Harmonious Times for Good Old War

Harmonious Times for Good Old War

Last week Dan Schwartz and Tim Arnold, two-thirds of the emerging folk-rock trio Good Old War, were seated on the patio of an East Village bar here when a sudden storm struck the region. So strong was the wind that the third member, Keith Goodwin, who was driving home to visit his pregnant wife in Langhorne, Pa., thought to call his band mates and warn them to stay inside. At the bar, as fallen leaves and branches blew by, a brick loosened, tumbled and landed hard on Mr. Schwartz's left hand. He spent the night in the hospital. And though he tried to perform the following night when the band was booked to open for the British indie band Gomez, he couldn't. And then Gomez canceled the tour when its vocalist, Ben Ottewell, came down with laryngitis.

And thus ended Good Old War's dream season. Earlier in the year the band played at the massive Coachella Music & Arts Festival and served as the opening act for both the alt-rock band Guster and Alison Krauss & Union Station, which introduced it to country and bluegrass audiences. During performances, members of Ms. Krauss's all-star band often joined in. "I look across the stage and there's Jerry Douglas playing Dobro on a song we wrote," Mr. Goodwin said recently at a doughnut shop in Hell's Kitchen. His injured hand wrapped in bandages, Mr. Schwartz also noted that "Ron Block played banjo with us almost every night." After the shows with Ms. Krauss and the band, Good Old War sold up to 200 CDs a night at the venue's merchandise table.

The members of the trio play multiple instruments, often at the same time: Mr. Arnold stands at the drums so he can reach a keyboard or an accordion with a free hand; Mr. Goodwin plays bass parts on keys or adds percussion while also strumming a guitar; and Mr. Schwartz shifts among several guitars, some of which are braced high on stands for easy access.