A group of music lovers in the Hudson Valley college town of New Paltz are hoping to bring some much needed exposure to independent artists.
They’re called the Tin Roof sessions and they offer artists an opportunity to not only record a live show but to share it with the world. A professional production team helps each artist create a multi-media experience for both the musicians and fans that lives beyond the concert event, online.
Mustafa Bhagat is a co-producer and session partner for the Tin Roof Sessions.
“What artists look for is to be heard in an environment where there’s not clanging plates you’re not at a bar. You can listen to this music and not have too many extraneous noises getting in the way so I think artists really enjoy that.”
He describes it as a community-based house concert, because the session take place in a detached garage belonging to fellow co-producer Taylor Davis.
“Either once a month or twice a month during the summer months, they’ll be local artists and also national artists that happen to be coming through. Like a lot of artists they do an east coast tour maybe they’re playing Montreal or Boston or they’re coming down and they’re gonna hit New York City and this is a convenient place for national artists to stop and have another night of music and have the potential to reach more fans.”
The Tin Roof Sessions held their opening show earlier this month for a double bill featuring Brooklyn based singer songwriter Garrett Devoe, who plays under the alias, Pure Horsehair.
“The idea of like playing for like a group of people, you know and I think that’s really good and you know playing in a studio and you get a sense of how it actually, how the songs will effect actual people and being able to see the people and how they respond to it.”
Devoe, who hails from the Capital Region settled in Brooklyn to pursue his music career and has been touring for almost 10 years. He says he’s excited to try out some new material.
“I’ve been trying to… I’ve been working on material this winter and so kind of honing some of that material and so I’ll be able to stretch out a bit and play some new stuff.”
The evenings other act, Anni Rossi also hails from Brooklyn and she is also looking forward to using the recording session to help her hone her skills for a new album.
“Really a big part of this performance tonight is that this is the first time I’m performing with my new instrument I built like 3 weeks ago, so it’s a chance for me to have an end point or a goal to work towards. So ok like I need to have something ready so I can share this with people and perform. I’m gonna be performing a song that I’ve never performed and I wrote it here like last night.”
Rossi’s career is nearly a decade old and what she gets from the Tin Roof Sessions is unlike a typical recording session or live show.
“I see it as kind of a work shopping opportunity. It’s like small enough where I can make mistakes I can be vulnerable I can share new stuff that isn’t ready yet and I can still feel like I’m venting it in some way. You know if that makes any sense?”
Co-producer Mustafa Bhagat says the Tin Roof Sessions also benefit more than just the performers involved.
“So the reason we’ve been able to put together such a successful production team both audio video and photography is all the people involved in those roles just really want to be here and they really love it and they want to be a part of something cool. Like what better way to also practice your craft? Just like the musicians that are coming down to practice new songs, the people putting the content together, the shooters the audio engineers the photographers, they all like want to be here to enjoy the music and to further their craft.”
