A Lawrence band that likes to play close to home is reaching out to other nations to find inspiration for its music-making.
Last Night's Fun primarily performs Celtic and traditional American music but also looks to Middle Eastern, Central European, North African and Finnish tunes for inspiration.
The band's members Allen Macfarlane, hammered dulcimer and lap dulcimer; Jim Jeans, mandolin, guitar, bass guitar, octave mandolin and mountain dulcimer; Fred Applehanz, guitar and hammered dulcimer; and Kathleen Gannon, flute, penny whistle and bodhran first played together about 1 1/2 years ago at a barn dance.
"We decided it was so much fun that we kept in touch and picked up gigs here and there," said Macfarlane, who works as a hydrogeologist for the Kansas Geological Survey. "Typically we have done dances. Only recently have we begun to do stage acts."
Last Night's Fun, which is a staple on the contra dance circuit in Independence, Mo., performs mainly instrumental or dance tunes. And while the band's repertory is traditional, Macfarlane said the players like to give the music a contemporary twist.
"We rearrange tunes, changing the keys and rhythms to give them a modern flavor," he said.
In the next couple of months, Macfarlane said, the band would like to start making its first recording. He has been writing instrumental pieces inspired by the Kansas landscape that he will eventually blend into a composition titled "Flint Hills Suite," which will be recorded.
The band will play one of Macfarlane's songs, "The Snowy Flint Hills," as part of its concert at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt.
In the near future, Macfarlane said, Last Night's Fun also hopes to add a fiddler and a standup bass player.
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