Session Americana

“The group, whose members have played with a variety of acts including Patty Griffin, Josh Ritter and the J. Geils Band, expertly blends vintage American roots music styles — from country to jazz to rock — in a rowdy but deft fashion.” – Rolling Stone

“Session Americana comes up with some gems, full of folk’s honesty and rock’s urgency.”
– The Boston Globe

“Session Americana has developed into a traveling medicine show which eschews snake oil in favour of an ongoing grail quest for the perfect collaborative experience.” – Hot Press Ireland

Session Americana is a group of musicians’ musicians: a cast of top-shelf players, singers, and writers: Billy Beard, Jon Bistline, Ry Cavanaugh, Dinty Child, and Jim Fitting. From the beginning, there were lines around the block to get into Toad and Lizard Lounge for Session Americana’s weekly residencies in Cambridge, MA. Those nights included an astonishing array of collaborations and sit-ins, and long-term “seventh chair” guests.

The group tours internationally, including an annual tour of Europe, taking their songs and hundreds more from the American songbook, on the road. Whether you catch Session Americana in a rock hall, listening room, performing arts center, or on a festival stage, you’ll be part of the mob from the intimate, raucous scene they built years ago at Toad.

Festivals have included Sisters Folk, Galway International Arts, Rocky Mountain Folks, New England Festy, Green River, Wheatlands, Stockholm Kulturfest, Cork Folk, Crashfest, High Sierra, Four Corners, Naked Song, Old Settlers, Ramblin Roots, and Strawberry.