Session Americana Coming To Thrasher
5 May 2019 News
Join us for what Program Director, Roby Irvin, says is, “one of the most original and entertaining evenings of music, including a unique stage presence like we haven’t seen here in a long time,” when Session Americana hits the stage at the historic Thrasher Opera House in downtown Green Lake on Saturday, May 11 at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s right there in the name for this ultra-gifted, rotating collective of singers and multi-instrumentalists. And sprawl is a good word when it comes to the Boston-based group’s raucous live shows, which were initially built around the community concept of traditional Irish seisiúns (sessions). The group, whose members have played with a variety of acts including Patty Griffin, Josh Ritter and the J. Geils Band, expertly blends vintage American roots music styles — from country to jazz to rock — in a rowdy but deft fashion.” – Rolling Stone
It’s a Session. It’s a Hootenenanny. It’s a festival band. It’s a plaza full of children dancing on a sunny afternoon. It’s a novelty. Its theater. It draws the quirky but powerful threads of American music together. Its virtuosity. It’s the bad punk band you were in in high school. Its Folk music played on boxcars in the dustbowl. It’s a rock band.
Session Americana sit tightly around a small round cafe table, ambient mics tuned to catch the complete sound of the voices and instruments. Players swap songs and instruments; a suitcase drum kit, an old electric bass, a field organ and a collection of acoustic instruments. No two Session Americana shows are alike. They’re rowdy, freewheeling modern hootenannies. Session Americana has innovatively recast the live show experience as a familial gathering of musicians seated at a round table swapping songs and instruments. The unique format feels fantastically theatrical and although the musicians face each other, the audience feels drawn into the circle by the warmth, joy and camaraderie that emanate outwards by the all-star cast of characters seated around the table.
What keeps fans coming back show after show is the same thing that any audience member longs for; great songs performed by a great band. The core members of the band have brought enviable careers worth of experience to the “table”, featuring (current and former) members of Treat Her Right, Patty Griffin, Lori McKenna, The The, Dennis Brennan, Kris Delmhorst to name just a few. The group has grown from a rag tag jam at a local pub to a regional institution, playing gigs from coffee houses to urban nightclubs, regional festival tents to theaters.
Tickets are $23 and available at the Thrasher office, Horicon Bank (Green Lake); Ripon Drug, Pick ‘N Save (Ripon); Twister (Princeton); or by calling the Thrasher office at (920)294-4279. Online tickets available at www.thrasheroperahouse.com.
Sponsored by the Thrasher Board of Directors, this program is also supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. Accommodations provided by the Heidel House Resort & Spa.
Share |