Notes on Session Americana and Dispatch's "Zimbabwe Sessions"
By JIM SULLIVAN | February 20, 2007
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“The band started out as a kind of a lark,” says Ry Cavanaugh, singer/guitarist/ringleader of SESSION AMERICANA. “A fun thing to do at Toad on a Sunday night. I was modeling it after Irish sessions — guys sitting around a table in a pub playing fiddle music. We thought it’d be fun to do a country-music/rock version of that, and it grew until it became more of a band.” The line-up, which has included special guests, has a core of six players, all of whom sing and sit around a real table. Dinty Child is usually the man on the field, or pump organ. Sean Staples plays mandolin. Jim Fitting handles the harmonica. Kimon Kirk plays an old electric bass. And drummer Billy Beard bangs on a “suitcase” kit. Although it started as a live thing, Session Americana now have a CD, and release parties planned for March 8 and 9 at the Lizard Lounge. It’s actually their second release; their first CD was a double that will be split in two for its next pressing this summer. The only songs on Vol. 3 written by band members are Child’s rollicking “Beer Town” and Kirk’s “A Month of Sundays.” Cavanaugh’s late father, a New York musician, wrote the closer, “Trinity.” The jaunty but edgy country tune, “Born Again,” was written by the late Mark Sandman — and played live, but not recorded, by Morphine. “The focus is certainly community,” says Cavanaugh. “We have a feeling about what’s fun and what works. We’re not gonna sweat the rules too much. This band has been a reaction to two things: one, this artistic austerity that seems to have taken over the world of pop music, and two, the political climate is so weird. This is really American music on the fringes of the mainstream.”After a three-year break, the Boston jam-band trio DISPATCH have reunited for “Dispatch: Zimbabwe,” a series of three sold-out concerts at Madison Square Garden July 13, 14, and 15. . . . And LAURA VECCHIONE has released her debut CD, Deeper Waters, which was produced by Jim Scott (Wilco, Lucinda Williams). There’ll be a CD-release party at Johnny D’s February 28.
On the Web
Session Americana: http://www.sessionamericana.com/
Email the author
Jim Sullivan: jimsullivanink@verizon.net
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