Music
Press
September 14, 2009
"Open Mic Artist of the Month" @ Folk Alley
"Open Mic is the place for unsigned, undiscovered or otherwise under-exposed artists to post their music and take Folk Alley's online corner stage.
This month's featured Open Mic artist is Village Jammers from Stonington, CT."
Pretty cool to come home from a prestigious gig at Skitch Henderson's estate and find this snippet hangin' on the line. The Jammers thank Joe Linstrum and all the Folk Alley cats.
Friends, y'all owe yourselves a visit there to www.folkalley.com.
Go. Now.
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July 22, 2007
Soundwaves Magazine Review 2003
VILLAGE JAMMERS “Til It Happens To You” Loco Dare Music
The Village Jammers have been in existence for nearly 35 years. Comprised of old friends who happen to all be seasoned musicians thanks to a deep-rooted love of honest music, the Jammers have been gathering to play their unique blend of“bluegrass/country/jazz/rock/blues/folk/rockabilly/ "insert any style of music here" since the their early Village Pub (now known as One South Restaurant) jam sessions during the mid 1980’s. Bandmates Geoff Corkhill (guitars), Mike Palazzolo (bass), Dan Ravanelle (banjo/dobro), and Curtiss Thompson (mandolin) have recently released “Til It Happens To You” on Loco Dare Music, a 14 track effort of American music (for lack of a better musical label) that displays the Jammers musical diversity, technical abilities, and creativity.
It’s been said that a Village Jammers practice session is much more than just chords and tunings; you get a healthy dose of political debate, blue-collar beer bottles, beef jerky, ball-busting, and oh yeah, some pretty good music too. The band’s knack for encouraging their growing circle of musician friends to join them for jam sessions and gigs; talented musicians like Jay Dempsey, Jim Carpenter, Tommy Giarratano, Vince Thompson, Bill Light, and Steve Jakubielski, makes the Village Jammers as much a family as they are a band. Founding member and harmonica extraordinaire Rene Brisson, who sadly passed away in 2000, still retains an honorary seat in the jam circle each session.
As of recent, the Village Jammers have regrouped with a renewed vigor, supported by the same structure that held their prior sessions together: good, honest music. The band has been on a creative roll since Thompson stumbled onto a bull-riding documentary and offered a few of his band’s tunes that hadn’t quite existed at the time. The Jammers stepped up to the plate, cranked out some cowboy songs, and now have several tunes featured in a documentary about bull riding. That type of approach brought a logical next step; a new disc of new material. “Til It Happens To You” has a bit of everything the Jammers represent: Thompson’s signature mandolin and sincere vocals, Corkhill’s Doc Watson influence and traditional flat picking guitar work, Palazzolo’s creativity and musical vision, and Ravanelle’s southern rock-influenced solos and musical diversity. The formula works; “Til It Happens to You” is the long overdue offering of music that Jammers fans have been waiting for.
The Village Jammers were born from an open invite of friends gathering to play any style of music they knew, and the result was a long-term friendship and a lot of terrific music. Whether it’s the friendship bond that makes the music sound so good or the great musicianship that makes the friendships so strong, the bottom line is each musician brings a variety of influences to the table, comprising the Village Jammers’ family signature sound.
- Don Sikorski - SOUNDWAVES MAGAZINE ****
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- Various
Discography
Till It Happens To You
Cowboy Up: Rodeo Documentary Sound Track
Photos
Bio
The Village Jammers started as an open invite of friends gathering to play any style of music they knew at the now defunct Village Pub in Stonington Borough, Connecticut. Jammer night at The Pub soon became a big event, with everybody showing up to see what these guys would do next...It was a rock and roll audience listening to Doc Watson, The Louvin Brothers, Earl Scruggs, Bill Monroe, and Peter Rowan music for the first time. It was a blast! While packing the house, they continued to invite fellow musicians to share their stage. The music took all kinds of directions, the stage show got crazy, and miraculously, The Jammers survived. When the dust settled on the Village Pub days, the Village Jammers emerged with great songwriting, arrangements, and instrumentation that would become the new Jammers's sound…Songs about knocking around in America, from a sultry Spanish memory, to a high lonesome heartache… Acoustic guitars, mandolin, dobro, and banjo take you there.
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