Tiny Lights was a music group formed by John Hamilton (guitar/vocals) and Donna Croughn (vocals/electric violin) in 1985. Original members include Dave Dreiwitz (bass/trumpet), Jane Scarpantoni (cello) and John Mastro (drums). Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, the group released a total of seven albums, two of which were later released on Psychic TV's Temple Records. From 1988 to 1994 Tiny Lights toured the United States extensively. Other members include Stuart Hake (cello), Andy Demos (drums), Catherine Bent (cello), Andy Burton (piano, organ), and Ron Howden (drums—formerly the drummer for Nektar).
The group's members employed a rich array of instrumentation, including cello, electric violin, trumpet, soprano saxophone, tabla drums and bass clarinet. Improvisation was a constant feature of their live performances. One critic has memorably described the band as "Sly and the Family Partridge."
Dave Dreiwitz went on to play bass for the band Ween. Jane Scarpantoni has enjoyed a career recording and touring for artists including Lou Reed, Bob Mould, 10,000 Maniacs, R.E.M., The Indigo Girls, Bruce Springsteen, and the Lounge Lizards. Catherine Bent subsequently toured with Cirque du Soleil, has performed and recorded with jazz and pop artists including Joe Jackson, Lee Konitz and Kanye West, and is a Professor at Berklee College of Music. John Hamilton and Donna Croughn are raising their two children in Cambridge, Mass., where John works as a Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.
On July 10th 2011, John Hamilton granted permission on behalf of Tiny Lights to host recordings on the Live Music Archive, linked below and there is a small but growing collection of live recordings of the band that fans have been contributing.