Report: Delta Spirit Live in Cambridge

Test driving new material and breaking in a new member, the band showed off its stuff on February 1 and 8 at the Middle East Upstairs venue.

By Wyndham Lewis

The Delta Spirit is one of those bands that seeps into your consciousness. Their debut release Ode To Sunshine arrived in early fall 2007 to universally steady reviews, yet by the time the year-end best of lists were written, there they were again and again.

Given the reception of the previous release and high profile opening gigs for the Shins and others, it was surprising to find the Southern California band playing Upstairs at the Middle East in Cambridge (cap. 194) on consecutive Mondays in February. But this tour, a two week circuit of Boston, New York, Philly, Baltimore and DC, was primarily used to test drive new songs and touring guitarist Dave Quon (We Barbarians) prior to hitting SXSW.

The February 1 show in Cambridge was Quon's first with the band and if there were any kinks or jitters, they were well hidden from the sold out audience. Dressed casually, the five members established a playful vibe mixing 'Children' and 'Strange Vine' from 'Ode' with the new tunes 'Bushwick Blues,' White Table,' 'St. Francis' and 'Ransom Man.' The new material is cut from the same cloth as the songs from a few years back, but it seems to have grown incrementally and effortlessly more political and lyrically dense.

That is not to say that these guys were ever frivolous. Their older songs have elements of social commentary, but never at the expense of being catchy, essentially lifting from the Woody Guthrie playbook without robbing the songs of their barroom rock appeal. Bassist Jon Jameson says he and his band mates keep themselves educated on political issues, but they feel they must assess their own actions and advocacy on a personal level before they start demanding activism from others.

Recognizing the band's measured approach to preaching politics, they still had something to say on their recent dates. Debuting songs from their forthcoming (May?) record 'History From Below' singer, guitarist Matt Vasquez etched ZINN into the body of his guitar. Both the album's title and the Guthrie cum Tom Morello guitar decoration, are a nod to 'A People's History of the United States' author and local (Boston) radical royalty Howard Zinn who had died the previous week.

Vasquez is a talented singer and performer and the rest of the band including Quon, multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich, founders Jameson and drummer Brandon Young are loose, seasoned performers who look like you would have to drag them off stage. When the band played their singles 'People C'mon' and 'Trashcan,' the audience shout-along was obviously appreciated, and it affirmed, for a band that had been in the studio for nearly a year, that they were missed.

Watching the Delta Spirit perform the following thought occurred; roots rock bands are kind of like Hollywood political thrillers. Both consistently use the same well-worn elements, neither appears difficult to create and yet, every year it seems thousands of new ones appear and nearly all are forgettable.

Not so the Delta Spirit.