Ollabelle

Called after Appalachian folksinger Ola Belle Reed, Ollabelle certainly are a Manhattan-based group whose music places an metropolitan spin on Southern genres like bluegrass, gospel, and country. Despite their rootsy affects, the five bandmates initial got together within the decidedly non-rootsy East Community, where a regional bar known as 9C began keeping every week gospel music periods through the aftermath from the 9/11 terrorist episodes. What began being a aspect task for six from the bar’s customers — vocalist Amy Helm (the little girl of renowned Americana musician Levon Helm), guitarist Fiona McBain, bassist Byron Isaacs, drummer Tony Leone, keyboardist Glenn Patscha, and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Zhivago — quickly converted into a full-fledged group, with label curiosity from Sony Music and support from fellow root base revivalist T-Bone Burnett, who created the band’s 2004 debut. Shows on the 2004 Newport Folk Celebration and Alison Krauss’ Great Great Hill Tour helped drum up support for Ollabelle’s self-titled record, as do the resurgence of old-timey Americana music. Because of their second record, 2006’s Riverside Fight Songs, the music group enlisted assistance from previous Bob Dylan sideman Larry Campbell, who decided to co-produce the record. Riverside Fight Songs, just like the recording before it, presented the band’s exclusive spin on traditional tracks, but it addittionally showcased even more of their unique compositions, that have been molded within the design of their affects and documented without guitarist Jimi Zhivago (who’d still left the lineup, hence slimming Ollabelle right down to a quintet). The group continuing to tour, documenting its performances even while and launching a solid live record, Before THIS TIME AROUND, before heading back to the recording studio room for 2011’s Neon Blue Parrot.