Best bet — Lindsay Mac

There's always room for cello Oct. 10, Madison Square Park. Oct. 22, Ginkgo Coffeehouse in St. Paul, Minn.

It's the performance yin and yang of indie singer, cellist and Iowa City native Lindsay Mac.

In between, she returns to her hometown to hit the Englert Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21.

With just a hint of Dar Williams in her vocals and lyrics, Mac straps on her cello like a guitar and blazes through yin and yang emotions from the plaintive “Cry, Cry, Cry” and the kicky “Barbies & Broncos” to the gentle, gorgeous “7 Stones” on her new CD, “Stop Thinking.” And just for fun, she tosses in a little funky, playful jazz on “Small Revolution.”

It's obvious she hasn't stopped thinking on this wildly wonderful eclectic collection of tunes.

The bio on her MySpace site - www.myspace.com/lindsaymacmusic - says, “Lindsay Mac was born in Iowa to bohemian, party-hungry parents who likely fed her pork tenderloin and Midwest microbrews for breakfast. This explains a lot.”

She studied piano and cello as a child, went to Interlochen Center for the Arts and enrolled at Dartmouth. Her educational path also took her to the Royal College of Music in London, the San Francisco Conservatory, back to Dartmouth to graduate, then to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She's also been a professional ski patroller in Utah and a bike messenger.

That same quirky path is evident in her performances. See for yourself Wednesday night.

She'll be joined on stage by City High's Chamber Strings Orchestra, a cello choir and her three-piece band.

Tickets are $16 in advance, $20 day of show for adults and $10 for students, through the Englert Box Office, (319) 688-2653, and www.iowatix.com

Want to know more? Go to www.englert.org

- Diana Nollen, The Gazette