Release Date: February 26, 2008
Somewhere in a broke down cabin in the woods of Tennessee, Patty LeMay started playing piano at age 14, at all hours of the night, and quickly taught herself Chopin and Debussy pieces and performed them in a sloppy, untrained way. She ignored a symphony pianist’s offer to harness her untrained abilities into Julliard material, by moving into spontaneous piano compositions, and then songs, written on guitar and piano.
On long car rides she escaped to the strains of Bob Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” and Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush, and any songs by the Rolling Stones. Later was a love of traditional country fixin’s such as Hank Williams Sr., Charlie Rich, Bobby Gentry (Ode to Billy Joe) and Bobby Goldsboro (Honey). The maudlin strains of traditional county artists can be heard in her first release, Goodbye Ceremony.
After growing up and moving to Nashville, Patty’s outlet for songwriting grew into band form, with pedal steel and guitar player, Paul Niehaus (Calexico), and a drummer from Louisiana, Casey Sanders. Lap steel player Mason Vickery joined, and then drummer Ben Smythe. Cassie Berman (Silver Jews) joined in on bass. William Tyler (Silver Jews, Lambchop), sat in most of the years Spiritual Family Reunion has been together. Local recordist Loney Hutchins has filled in at times, and most recently, teenage singers Caitlin Rose and Levon Emmons have provided 2nd and 3rd vocals. There are several unfinished recordings all over Nashville, including earlier work with producer Mark Nevers. Eventually they finished Goodbye Ceremony after working on it since 2005. The record was named by D.C. Berman, lead singer & poet of the Silver Jews. He has been their biggest supporter. Goodbye Ceremony is their first record.
In reviews, Spiritual Family Reunion have been compared to Neil Young, Will Oldham and Lucinda Williams, and the line up has always included friends who share a love of the song, not the singer. Spiritual Family Reunion’s musicians have played with lots of people and Patty has contributed vocals, piano, banjo and other stuff to recordings by Calexico, David Kilgour (New Zealand), St. Thomas (Norway), The Silver Jews, Vic Chestnutt, and Thomas Belhom (France).
RIYL: Will Oldham, Bobby Gentry, Neil Young, Bob Dylan
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