by: Dave Germain (page H3)

BUFFALO, N.Y. - When John Lombardo left 10,000 Maniacs seven years ago, he never realized just how separate their ways would become.

The guitarist can remember working as a repo man and hearing his old band on the radios of the cars he was repossessing. He'll never forget the night he was working as a dishwasher in a restaurant at the same time they were performing on ''The Tonight Show.''

At the time of his departure, the band was between albums -- its modestly successful 1985 debut for Elektra, The Wishing Chair, and the million-selling follow-up, In My Tribe, released in 1987.

"It was easier to quit back then, because we had achieved a little something, but not the big time," said Lombardo, whose folk duo John & Mary has released its second album for Rykodisc. "But it was still sort of frustrating watching their success."

Lombardo's not bitter. He said he's found a musical soulmate in Mary Ramsey, and while they're not growing rich like the Maniacs, John & Mary make a decent living making music they love.

In 1981, Lombardo, a Buffalo native, teamed up with acquaintances in nearby Jamestown to form 10,000 Maniacs. The other members were wallflowerish singer Natalie Merchant, then 17, keyboardist Dennis Drew, guitarist Robert Buck and bassist Steve Gustafson. Drummer Jerome Augustyniak joined later.

Merchant said she wound up in the band on a lark. At a party, she overcame her shyness and got up to sing. Her future bandmates were there and recruited her.

"If it weren't for that, I'd probably be living on an organic farm somewhere, weaving wool I sheared from my own sheep," Merchant said during a telephone interview from New York City. "I might have been a waitress in New York, trying to paint on the side."

Lombardo, now 40, was the oldest member and the most experienced musician. The band's first recordings -- two independent EPs and The Wishing Chair -- were a mishmash of light rock, folk and reggae.

After The Wishing Chair, Lombardo, who emulates the English-style folk-rock of Fairport Convention and Richard Thompson, said he wanted out of the Maniacs because the band was moving away from its offbeat folksiness toward pop.

One day, I got so ticked off, I just said, 'I don't think I want to be in this band anymore,'" Lombardo said. "I think they just got sick of me imposing on them the kind of music I wanted to do."

Merchant was growing up, learning more about music and gradually asserting herself as the principal Maniac.

After Lombardo left, the group became an MTV favorite and grew more pop-oriented with each album -- In My Tribe, 1989's Blind Man's Zoo and last year's Our Time in Eden.

Somberness pervaded the Maniacs' early albums. Eden is more upbeat, from the toe-tapping These Are Days to Few and Far Between and Candy Everybody Wants, featuring the James Brown Horns.

"I feel there's always been aspects of joyous music in our records, but that's usually limited to only a few songs," Merchant said. "This record has a much more uplifting feel to it."

The Maniacs also have branched out into some odd covers, notably John Prine's Hello in There, a reggae rendition of David Bowie's Starman and a version of R.E.M.'s Don't Go Back to Rockville on an EP released this year.

Meanwhile, Lombardo was playing in a band around Buffalo when he met Ramsey, who had classical training on the viola and had been playing in a string trio.

Ramsey had no vocal training, but Lombardo learned she had a lovely soprano voice and a desire to chuck her classical roots.

In 1990, Lombardo quit his band and teamed up with Ramsey. They performed on street corners, toured a little and came to the attention of the small Rykodisc label in Salem, Mass., that released their debut album, Victory Gardens, in 1991, and their current record, The Weedkiller's Daughter.

Inevitably, Lombardo's partnership with Ramsey draws comparisons to Merchant and the Maniacs. Both 29, Merchant and Ramsey are bashful brunettes. Each writes mystical lyrics. The same hackneyed adjectives - haunting, ethereal - can be applied to their voices.

Lombardo and the Maniacs have remained cordial. Buck and Augustyniak played on John & Mary's albums, while Ramsey played violin and viola on the Maniacs' last album.