Fast becoming my favourite label, Loose Records seem to have hit another mother lode with Willard Grant Conspiracy’s latest, Ghost Republic. Described by Wikipedia as ‘alt-country’ and by themselves as an ‘Americana Garage Folk’ this new release is so good, genre definitions don’t really matter.

With Robert Fischer’s velvety baritone riding pillion to David Michael Curry’s squalling viola, the initial impetus was a book of collaborative poems conceived and put together by Californian writer and artist Nicelie Davis. She asked Fischer to contribute a character and, as he wrote, the words spilled out into what increasingly obviously were becoming songs. Having frequently toured with Curry as a duo it seemed right to co-write and record this skeletal, often austere project with him. The release is accompanied by a hypnotic ‘small screen’ film in which still photos of the high desert corners of LA County – outreaches such as the Eastern Sierra Mountains, Lone Pine, Convict Creek and ghost towns like Bodie – alternate with gnomic phrases, hanging like mantras. Messrs. Fischer and Curry will be in Cleere’s, Kilkenny Saturday 19 October, Crane Lane Theatre as part of the Cork Indie Festival (20) and Dublin’s Grand Social (21).
Session Americana return to Ireland for dates at Clifden Art Weeks in the County Clare town on Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 September before rounding up with a gig in the Seamus Ennis Cultural Centre in Naul (27) and McDaid’s Wine Bar, Ramelton (28).
The band then return for a concert in the Red Rooms, Cookstown on Wednesday 9 October before heading to Dublin for a gig at Whelans (10), Wexford Arts Centre (11), Monroes of Galway (12) and Limerick’s Dolans (13). Built around the nucleus of Ry Cavaunagh, Billy Beard and Dinty Child, Session Americana has developed into a travelling medicine show which eschews snake oil in favour of an ongoing grail quest for the perfect collaborative experience. They have shared the stage with Patty Griffin, Kris Delmhorst, Rose Cousins, Anais Mitchell, David Wax Museum, The Watson Twins, Aoife O’Donavan, and The Henry Girls.
Canadian musician Peter Katz was nominated for a JUNO Award in 2012, and has been a nominee in the Emerging Artist of the Year category at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. And he has won the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award. He has been known to play upwards of 150 dates a year all over the world, singing with The Swell Season (Glen Hansard returns the favour by appearing on his record), Joel Plaskett and the legendary Garth Hudson from The Band.
He’ll be touring Europe in the coming months with his compatriots Royal Wood. See him at Cork’s Cyprus Avenue on Sunday 3 November, Whelan’s the following evening, Boyles of Slane (5) and Galway’s Roisin Dubh (7).