NORWICH – The members of Oxford-based Panhandle – following a busy summer touring schedule which found the band performing up and down the east coast – have made their way back home to Chenango County and are prepared to record their fourth full-length release and first-ever live album.
For a third straight year, Panhandle will perform on Thanksgiving Eve at the Blarney Stone Pub and guitarist Nate Gross said fans of the band, who’ve been asking for a live release since its inception, will be impressed with the energy he and his bandmates are generating from the stage.
“We definitely amped up our traveling schedule in the last year and it really shows in our playing,” stated Gross, who will be joined once again by bassist Ben Gross and drummer Jeff Landry. “We’ve traveled from Vermont all the way down to Alabama and back again and we’re hoping people remember that we’re still around.”
With three studio albums already under their belt – 2007’s The Bliven House, 2008’s Backhills and 2009’s The Miners Pack – Gross said the decision to record and release a live album was an easy one for he and his fellow musicians.
“There’s such a unique difference between a studio recording and one taken from the stage,” stated Gross. “The energy of a live show is something you really can’t recreate in the studio so this made a lot of sense for us.”
The new album will feature the band performing its trademark blend of rock, blues and countrified Americana, and Gross said recording the project at the Blarney Stone, especially on what’s known as one of the busiest nights of the year, made perfect sense.
“It’s always great to perform somewhere where people enjoy original music and the atmosphere at the pub is absolutely great,” said the guitarist. “It’s definitely one of the biggest crowd nights we see during the year and we’re excited to try and capture that on the album.”
Panhandle called upon local musician Frank Goodrich to record the live performance, which will feature a “generous amount of new material,” according to Gross, who added that several songs from the group’s previous recordings may also make it onto the new disc.
“We’re hoping to get a nice representation of the band as a live unit and it’s always great to be able to jam a bit more,” stated Gross. “A live album really lends itself to that aspect of our playing and that’s a big part of why we’re doing this.”
Panhandle will perform from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 24 at the Blarney Stone Pub, 26 South Broad St. There is no cost of admission. For more information visit www.panhandleband.com.