Photo by Ryan Roco
Delta Spirit finds food, bandmates, and American roots rhythms where they can
By Katy Henriksen
Published: August 25th, 2008 | 2:20pm
Although Delta Spirit bassist Jon Jameson has played in too many bands to name, he still doesn’t consider himself a connoisseur in the finer points of the instrument. “I’m still learning a lot, and growing, and slowly becoming a real musician, but I’m not quite there yet. I can fake it pretty well though,” Jameson says via phone from San Clemente, California, on the eve of Delta Spirit’s release, Ode to Sunshine, out August 26, 2008, on Rounder Records, but initially self-released by the band in 2007.
Jameson began playing guitar in the sixth grade when he formed a band with a friend who had already determined their instrumental roles. His friend was lead guitar and Jameson was told to play bass. Jameson never switched instruments and now considers his forced role in a positive light. “I’ve had the chance to play in a lot of good bands,” he explains. “I highly recommend playing bass to kids who want to play in bands. Everyone needs [a bassist], that and a drummer.”
Prior to forming Delta Spirit, Jameson played bass in the emo-leaning Noise Ratchet with current Delta Spirit bandmate, drummer Brandon Young. The two traded punk sounds for American roots tinged with soul, yet the rawness and urgency remain.
“When we started the band, we just knew what we didn’t want it to sound like. Everything else was up for grabs,” says Jameson, regarding the switch. “None of us identify with Southern Cali culture. We love soul, but we love a lot more. [Americana] was definitely our first common ground. That, and we loved music that had a real feeling to it.”
A five-piece, Delta Spirit began in 2005 when Young took a smoke break at 2 a.m. and heard a guy singing on the street. He thought the singing was so good that he introduced himself. This turned out to be vocalist Matthew Vasquez, who incidentally knew Jameson from a prior meeting. The three brought guitarist Sean Walker and multi-instrumentalist Kelly Winrich into the mix to record demos.
Eventually the band felt that they had enough material to record an album. They took their equipment up to a friend’s cabin in the mountains outside of San Diego, and in two weeks they recorded Ode to Sunshine. “It was blazing hot, and we drank a lot of whiskey, and went hiking,” Jameson says of the odd recording location. “We stole some food from the dumpster of Trader Joe’s, and had barbecues, and next thing we knew we had a record.”
Their booking agent arranged for Delta Spirit to open for bands like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Dr. Dog, and Cold War Kids, and with the self-release of Ode came praise from blogs like Daytrotter, as well as traditional media outlets like NPR and The Boston Globe. However, Delta Spirit weren't content with the small word-of-mouth distribution, and when Rounder expressed interest in re-releasing Ode, the band felt they had the perfect fit.
Delta Spirit is currently on tour for the re-release, which Jameson hopes will bring many new ears to their music. He says that although the priority is on the tour and supporting the re-release, he’s anxious to get to new material. “We’re definitely antsy to write new stuff and record and get it out there. One way or another, we’ll release something later this year. We never really stop writing.”
Issue #35
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