Session Americana, a six-member mostly acoustic band who have attracted a very loyal following in the Boston area, played two festive holiday shows at Club Passim in Cambridge MA on December 13, 2008. This compilation of highlights from both shows was recorded at close range using two mics at the front of the stage (supplemented by a soundboard feed) and captures the lively vocal and instrumental interplay that distinguishes all the band’s performances.

stream the recording

download hi-fi mp3s

To download FLAC files, use FTP to look in drive 1 for
SessionAmericana2008-12-13.matrix.flac16

Session Americana:

• Ry Cavanaugh – guitar, mandolin, field organ, bass and vocals
• Dinty Child – mandolin, guitar, mandocello, banjo, accordion, fiddle, field organ and vocals
• Sean Staples – mandolin, guitar, banjo, field organ, glockenspiel and vocals
• Jim Fitting – harmonicas and vocals
• Jon Bistline – bass, guitar and vocals
• Billy Beard – drums, percussion and vocals

Guest appearances by:

• Laura Cortese – fiddle and vocals
• Rose Polenzani – glockenspiel and vocals
• Sarah Borges – guitar and vocals

Disc 1
01. introduction *
02. Trinity **
03. The Coal Burner **
04. Beer Town *
05. Ice Cream Man *
06. There I Go Again *
07. I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man **
08. Merry Christmas Baby **
09. You’ve Got to See Mama Every Night **
10. Santa’s Suit *
11. feelin’ goods *
12. Merry Christmas from the Family *
13. Fairytale of New York **
14. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town *
15. 2000 Miles **
16. Snow *
17. Born Again *
18. You and Me *

Disc 2
01. band introductions *
02. Via Chicago *
03. Something Heavy *
04. High and Dry **
05. Lighthouse Light **

* from 7:00 show
** from 10:00 show

House mix by Matt Smith

Milab DC-196 mics (Blumlein pair in front of stage) > Darktrain Silver cables > Oade Concert R-44 recorder
Soundboard > Oade Concert PMD620 recorder
Cardreader > Audition 3.0/Elephant 3.2 (mics/sbd mix, resampling, editing, limiting, dither) > CD Wave (tracking)

Visit Session Americana’s website and buy their CDs at www.sessionamericana.com.

Stream - individual mp3’s – zip – Cover Art (Password “ftp4all”)

for flac, use ftp to look in drive 1 for
bk3-2009-02-21.flac16

Another great night at the “Fox Theatre” in Boulder for a chance to experience the sounds of Bill Kruatzmann without any expectations except for a “real good time…”

Some new songs by Robert Hunter were a real treat – Pollyanna, Murderland, and Thunder

Highlights: The Other One, Help > Slip

Bill Kruatzmann Trio is:

• Bill Kruatzmann – Drums
• Oteil Burbridge – Bass, Vocals
• Scott Murawski – Guitar, Vocals

Bill Kreutzmann Trio
Featuring Oteil Burbridge and Scott Murawaski
Fox Theatre
Boulder, Colorado
02/21/2009

*************************************************

Set 1

01. Jam >
02. Louisiana Sun > Jam
03. Yellow Moon > Jam
04. Mr Charlie
05. Pollyanna >
06. Thunder > Jam >
07. Bertha

(Total Set Time: 73:41 Minutes )

Set 2

01. China Cat Sunflower > Jam >
02. Chains Of Life > Jam
03. The Other One > Jam >
04. Fly Away
05. Help On The Way >
06. Slipknot! > Jam > Slipknot! ->
07. Free Born Man

Encore:

08. Murderland*

(Total Set Time: 86:10 Minutes )

* Put “Murderland” on disc 1 to make a 2 disc show, otherwise it’s a 3 disc show…

Stream – individual mp3’s – zip of entire show (mp3)
for flac, use ftp to look in drive 1 for findersYoungberg20080927.flac16

As promised, this is the second half of the first performance of our 2008 Fall Season – Finders and Youngberg. See the Swing State post for more details about the series. This is another 4-track from the same night and the music is sweet. Great picken and powerful words.

Swing State took the first half of the evening, followed by Finders and Youngberg. Here is part two!

Finders and Youngberg is:

• Mike Finders – Guitar, Harmonica
• Amy Finders – Mandolin, Lead Vocals
• Aaron Youngberg – Banjo, Peddle Steel
• Erin Youngberg – Bass

Finders and Youngberg
The Rail Musical Potlucks
9/27/2008
Lafayette, CO

Source: 2 center mikes were MXL20003s >V3>R44. Two outer mikes: AKGC1000s>R44@2448.
Normed and mixed in SF9. prennix@thespps.org (him)

01 Iowa Winter
02 Adeline
03 Go Ahead and Leave
04 Old Shine Crow
05 Freight Train
06 Back in the Band
07 Same Old Me, Sake Old You
08 Perfect Little Life
09 Roots Run Deep
10 Ball and Chain Blues
11 Cold Hard Rain
12 Bushel Basket
13 Blues Aint Nothing But A Good Man Feeling Bad
14 This Land is Your Land (w/crowd sing along)

Buy their CD here:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/findersyoungberg

and, not from this show, but lotsa kewl~

Stream – individual mp3’s – zip of entire show (mp3)
for flac, look in drive 1 for SwingState20080927.flac16

I figured I would give this a spin and bring you the first performance of our 2008 Fall Season. We gather with a bunch of friends and have a pre-music potluck with the musicians, then the musicians play, then we usually have an ‘after pick’ as many of the guests are local grassers. I record all of these unamplified gatherings, and mike right up front. This is the first 4-track I’ve done with the HD-P2 and I’m excited to be doing more 4 track goodness as time goes on.

Swing State took the first half of the evening, followed by Finders and Youngberg. (The F&Y set will be posted later on.)

Swing state is made up of some Colorado All-Stars including:

• Greg Schochet Mandolin & Guitar (The Hi*Beams, Expedition, The All Night Honky Tonk All-Stars, Runaway Truck Ramp)
• Nancy Thorwardson Guitar & Lead Vocals (Blue Mountain Ranch Hands, gadzukes)
• Aaron Keim Bass (Boulder Acoustic Society, Flat Foot, Hudson Super Six)
• Bill Pontarelli Clarinet (Flexigrass, Deco Django)

Swing State
The Rail Musical Potlucks
9/27/2008
Lafayette, CO

Source: 2 center mikes were MXL20003s >V3>R44. Two outer mikes: AKGC1000s>R44@2448 (unamplified set)
Normed and mixed in SF9. prennix@thespps.org

01  Sing Me a Swing Song
02  Rose Room
03  Walkin Stick
04  Devil
05  Kansas City Kitty
06  Back to Colorado
07  East Tennesse
08  It’s All Your Fault
09  Hear You Knocken
10  Old Fashioned Love
11  Shake That Thing
12  Pampas

Stream | individual mp3’s | zipof entire show (mp3)
for flac, use ftp to look in drive 1 for
findersYoungberg20080927.flac16

For those new to Charlie Parr, he’s a native Minnesotan playing in and around a 5 hour’s drive from Duluth (normally) bringing his Piedmont style finger pickin’ guitar and banjo to folks in bars, music halls and theaters. He populates his set with songs of murder and loss, drinkin’ and salvation, workers and bums… you know, regular Americana.

Growing up in in a union family and listening to his father’s Alan Lomax and Harry Smith platters played no small part in forming Charlie’s musical mindset.  He moved to The Big Cities for school and learned his craft playing the folk scene in the West Bank and Dinkytown bars and coffee houses, calling Spider John Koerner, Tony Glover and Dave Ray immediate role models. Some have said that Charlie’s own writing is hard to differentiate from the traditional folk and blues numbers he interprets in every set.

I’ve recorded Charlie around 35 times since Feb, ‘07 most in the unassuming confines of St. Paul’s Turf Club on the first Sunday of every month.  A pair of mics in the room for some ambiance and a board patch is generally the way I roll.  This focuses the attention on the music and not the bar chatter.

I hope you check him out.  He keeps  his web pages up to date with tour info and I’m sure he’d love to hear from you as a new friend… not that he’s a slave to MySps.

The Turf Club
St. Paul, MN
2009-02-01

Charlie Parr – National Steel body resophonic guitar, wood body   resophonic 12 string guitar, fretless banjo, vocals
Mikkel Beckmen – wash boards, chopsticks & stuff

Charlie sits down with his instruments, a friend on washboard and a beer… and doesn’t get up for 2hr… 124:08 to be truthful. I’ve cut it as 43 tracks, retaining some of the longer song breaks, and in the interest of space will not list them here. You can check out the text info here.

Take care, all.