Session Americana – The Rattle And The Clatter: Album Review

By John Barlass on 20th February 2024 • ( Leave a comment )

Bostonian collective, Session Americana, celebrate their 20^th Anniversary in style

Release Date: 2^nd February 2024

Label: Self Release

Formats: CD, Digital

It all started late one Sunday night, back in October 2003, around a table towards the back of Toad, that celebrated (and now, sadly, closed) music bar in downtown Cambridge, Massachusetts. That’s when the group of mates who would shortly become the nucleus of Session Americana first got together, to jam and swop a few songs with each other.

Drummer Billy Beard has fond recollections of that first assembly: “Ry [Cavanagh (multi-instrumentalist and vocalist)] and I were playing together in a band and one night we played Toad, finished early and waited for the next act to play. We were seated at a small café table, right in front of the stage. When it became clear that the last act was not going to show, Ry pulled the mics off the stage, duck-taped them the table-top and we just started playing songs at the table with whomever wanted to join in. Soon thereafter we decided this could be a cool gig – just to get out of the house on Sunday nights. We picked the musicians that would become the core. We did a two-year residency on Sunday nights at that tiny bar and the band just rose from there. Unexpected…”

Well – that initial gathering was certainly highly significant and Session Americana are still alive and – most definitely – kicking today, over 20 years later. That Toad residency led to a string of albums; they’ve released nine to date, most recently their 2020 offering, Northeast, they’ve toured extensively in the USA and in Europe and, as I write, they’re right in the middle of their 20^th birthday celebrations. Those celebrations kicked off in October, 2023, with a string of shows around the band’s native north-eastern US, and there’s no signs of the celebrations abating, just yet. The roadshow arrives in Europe on 20^th February and, with The Rattle and the Clatter, they’ve compiled 16 of their most popular songs to take stock of their achievements over the past 20 years.

I suppose that the term “loose collective” could be used to describe the membership of Session Americana. If the band does, indeed, have a core membership, it is probably vocalists and multi-instrumentalists Cavanagh, Jim Fitting and Dinty Child, guitarist Jefferson Hamer and bassists Jon Bistline and Kimon Kirk, along with aforementioned drummer Billy Beard. But, in reality, it’s almost impossible to count the number of top-notch musicians that have passed through the band’s ranks – either as full members or guest collaborators – during the 20 years of its existence, and The Rattle and the Clatter acts as a showcase for the talents of many of those musicians.

Perhaps one of the most significant Semi-Sessioners to grace The Rattle And The Clatter is singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, who features as either producer or performer on a quarter of the tracks in this collection, and she’s had this to say, with regard to Session Americana’s milestone anniversary: “I’m lucky to have known Session Americana for most of their twenty (!!!) years! I was just starting out as a songwriter when I discovered their residency shows at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. Pure magic. I’m misty-eyed now thinking about it! I had never seen a band enjoying themselves that much, and everyone in the room was in on it, this raucous and holy thing. I took a ‘note to self’ that I’ve tried to recall many times when music felt hard. Like, the job is simple – access the joy – and if you can do that, it opens a portal. I got to guest sing with Session a few times, witness their sustained mutual love affair with my home state of Vermont, and even help out in the making of one of their incredible albums [Pack Up The Circus (2015)]. I’m ever in awe of Session, individually and as a band. They’re so finely in tune with each other, with their audiences. I’m in awe of their bond, their easy laughter, their intuitive musical conversation that has now gained the richness of decades. Happy 20, Session. You can almost legally drink!

The Rattle And The Clatter is a rich collection indeed, with tracks from every one of the band’s nine albums encapsulating an impressively full range of musical styles from folk, country and bluegrass to Beach Boys-flavoured pop, Doors-like rock, blues and rock and roll. Every one of the sixteen tracks has clearly been carefully selected to build a comprehensive, fully-rounded collection and there isn’t a duff track in sight. The smooth production of the band’s many studio albums is balanced by a tranche of raucous live takes, and I was left wondering whether there’s anything that Session Americana can’t do.

A track-by-track commentary would probably bore all but the most ardent Session Americana obsessive, so I’ll try and pick out a few highlights to whet appetites but really, The Rattle And The Clatter is a collection that can be dipped into at any point, with satisfaction firmly guaranteed.

All For You, from the Pack Up The Circus album is a truly beautiful song that has just about everything – including soaring pedal steel from Charlie Rose, some sublime violin from Laura Cortese and a vocal duet from Ry and Anaïs that is simply stunning. Taken from Session’s most recent album, Northeast, Trip Around the Sun is another amazing all-round showpiece, with a soft, reassuring vocal from Merrie Austerburg and a wonderful combination of Merrie’s acoustic guitar and the mandola of Duke Levine. And guitarist Peter Linton chips in with a fine solo, too.

Elsewhere, there’s a charmingly jazzy version of old standard You Always Hurt the One You Love on which Kimon and Jim really do the vocal business to a fantastic backing that includes Alec Spiegleman’s clarinet and Dietrich Strause’s trumpet. Boats Up The River, the collection’s sole traditional song, taken from Session’s 2005 debut album, Table Top People, is a vibrant slice of bluegrass with an assured vocal from Sean Staples, jangling banjo from Eric Roger and some rousing fiddle from Dinty, whilst Billy Beard does what he does best – propels the song along with a tight, shuffling rhythm. See what I mean about the multitudes of talented members, guests and interlopers?

Taken from the 2016 Great Shakes album, Mississippi Mud issues a lyrical reminder of what happens to those who try to tame the mighty Mississippi (it never ends well…), whilst Dinty’s It’s Not Texas is clean, free, fresh and easy with yet another great two-part harmony vocal – and it’s the album’s guaranteed earworm.

And the highlights keep on coming. Laura, Ry, Dinty and Jim all take a turn at the mic on Love Changes Everything, from Love and Dirt (2012). Laura’s vocal is dramatic, intimate and breathy, Ry’s is strong and soulful, Dinty takes us in a gospel direction and Jim rounds off the song with a spot of gritty raunch. That’s a lot of bang for your buck! And, speaking of awesome vocals, Kris Delmhorst steps up deliver what might just be the best vocal on the album on the country-tinged Air Running Backwards.

The live selections included here give a real taste of what a Session Americana show must be like – and I’ll come back to that point shortly. It’s Billy on lead vocals for the raucous, sleazy, bluesy Doreen, recorded at Session’s favourite Lizard Lounge, Cambridge in 2011. The crowd clearly know and love the song, and they don’t hold back with their participation. And, maybe even better, I Ain’t Living Long Like This, recorded at The Haybarn Theatre in Vermont in 2028, is a riproarin’ rocker and a massive crowd pleaser to boot. It’s also a Jim Fitting harmonica extravaganza, topped off with a breathless guitar solo from Jefferson, to an ecstatic audience response.

And, to finish off this wonderful collection, Session return to that 2005 debut album for Ry’s folky Lighthouse Light. There’s more wonderful vocal harmonies, Jennifer Kimball doing the honours this time. Billy taps and shuffles, Jim’s harmonica howls softly and Duke Levine’s guitar tinkles gently. It’s a fine way to conclude a fine collection. Congratulations, Session Americana on reaching your 20^th Anniversary. Here’s to the next 20 years!

And don’t forget that European tour that kicks off in just a few weeks’ time at The Cherrytree in Dublin. Billy, Jon, Ry, Dinty and Jim will be joined by guest vocalist Eleanor Buckland for the tour and, along the way, they’ll be playing more shows across Ireland before heading for Belgium, Czechia, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France and The Netherlands. Full details can be found here. Judging by the live takes included in The Rattle and the Clatter, a Session Americana live show is an event that’s not to be missed.

Watch Session Americana perform Beertown – the title track from their 2007 album and featured on The Rattle and the Clatter, here: