The last band to open for Levon Helm before his death earlier this year, Brooklyn's Spirit Family Reunion crafts a sweetly ramshackle Americana sound that's part secular gospel revival, part folk ramble. The sextet's raucous live shows meet at the middle between traditional roots-music sounds and the contemporary folk big bands that have broken through in recent years (see also: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Of Monsters and Men, River City Extension).
Spirit Family Reunion's first album, No Separation, captures that mad clatter nicely, but this is the sort of operation that really benefits from a live stage — and from the energy that only a crowd can provide. With its vintage instruments and rowdily free-wheeling vibe, the group plays every show as if the amps are off and the audience is huddled around, clapping along. Here, Spirit Family Reunion performs as part of the 2012 Newport Folk Festival, recorded live on Saturday, July 28 in Newport, R.I.
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