The Josh Dion Band is a musical group based out of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

led by singing drummer/songwriter Josh Dion. The group is commonly associated with the

rock n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

genres of music.

Personnel

* Josh Dion -

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

::Dion is a "singing drummer" who made his first impression in New York in February 2004 at

Blue Note In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical co ...

with, among others, guitar master

Chuck Loeb Charles Samuel "Chuck" Loeb (December 7, 1955 – July 31, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist and a member of the groups Steps Ahead, Metro and Fourplay. Early years and education Loeb was born in Nyack, New York, near New York City. At a ...

, saxophonist

Kim Waters Kim Waters (born March 20, 1965) is an American jazz artist born in Havre de Grace, Maryland. Early life Waters grew up in Harford County, Maryland. Waters learned how to play the saxophone at a young age. He attended C. Milton Wright High ...

and

Will Lee William Lee (born William Lubovsky; August 6, 1908 – December 7, 1982) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television and film roles, but was best known for playing Mr. Hooper, the original store proprietor of the eponymous Hooper' ...

. Before that, he toured the country with jazz funk quartet ulu from 2003–2004 and played drums on their fourth record, entitled ''Nerve''. * Patrick Firth -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

/vocals * Brian Killeen - bass * Daniel Hindman -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

/vocals * Sarah Versprille -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

History

In early 2004, Dion began writing and rehearsing original material with guitarist Daniel Hindman, keyboardist Pat Firth, and bassist Brian Killeen. All members of the band at one point attended

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

in Wayne, NJ. Their first performance date was at the Sarah Street Bar and Grill on February 4, 2004 in Stoudsburg, PA. At the time, the focus of the group was based loosely on songwriting and heavily on improvisation because of the lack of original material. Early influences of the band included blues, funk, jazz, and rock n' roll, though this sound would become more consolidated as the band progressed. In July 2004, the JDB (as it is affectionately abbreviated) began performing in New York City at such venues as Suite 16 and

The Bitter End The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub, coffeehouse and folk music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to ''The Ot ...

. By this point, the band had acquired enough original material to perform a consolidated set focusing now primarily on songwriting. Shortly after, vocalists Sarah Versprille and Justin Wade joined the group to help fill out the missing vocal harmonies in the developing songs of the band. The band continued to perform in the New York City area as well as travel throughout the East Coast opening for the likes of

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys are an American musical group from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll," combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown-eyed soul, country, and Tejano. The band consists of thr ...

Eric Johnson Eric Johnson may refer to: Music *Eric Johnson (guitarist) (born 1954) an American guitarist and recording artist * Eric D. Johnson (born 1976), member of multiple indie-rock bands including Fruit Bats, The Shins and Califone Politics * Eric Joh ...

Spyro Gyra Spyro Gyra is an American jazz fusion band that was formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1974. The band's music combines jazz, R&B, funk, and pop music. The band's name comes from ''Spirogyra'', a genus of green algae which founder Jay Beckenstein ...

, and

Cowboy Mouth Cowboy Mouth is an American band based in New Orleans, Louisiana known for fusing alternative rock with album-oriented rock, roots rock, and jam band influences. Formed in 1992, the band saw early mainstream success in the 1990s, including th ...

. During this time they recorded their first album entitle
'Give Love'
which included appearances from guitarist

and bassist

. The 'Give Love' album opened doorways for the group to travel to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

for their first international tour in May 2006. This tour was dubbed the 'Word Of Mouth' tour simply because the band was an unknown quantity in Europe at the time. The band was received with excellent reviews and attendance at all of its shows. After returning to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

the group began recording their second album of live material simply entitled ''Live'', released on October 7, 2006. In 2007, the band continued touring heavily with an appearance at the Den Hague Jazz Festival as well as a second tour of Spain and an opening performance slot with the

Spin Doctors Spin Doctors are an American alternative rock band from New York City, best known for their early 1990s hits "Two Princes" and "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong", which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart at No. 7 and N ...

. Their last album, 'Anthems For The Long Distance' was released on May 2, 2008 at a release show at the

Highline Ballroom The Highline Ballroom was a music venue and nightclub located at 431 West 16th Street in Manhattan in New York City. Description Primarily featuring musical acts, its capacity was approximately 700 people hosting diverse concert programming f ...

in New York City. Shortly after, the band returned to Spain for a third tour with an appearance at the

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, ...

festival in Cáceres. Josh Dion Band officially performed their last show on December 31, 2008 as part of a New Year's Eve celebration at the

Bitter End Bitter end or The Bitter End may refer to: * Bitter end, the part of a rope used to form a knot *The Bitter End, a nightclub in New York City Geography * Bitter End, Tennessee *Bitter End, Virgin Gorda Arts, entertainment, and media Literature ...

in New York City.

Discography

*''Give Love'' (2005) *''Live'' (2006) *''Anthems For The Long Distance'' (2008)

References

{{Authority control Rock music groups from New York (state) Musical groups from New York City Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups disestablished in 2008