Roosevelt Dime at Gypsy Sally’s – Friday January 9, 2015
“A perpetual crowd-pleaser”
– The New York Times
We all carry the Roosevelt Dime. It’s not a relic of the past, it’s the silver in your pocket. There was a time when Appalachian strings made romance with New Orleans rhythms, a love affair that yielded one of the most infectious beats the world had ever heard. For Roosevelt Dime that time is now. Some would call it Rock & Roll, others Americana, but “Mardi-Grass” is more like it—a bedrock of New Orleans rhythms that brings driving, melodic banjo, fat-back blues guitar, pure honky-tonk harmonies, and deliciously dirty R&B vocals along for the ride—it makes for a groove so inspired the New York Times has called Roosevelt Dime “a perpetual crowd pleaser.”
With a whisper or a cry, a long, cool wail or a hot-and-heavy three part harmony, Roosevelt Dime speaks the language of the Blues. Andrew Green’s banjo is soulful and rhythmic, less claw-hammer and more crawfish boil, dixieland by way of the BQE, and he sings with a New York drawl softened by the rolling hills of Appalachia. Eben Pariser is the gunslinger, with guitar sensibility straight out of Abilene and a voice like a velvet tent revival, perfect for the church of the unrepentant. Underpinning the groove is Tony Montalbano’s laid-back Pacific-meets-Delta percussion, and Craig Akin’s bass, as sweet and complex as Kansas City barbecue.
This musical alchemy is purely American, transforming struggle into celebration, pain into perseverance, and taking the joyous beat from sidewalks and streetcars to backrooms and barrooms, from the ample hills of Brooklyn to the amber waves of grain. The formula is no accident. From their early days performing on the streets of New York City Roosevelt Dime learned what it takes to stop a stranger in their tracks, turn that stranger from a commuter into a listener, and from a listener into an unstoppable sidewalk strutter. Their high energy live shows have thrilled audiences at premier festivals across the country, and countless more have been captivated by the exceptional songwriting on their latest release “Full Head of Steam (2014),” which climbed to #6 on the Folk Charts in New York and #8 nationally. Roosevelt Dime has recently been featured in Relix Magazine, CMT Edge, Performer Magazine, The Bluegrass Situation, and the Alternate Root Magazine.
Doors: 7:00 pm / Show 8:30
3401 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-333-7700
