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Courtesy of Three Merry Widows
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The last time that the Three Merry Widows reunited, the appearance was almost an afterthought, with a pair of the group’s spinoffs, Tinhorn and The Barkers, sharing the Duck Room stage. That 1999 gig saw the Widows back for a single evening, their first show since farewell shows at Mississippi Nights in 1994, and there was nary a dry eye in the house when the folk-rockers concluded their set. While those in attendance may’ve expected a good, long layoff before the next event, they probably didn’t anticipate a 15-plus-year wait.
That hiatus comes to an end at The Ready Room on Saturday, February 7, when the group appears with openers Cold Hearted Strangers. The band, now scattered across multiple states, will reunite with the exception of drummer Matt Albert; longtime area drummer and multi-instrumentalist Danny Hommes will man the kit, backing vocalist Alice Spencer (based in Texas), bassist Charles Shipman (New Hampshire) and guitarists Brian Simpson (Ohio) and Sean Garcia (St. Louis). Albert’s brother, Tim, will run live sound, reprising his frequent gig with the group.
The core five have been rehearsing monthly at Utopia Studio in mid-city, where they’ve been reconnecting both musically and personally.
“I think what’s struck me is how emotional it’s been,” admits Spencer. “It’s brought up a lot of feelings. We spent so much time together; we had such big dreams, aspirations and plans. The record label made it really hard for us to focus on what our original notions were. They sucked the fun out of it. Now we can focus on what we love about each other and…”
“... the music,” Garcia continues. “We all still liked each other as people. And we’ve stayed in touch through various ways. It’s just been a lot of fun for us.”
To date, the band’s settled in on just shy of two-dozen songs for their Ready Room set list. A good chunk of those tracks will come from the band’s one release on TVT Records, Which Dreamed It? Another large batch of tracks will come from sessions that would’ve yielded the band’s sophomore record; slowly, the band’s been releasing demos of those songs on their Facebook page, while keeping the final determination and flow of their set list a bit of a mystery.
Setting up visits by the travelling Widows around long, block-work weekends, the band’s found rehearsal times to be productive to date. That said, there have been times where the group’s had to deconstruct old tapes to relearn parts, or to find the precision that they once enjoyed.
“It has been really challenging to relearn the materials,” Garcia says. “There are little subtleties to the music; some are really easy to relearn, and with others you leave little parts out. But it’s been loose and it sounds pretty good. There’s a demo recording of a song called ‘Beautiful Dream.’ I isolated the two guitar parts and brought everybody else on the tape down, so that Brian and I can hear our parts. It’s all been a process.”
Spencer figures that some choices are being made intentionally, as “you think ‘maybe there’s a better choice for the melody.’ The musician you are at 44, well, the ideas might be better than when you were 20.”
Garcia finishes the thought by saying, “we all have more experience as musicians. That’s a plus. And the fact that Danny is playing with us lets us venture out a little bit.”
Hommes is facing and interesting challenge, in that Albert’s sound was intrinsically a part of the Widows’ overall vibe, with his patented rolls-and-fills and an overall groove well-known to the band’s fans.
Spencer says that Hommes has sounded “awesome. I think he sounds great. He’s obviously different than Matt. He had a different style, but he has great energy. Everything about him, I felt comfortable around and he fell right in. He’s got fresh ears, and is a very musical person.”
Garcia feels that Hommes’ background as a well-rounded musician and songwriter has helped when “we’re having conversations about the arrangements. He’s not just a drummer. He really knows songs and arrangements.”
The full vibe leading up to the event, Spencer and Garcia say, has been positive.
“We want to have fun with it,” Garcia says. “There’s maybe a little bit of anxiety, an internal pressure that we’re putting ourselves. We want to play the songs as well, or better, than our last show. That’s it.”
“I’ve never gone to my high school reunions,” Spencer says. “So this is all really emotional for me. It’s cool if the people that came, however many of them there are, really remember what it was like, and we can have that energy and feel from each other. That sounds cheesy, but we all remember a time in our lives when we were younger. And the Three Merry Widows time was a magical one in my life. I’d like to enjoy that memory for an hour-and-a-half. And I want the audience to have fun with us.”
Three Merry Widows play The Ready Room (4195 Manchester) Saturday, February 7 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20; for more info, go to thereadyroom.com.
