Delta Spirit released one of my favorite albums of last year. They fit into that amorphous rock, folk, Americana milieu. That isn’t to say they’re derivative, because they aren’t. From the first notes of “Ode To Sunshine,” the band’s debut on Rounder Records, it shows us its—well—spirit of music. Recorded live in a cabin, the San Diego-based band has produced one of the most immediate and best sounding albums of 2008. No studio trickery, just great musicians playing excellent songs. I got the chance to ask bass player and co-founder Jonathan Jameson some questions.
Dynamic Meter: You recorded “Ode to Sunshine” live in a cabin in the desert. You can really tell that it’s live. And it’s great. Why did you choose this approach to recording the album?
Jonathan Jameson: It was free and far enough away from distraction. It was just what we needed. Not too comfortable, no TV, no fast food. We had each other, our songs, some books, a couple friends, Trader Joes dumpster food, old crow and enough apple pie for the rest of my life.
DM: There are a few outros on the album, such as on “Children.” You don’t hear this too much in rock and roll. Why do you use them?
JJ: Hip hop does a better job of making an album sound like an album as opposed to a random collection of songs. We followed suit.
DM: “Ode to Sunshine” was on a lot of Best of 2008 lists—including mine—and especially among bloggers. Do you think this scene helped spread the word about the band?
JJ: I’m sure and thank you. To be honest I think it was mostly us touring like psychos. Maybe I just say that to justify the fact that I have lost all my friends outside of this band. Ha!
DM: You’re on Rounder Records, which is great. Did you always think you’d be on a label? Especially considering the change in the music industry ion the last several years.
JJ: We originally released the album ourselves. Eventually we decided that we needed distribution and a little help. If we were a little more responsible it may have worked on our own. They have done an excellent job though.
DM: Sort of related to this. How do you feel about posting music online?
JJ: I have never really made money from music so I don’t know the difference. I just hope more and more people keep showing up to see us! So far it has been a perfectly paced slow build and I am grateful for it.
DM: You all formed in San Diego, how’s the music scene there?
JJ: Home is more like vacation than ground zero. It’s a lovely vacation spot and the radio has recently been great to us. There have always been strange and great bands from San Diego. I have a hard time describing how I feel about San Diego.
DM: I haven’t heard the band live yet, but from clips I’ve seen, you show seems like it is going to be great. How do you put your live shows together?
JJ: A few disjointed practices and then trial and error touring. We should get a choreographer.
DM: What bands or artists are you digging?
JJ: I can’t stop listening to Cass McCombs and the new Randy Newman. I listen to a lot of Byzantine and Russian chant too. It is nice to hear music that is not made in any way for money, success or fame. True music is just that, an outpouring of the heart. Every once in a while I still need a good pop chorus though.
re doing some deep cleaning around the house and a box was found containing many momentos of my youth. And one such item was the tour book for Peter Gabriel’s “This Way Up” tour that he did supporting So. This was 1987 and I was in high school and pretty into PG as we called him. So my brother and a few friends and I got tickets and were driven to Worcester, MA by one of our parents. We went to the show and then took a bus to Boston to stay with one of friend’s mom.
