NEW YORKERS AND WASHINGTONIANS: SFR PLAYING IN YOUR TOWN IN
MAY
Spirit Family Reunion – the six-piece Brooklyn band which is
set to play at Newport Folk Festival and is "best of what's next"
according to Paste Magazine – will release its debut full-length album 'No
Separation' June 15.
All six members of Spirit Family Reunion sing and the
harmonies, which are unplanned, are simply stunning, led by the soulful voices
of guitarist Nick Panken, fiddler Mat Davidson, and banjo player Maggie Carson.
The band's repertoire, chemistry, harmonies, and instrumentation came to
fruition with a weekly residency at the Lovin' Cup Café in Williamsburg,
playing without a PA. The band has since expanded its fanbase by opening for
the late Levon Helm, The Alabama Shakes, and David Wax Museum; playing Gowanus
and Bushwick parties; busking in Union Square; and touring extensively, at one
point in a former Navy van, all without a booking agent.
Spirit Family Reunion makes high-energy original,
contemporary American music with the spirit of an old-time church revival but
with a universal, secular spirit. Singer Panken says, "I write simple
songs that anyone could pick up on. I want to take the church feeling and make
it more universal." Audience members dance, holler, stomp, shout, and
chant along until the line between performer and fan is blurred and a community
is created by the act of the concert.
In addition to their own songs, Spirit Family Reunion
recorded a stunning version of "Green Green Rocky Road," featuring
undeniably soulful vocals from Mat Davidson. The song comes from the repertoire
of Dave Van Ronk (about whom the Coen Brothers are presently making a film);
and "Give Me Wings," which they learned from an undated acetate that
drummer Peter Pezzimenti found at a Salvation Army by the mysteriously named
King Cunningham.
Other high points on the album include the banjo-led "I
Want To Be Relieved," the song of gratitude "To All My Friends And
Relations," and the hallelujah-inducing "I Am Following the
Sound."
'No Separation' was recorded in Brooklyn and Richmond, VA
with the help of bike shop mechanic and recording engineer Andrew Gerhan.
Spirit Family Reunion will perform in New York at Mercury
Lounge May 12 and near Washington, D.C. at Jammin' Java May 21. Other tour
dates are posted here.
Spirit Family Reunion is Carson (banjo and vocals), Davidson
(fiddle and vocals), Panken (guitar and vocals), Pezzimenti (drums and vocals),
Stephen Weinheimer (washboard, drums, and vocals), and Ken Woodward (upright
bass and vocals).
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