Back in the saddle
Ghost of Paul Revere rides again for drive-in audiences
Bands have hit the road again! Well, sort of.
With clubs closed — many permanently– artists have scrambled to bring live, in-person music to audiences. No band has dialed into this new live landscape like Maine’s The Ghost of Paul Revere.
The group completed a mini-tour of New England’s drive-in venues in July. After that, the five-piece booked its own four-day drive-in series in Farmington, Maine. Next up is tonight’s gig at Cape Cod’s Yarmouth Drive In.
“We’ve lived the last nine years of our lives touring in the van and playing shows,” banjo player/singer Max Davis said. “The off-beat rhythm of tour schedule, driving, loading in, sound checking, playing, loading out, driving to the hotel, is so ingrained in all of us that it really felt good to be back at it, yet the reality of our current landscape affected everything. … We know we are putting our stamp of approval on any show that draws people physically together, and we do not take that responsibility lightly. We are dedicated to keeping people safe, and thanks to our amazing team and the venues/promoters we worked with, it felt as though we were staying true to that with these drive-in shows.”
“It’s painful not to be able to connect with the friends and family after the show, or catch up beforehand,” he added. “But as long as we are making small, safe steps, we hope that it will insure our ability to continue doing what we love.”
The Ghost of Paul Revere came together a decade ago, made up of childhood friends Davis, guitarist/singer Griffin Sherry and bassist/singer Sean McCarthy. They play folk music by the broadest definition of the term. Sometimes that means sounding like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle be Unbroken”; other times it means hewing closer to fellow New England heroes such as Deer Tick and Ballroom Thieves. But always — and the band’s fans will attest to this — the energy bounces between a gospel revival and a boozy hootenanny.
They have worked hard to bring that specific magic to a sea of cars.
“I think coming up as an independent band, playing in so many different rooms and sound setups has prepared us for pretty much anything,” Davis said. “Certainly we haven’t cracked the code. Car horns are certainly harder to relate to than claps and stomps, but I don’t believe we’ve altered our performance that much. Everyone is yearning for live music these days so the faint hoots and hollers in a field or parking lot sound deafening compared to the silence of an empty room of a live stream.”
Despite the pandemic, the band has continued to work when it can do so safely. That means the long-awaited follow up to 2017’s “Monarch” is ready. The band let loose new single “Love at Your Convenience” and its video last month. Their third LP, “Good at Losing Everything,” comes out Aug. 28 and then, hopefully soon, a traditional tour..
“We are full steam ahead,” Davis said. “We can’t wait any longer to share what we’ve created. We are immensely proud of it.”