Peter Mulvey’s Lamplighter Sessions Return To Club Passim

I became a big Peter Mulvey fan when he released Rapture in 1995. At that point, I had a radio program in Eugene, Oregon, and played tracks from that album fairly regularly. If you don’t own that disc yet, I recommend picking up a copy. In the years since then, he has put out a lot of good albums. And a decade ago, he started the Lamplighter Sessions at Club Passim in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the end of this month, the Lamplighter Sessions return to Club Passim. Five days of music, improvisation and general merriment and craziness, beginning October 27th and wrapping up on Halloween.

The first day will be a celebration of Tom Waits’ fantastic 1985 album Rain Dogs, a staple of the Lamplighter Sessions, performed by Peter Mulvey & The Crumbling Beauties. I asked Peter Mulvey why they had chosen to cover this specific record every year. Peter’s response: “We formed the band around the album, rather than the other way around. Perhaps ten years ago, David Goodrich assembled the Crumbling Beauties for the sole purpose of bringing Rain Dogs to life. I've made records with various of the Beauties over time, and the Beauties have backed me on my own songs, but in general our anchor is that Waits record.”

Then on October 28th, Vance Gilbert and Abbie Gardner join Peter Mulvey for “150 Years Of Song,” with each of the three musicians performing music from the last century and a half in the round. I asked Peter Mulvey how much of the material for this show will be planned, whether he is going to get together with the other two musicians to go over choices of songs. Peter responded: “I think we're going to be completely unplanned, which is to say none of us will know the songs the other two are singing. At first I was wary of the possibility that we might both choose the same song, but that distant possibility will be more fun if it happens.” That is going to be a great night.

October 29th brings us “More Than 176 Keys & Other Mechanical Oddities,” a night of improvisation, featuring James Rohr, Gill Aharon, Zak Trojano, Barry Rothman, Anita Suhanin and Peter Mulvey. Then on the 30th, Peter Mulvey presents “Shine A Lamplight: 50 Years Of Exile On Main Street.” David Champagne, Dennis Brennan, Hazel Royer, Pamela Means, Peter Mulvey, and other singers will be performing the music of the Rolling Stones, backed by Thank God For Science. I asked Peter Mulvey how the Stones album came to be chosen. This is what he told me: “It's fifty years old this year, and we have a few people in our community who know that record intimately, so that the rest of us can bring fresh ears.” There is plenty of great music on Exile On Main St. After all, it’s a double album. It was among the first few Stones albums I bought when I was a kid. My copy at that time was on a single cassette, and I remember it taking a long time to rewind it to find a specific song.

The final night, Halloween, will feature music and stories by Peter Mulvey, Maeve Gilchrist, Tim Gearan, Jenna Moynihan, Rich Hinman and Barry Rothman. And there will be a costume party, so enjoy yourselves. I asked Peter Mulvey what he might dress as for Halloween. “I hadn't thought that far ahead,” he said. “Off the top of my head, Princess Leia in The Empire Strikes Back.” Good choice! But wait, Princess Leia in her winter clothes in the Hoth scenes, or Princess Leia in that gown from the Bespin scenes? I guess folks will have to attend to find out.

Tickets for each night are $25, and most of the shows begin at 8 p.m. (except the Sunday show, which starts at 7). Club Passim is located at 47 Palmer St. in Harvard Square.