Session Obsession

The following post is from a guest blogger, Paul Marangelo, a musician who hosts The Shoreham Inn session and here’s what he has to say:

I moved to Shoreham almost 6 years ago, realizing fully that I was putting myself in a potentially session-poor geography: smack in the middle of the orchard, dairy, more-cows-than-people belt of Addison County.  And over the first few years here, I did get weary of frequent trips to sessions in Burlington just to scratch my session itch.  But last winter, a chance contact with Cindy from O’Hanleigh co-incided with more serious thoughts I was having of trying to organize a local session.  And  I probably would not have even been thinking of trying to organize a local session if the Shoreham Inn were not across the street from where I live.

Gastropubs were made for sessions.  Or on second thought…. is it the other way around??? The answer is far from clear, but if you come to the ITM session at the Shoreham Inn, you’ll have far better insight to help pin down the solution to this head scratcher than if you pondered it from afar.   Domenic and Molly Francis, proprietors of the Inn, opened the lower floor of the Inn as a gastropub (which is an eatery style that is common in England) when they purchased the Inn about 6 years ago.  The food is great, there is a small bar, and Shoreham just may be the tiniest  village in the world where you can walk in off the street and buy a Guinness on tap.  It’s a great setting for an ITM session.  Every other Sunday, except during the warmer months (one a month) and November (when the Inn is closed), musicians come from as far away as the Burlington area to play here.  Playing at the Inn is almost like playing in a living room.  Cushy sofas threaten to engulf musicians, and have swallowed whistles whole.  There are no TVs to compete with.  Usually chairs in the room not taken up by musicians are be taken up by folks just listening to the music.  Sometimes the listeners overflow and sit on the stairs.   The ambiance is almost quiet at times.  Surprisingly, the session has been evolving into one that is song-intensive – more so than any other that I’ve participated in, which makes the event distinct, varied, and enjoyable.  Patrick Webb and the O’Hanliegh folks show frequently and have a large repitoire of songs that get throwin into the mix.

So for almost a year now, it seems to be working, and there are just enough musicains within a 20 mile raduis of Shoreham to make it work quite well, not counting to the folks who journey down from Burlington for the event farily regularly.  So come on down to Shoreham one Sunday and see what its all about, 6-8 PM.  Contact me to get on the e-mail list (pmarangelo@shoreham.net).