181 State St
Portland, ME 04101
USA
Late one Sunday night in October 2003, Session Americana had its first jam around a table in the back of Toad in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Looking back, the group has had a natural, almost inevitable evolution from a loose bunch of friends sitting around swapping songs in a bar, to a hot-ticket weekly residency, to a touring collective. Along the way, the band has made nine records (so far), played clubs and festivals across the U.S. and Europe, and developed deep collaborative bonds with a wide community of musicians. Session Americana’s diligent avoidance of music business “shoulds” has led the band down a quirky and joyful path through the music world. The result is evident in the musical prowess the players and singers bring to every show. Swapping instruments, trading off lead vocals and sharing songwriting credits, Session Americana is constantly exploring new collaborations and touring like a band out of time, always searching for a welcoming and homey venue, a long lunch with old friends, and a good glass of wine.
IN OCTOBER Session Americana celebrates that two-decade journey — the road behind and the road ahead — with blowout shows in some of their beloved venues. They’re blissed to be returning to One Longfellow. These shows are likely to include an old friend or two, great songs from the band’s extensive catalog, and joyous live performances that have become Session Americana’s hallmark. A 20-year retrospective album of some of Session’s most popular songs will be available. By the way, a brand-new Session Americana record, produced by acclaimed NYC musician and producer Alec Spiegelman, is set to be released in 2024.
The band is putting together a video montage/tribute to celebrate the many moments and memories friends, family and fans have experienced over the years at Session shows. They would love to hear from you! Here’s a link.
SESSION AMERICANA is musicians’ musicians: a cast of top-shelf players, singers, and writers who tour internationally, taking their own songs, plus hundreds more from the American songbook, on the road. Whether you catch Session Americana in a rock hall or on a festival stage, you’ll be a part of the intimate, raucous scene these players built years ago at Toad, the neighborhood bar where it all began in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“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. 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 twenty, Session. You can almost legally drink!”— ANAÏS MITCHELL (Vermont-based singer-songwriter and the Tony and Grammy award-winning creator of the Broadway musical Hadestown)
“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. The group… expertly blends vintage American roots music styles — from country to jazz to rock — in a rowdy but deft fashion.” – Rolling Stone