History
This six-member group of musicians came together in 2004 for informal shows at Toad (a pub in Cambridge) on Sunday nights, with Sean Staples (mandolin, guitar, vocals), [1] Jim Fitting (harmonica, vocals), Ry Cavanaugh (multi instruments, vocals), Billy Beard (drums, vocals), Kimon Kirk (bass) and Dinty Child (multi instruments, vocals). [2] Kirk moved to Los Angeles in early 2009 to play with, among others, Aimee Mann and Grant Lee Phillips, and was replaced by Jon Bistline. Kirk continued to be the primary touring bass player and eventually returned to the band full-time when Bistline decided to devote more time to his day job.
Session Americana had a Sunday-night residency at Toad for two years, moving to the larger Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Massachusetts when their popularity outgrew Toad’s small capacity. The name "Session Americana" (the bartenders wrote it on the sandwich board outside Toad on Sunday nights) went with them even though by this point they were evolving into more of a band. Even though they have steadily played larger stages to more people, they've tried to hold onto the things that make them unique and their shows continue to involve the band facing each other around a table with a single mic in the middle, passing instruments around as needed, harmonizing on old blues tunes, classic Americana songs, oddball covers, and primarily original numbers written by the group members and their friends. A hallmark of Session Americana is their frequent collaboration on-stage with musical guests, including Rose Polenzani (with whom Session Americana recorded “When the River Meets the Sea” in 2008), Jennifer Kimball (who is married to Cavanaugh), Dennis Brennan, Peter Wolf, Patty Griffin, Rachael Price, Aoife O'Donovan, and many more.
The band released four albums and continued their Lizard Lounge residency until slowing down concert appearances in late 2009 following Cavanaugh and Kimball’s move to Ireland for 2009–2010. [3] They reunited for a concert in October 2009 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA, alongside Buffalo Tom’s Bill Janovitz, and again for a tour in Ireland in May 2010. On Kimball and Cavanaugh's return to Boston, the band started playing again regularly and have been back to Europe every year since, spending a total of seven weeks there in 2015. In 2015 they also outgrew the Lizard Lounge and started selling out venues like the Oberon Theater in Harvard Square as well as doing more extensive touring nationwide and playing festivals all over the country and in Europe.
From the fall of 2010 the band worked without Sean Staples, who suffered a voice injury, and for five years evolved into more of a collective. Jefferson Hamer, Laura Cortese, Duke Levine, Jimmy Ryan, Adam Moss, Alec Spiegelman, and Jason Anick have all been in "seat 6" since then, with Laura, Adam, and Jefferson doing the bulk of the gigs. January 2016 marked another turning point when Jefferson and the band wrote and recorded a new album, Great Shakes, in Kimon's house using Jefferson's engineering skills and an extensive collection of gear. It was the first Session Americana album completely conceived as a six-piece band and Jefferson has been playing almost all the shows since then.
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