Album: The Spirit Ranch Sessions / Band: Diana Catharine and The Thrusty Tweeters / Americana - Folk Rock

A funny thing happened on the way to the Kate Voegele concert a couple of weeks ago, one of the opening acts was a terrific group, the Sarah Burton Band and over on the right hand side of the stage playing the harmonica and shakers, was a very good singer by the name of Diana Catharine who was providing background vocals. Well as fate would have it, after Kate Voegele’s gig was over and as I was leaving the music venue, I stopped outside to talk to members of the Sarah Burton Band, and Diana Catharine held out her brand new CD The Spirit Ranch Sessions, and asked me if our magazine would consider reviewing it. I said sure and since it was a long drive home, I popped it into the car’s stereo system. Since that time not too many days have passed by when Diana Catharine’s CD has not been played.  She is a very gifted singer and musician, who also penned the music and words for all eleven tracks which were recorded and mixed at The Spirit Ranch in Sarasota Florida. Catharine’s songs are for the most part a good blend of up-tempo and slower Canadiana (Americana) numbers with strong folk rock influences.  

Diana Catherine’s harmonica introduces us to the scintillating album opener “Walk,” a song that defines the rest of this fine record, as Catharine’s earthy, sassy and soulful vocals have you singing along to the catchy melody and lyrics. This is a song about two lovers going in opposite directions, one due to their music career and the other is staying behind, but this is an upbeat song, not a downer. The guitars courtesy of Kevin Robinson and Catharine, with bass guitar by Nic DiSanto, are spirited and get your feet tapping and your hips moving.  Matt Blackie is on drums and percussion, and provides backup vocals. Collectively they are known as Diana Catharine and The Thrusty Tweeters. “Walk,” is a fabulous song that deserves a lot of radio play.

Musically The Spirit Ranch Sessions is strong vocally and instrumentally, and most of the room for improvement will simply come with life experiences that will add to the evocative nature of Catharine’s vocal performance. Overall, this is a band that should not do a lot of tinkering; because once radio stations get hold of The Spirit Ranch Sessions the songs should climb the charts rapidly.

The magic continues with the second track “Blueberry Eyes,” which features more splendid guitar riffs, this time serving as the intro. This is another relationship song with references to St Clair West, an avenue in Toronto and that is in part what makes this album work so well, because Diana Catharine is a Canadian singing about landmarks and places with which she is familiar rather than referring to the American Midwest or the bayou of Louisiana as some Canadian artists are prone to do. Think of what it would be like for someone who had lived all their life in San Antonio Texas to be singing about the streets of New York City. After all, Gordon Lightfoot made a career of painting Canadian images against a canvass of well crafted songs and Diana Catharine is doing the same thing.

Catharine’s gritty vocals make the beer drinking rounder song “Sober (Is Too Hard To Stay),” and Randy Tracy who guests as a vocalist on this song, sounds like his head is hanging low in a western saloon.  The songs on this CD invite the listener to sing along and the choruses are simple, not philosophical, heaven knows right now Americans and Canadians just want some relief from the stresses they are facing and they want their music to entertain them. They need music that they can relate to, and that is not to suggest that everyone is going to relate to a beer drinking song, but there are plenty of other good alternatives on this record.

One gets the feeling that perhaps some of these songs were authored while Diana Catharine and The Thrusty Tweeters were touring, as there is a whole lot of traveling on this album with the aforementioned “Walk,” alluding to a musician who is getting ready to hit the road, and “Travelin’ Man,” and “Long Road,” spinning mid-disc.

Catharine’s vocals are softer on “Last Dance,” but on this one she is upstaged by the splendid duo of bassist Nic DiSanto and guitarist Kevin Robinson who are incredibly smooth, as Robinson plays in the pocket.

Diana Catherine’s understanding that to hold the listener’s attention her vocals cannot be the same on every song, is a strength that shines through, both on “Last Dance,” and the eighth track “4 Leaf Clover,” a tune on which her vocals have less grit, and while not quite airy, they certainly are lighter. This is a song about coming to the end of the road in both life and relationships, while realizing that you are mostly responsible for the situation that you are in through the choices that you have made.

The more languid pace that was so evident on “4 Leaf Clover,” is quickly abandoned for the darker “Lucinda,” which features guitars that cut like a razor and lyrics that are moody and foreboding.

“Train Song,” is more blues than it is Americana, and the soulful tones are back in Catharine’s vocals. There is a very good guitar solo and a blues shuffle is ever present as an accompaniment to Catharine’s vocals.

The Spirit Ranch Sessions closes out with “Drifting,” which is once again setup nicely by some good guitar work, but this time, much this time it is much more plodding, a suitable accompaniment to a singer who has lost her anchor and has lost her way.

When Riveting Riffs Magazine looks back over the past ten months Diana Catherine and The Thrusty Tweeters record The Spirit Ranch Sessions would certainly have to be considered among the top three Americana albums that have come our way.  They deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Eilen Jewell another fine artist who along with her band which is garnering a lot of respect from listeners and those in the American music industry. 

Visit Diana Catharine and the Thrusty Tweeters' myspace site to listen to their music http://www.myspace.com/dianassound

 Reviewed October 2009

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