tales, they built an interactive stage set of percussive junk, and the ragtag quartet took their newly animated show on the road, sharing stages with world renowned artists such as Dan Hicks, Decembrists, Ricky Skaggs, Tom Tom Club, Iron and Wine, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Tony Trischka, John Hammond, John Jorgenson, and many others. The Caravan successfully connected with audiences on each of these diverse bills, proving their act to be understood and appreciated by folk, pop, rock, and jazz audiences of all ages.

For Caravan of Thieves’ next release, “Mischief Night,” the band decided on a live recording due to their continuously evolving show and the response and energy they had been receiving from audiences far and wide. Captured from one sold-out show in Fairfield, CT on May 1, 2010, “Mischief Night” highlights the first two years of their most outrageous and engaging on-stage antics, original composition favorites, and a few selections from their list of unexpected cover song reconstructions.

In between their 2011 spring tour legs and stockpiling an ever-growing collection of sonic scrap metal, Fuzz, Carrie, Ben, and Brian recorded their latest CD, “The Funhouse.” This concert at Next Stage celebrates the CD’s February release and the beginning of the band’s coast to coast “Enter the Funhouse” tour.

From the wild abandon of the roaring ‘20s swing bands to the sorrow-filled blues of the depression era to the earnest voices of country singers, Jug-Tonk Stompers play songs to share emotional points of view that are surprisingly divergent and truly American. In their original music, Christian Glines, Ben Ridgeway, and Rick Contino pull from American roots music and the timeless experiences that music inherently captures - love, strife, life/death, good times/bad times - the real universal attributes of being human.

Next Stage is located in the former United Church at 15 Kimball Hill. Tickets for this concert are $16 general and $14 students and seniors.

For ticket reservations and information call (802) 254-9276. The concert is presented in conjunction with Next Stage Arts Project. For more information visit www.caravanofthieves.com, www.jugtonkstompers.com, and www.twilightmusic.org.