Two old friends, Barb and Bill Townsend, attended our March 4th concert at Oakwood Village Auditorium. A decade ago Barb and Bill owned the Copper Grid Bar on Monroe Street near Camp Randall. Good friends of live music and musicians, they provided a venue for a variety of bands, skewing toward the acoustic side of things.  It became a bluegrass hot spot and even hosted some national and regional acts.

The Townsends were certainly friends of The Dang-Its, giving us some much needed gigs in the early days of the band. In 1999 Barb and Bill hosted a show reuniting the members of my first professional band, The Stone Oak Bluegrass Band. Unbeknownst to the musicians, Bill and Barb had commemorative t-shirts printed up, using Stone Oak’s press photo from 1980! (I still have my shirt and it’s in pristine condition.)

Barb and Bill sold the Grid years ago and are now residents in the Oakwood community. It’s always great to see them at our nearly annual shows there. After the show last Thursday, they pulled out a surprise. Their daughter had made them a quilt using a bunch of Bill’s favorite t-shirts. When they unfurled the quilt, there was the 11-year-old Stone Oak square with my picture from 30 years ago. Wow!

Pictured in the old photo, left to right: Tom Waselchuk, guitar; Sims Delaney-Potthoff, mandolin; Max Winkels, banjo and Mark Annett, bass.

Wedged into a corner so tightly that Rick used a shoe horn to get settled behind his pedal steel and Mark pole vaulted over his drum kit to his seat, The Dang-Its presented an equally tight performance last Saturday night at the Tyranena Brewery in Lake Mills, WI. This was the Tyranena crowd’s first sight of Jami and they clearly loved her exuberance, which prompted a dance competition between the ladies’ conga line and the gentlemen who couldn’t NOT dance and so danced with each other. The dance floor (formerly known as an aisle) was enjoyably crowded. Pete’s vocal solo on San Antonio Rose drew enthusiastic applause, as did his and Tom’s trading verses of Folsom Prison. One young patron leaned over to me twice to say, “Man, that’s a beautiful song!” after the band played two of Tom’s original tunes (Mississippi and Sweetheart of the Rodeo). High energy, kind and joyful spirits, and did I mention the beer??? It was a very fun evening. Wish you could have been there!

Our launch of The Dang-Its Version 3.0 was a spectacular success.  We played Roxbury Tavern this past Sunday (November 29, 2009). OK, it is a small room, but it was packed to the rafters with fans old and new, friends of friends, and others just curious about the new line-up. We were overwhelmed by the warm and generous response. Thanks to all who attended.

Now on to Madison. We’ll be at The Brink Lounge (701 E. Washington Ave, Madison; lower level in the old Buy & Sell Shop building), this Friday, December 4th, at 7:00 pm. We’ll be in the lounge, and we’re asking for the dance floor in front of the stage to be free of tables, so bring your dancing shoes. I reported earlier that there may be a cover charge, but in fact admission is free.

This will be our final show for 2009, and we’ll be in touch early in the new year with our January schedule. In the meantime, we want to wish you all a Peaceful and Happy Holiday Season and New Year.

Sincerely,

The Dang-Its

Rick Nass

Pete Olig

Jami Lampkins

Tom Waselchuk

Mark Luhring

Photos by Rick Marolt: www.marolt.smugmug.com

I’m pleased to introduce you to Jami Lampkins, a talented singer and multi-instrumentalist and the newest member of The Dang-Its.

Band member changes can be hit and miss, but I’m here to tell you that Jami is a powerhouse who will ably help us maintain our high musical standards while keeping our eclectic repertoire, and will help us grow into new and exciting musical territory. Ms. Lampkins is a dynamic, energetic singer and a polished performer on guitar, banjo, mandolin and bass. Jami’s enthusiasm at the opportunity to join the band is matched by our enthusiasm (mine, Rick’s, Mark’s, and Pete’s) to work with her.

The Long Story. In the summer of 2008 local violinist Amber Dolphin did a show with The Dang-Its in SW Wisconsin. Amber and Jami had worked together in a touring country band, and Amber gave my name to Jami, who contacted me last autumn about studying swing guitar. We met, but at the time it didn’t seem that I had much to teach Jami, and that was the end of that. We exchanged CDs, however, and I heard her sing and play some amazing banjo. Fast forward to summer 2009. The band scheduled some performances that Sheila Voss was unable to do. Jami was one of a couple of guest artists we brought in for those shows, and from the start it was clear that her professionalism easily matched her obvious talent. She learned and very competently performed our tunes and we all thoroughly enjoyed the energy she brought to the shows. The amount of work she put in for just a couple of shows impressed us. As did her musicianship and showmanship.

When Sheila put in her notice, the guys and I spent a few weeks re-evaluating the band and deciding how to proceed. The only call we made was to Jami. We’re grateful that she said yes, and happy that she’s dived into the work with the same energy and dedication we saw last summer. We’ve been in rehearsal with her now for several weeks, and I’m jazzed with the way things are coming together. So is our newest band member. “It’s a Nashville-quality band with paying gigs. This is heaven!” says Jami, tongue only partly in-cheek. “The Dang-Its' energy is contagious and I'm so excited to be a part of that!”

If you’ve enjoyed The Dang-Its over the past 11 years, stick around for this next chapter. The Jami Lampkins era. It’s going to be a whole lotta fun.

Tom

P.S. We’re scheduling two official debut gigs with Jami:

Sunday November 29,  5:00 pm
Roxbury Tavern, Roxbury

Friday Dec. 4,  7:00 pm
The Brink Lounge, Madison

P.P.S. Photo shoots and promo re-designs take time and planning. We’ll get the web site updated ASAP.

Our primary intent in making Daddy's Cadillac was simply to have a CD on hand that features our singer, Sheila Voss. Sheila's been with The Dang-Its now for three years and, except for a few demo cuts, we didn't have any recorded music with her. We planned for a quick, live recording session and, as such, were prepared to produce a good recording, but perhaps not up to the standards of our two previous releases, when we took much more time in the studio. By the time we started mixing the tracks, we knew our modest expectations had been exceeded by leaps and bounds.

We recorded 14 of the 15 tracks on Daddy's Cadillac in one session, May 8,  2009, at the studio space of the now-defunct Coney Island Studio. Our audio engineers, Tom Blain and Aubrey Ralph of Ultimate Audio (photo below; Tom Blain standing), brought their mobile recording gear into the empty-but-still-usable studio rooms and set up shop. Band members started arriving at 1:00 pm, lines were run and levels checked, and we started tracking at 4:00. We started by recording two instrumental numbers, neither of which turned out to be solid enough for inclusion on the disc. From there on, however, we hit a good stride tracking 14 songs over the next several hours. No song needed more than three tries, and several songs were done in one take.

A few days later, on May 20, Sheila and I recorded the fifteenth track, a lovely, simple acoustic guitar-accompanied ballad called Daddy's Oldsmobile, along with two vocal tracks that completed the May 8 session. From there it was in Tom Blain's hands. Tom finished the mixing and mastering, and the work he did once again demonstrates why he is the audio engineer of choice for many area bands, Harmonious Wail and L.J. Booth to name two.

At the same time the recording, mixing and mastering was taking place, I was trying to decide on the graphics for the CD sleeve. Between the title cut, a jumpy Delavantes Brothers song called Daddy's Cadillac, and the above mentioned ballad Daddy's Oldsmobile, a theme was presenting itself. A third song with an automobile reference, Good Years, focused the search. As always I worked closely with our pedal steel guitarist, Rick Nass, who is a professional artist and illustrator. We cast about for interesting images that called to mind the golden age of the American automobile. It seemed appropriate to look in that direction given Detroit's long fall from that bygone era of mammoth vehicles and truly amazing and beautiful designs. The moment Rick showed me the image of the boy standing in front of the Cadillac, the cover design fell into place. Easy for me to say that. I depended on Rick to tweak the image and on my wife, Dana Johnson, to do the layout. Their work was superb and I love the cover, and all the more so because the boy on the cover looks a lot like I did at that age.

We hope you enjoy listening to this collection of songs as much as we enjoy playing them. They are favorites of ours and of our fans and friends, and they accurately reflect the way The Dang-Its sound in this our 11th year as a band.

Thanks for checking in with us.

Tom Waselchuk