Dandelion Stompers and Paper Moonshiners will share the stage at the Mill tonight, showcasing two diffrent styles of jazz.
By Levi Wright
In preparation for Jazz Fest, two bands will share the stage tonight prior to a weekend of activities.
Today at the Mill, 120 E. Burlington St., the Dandelion Stompers will perform with the Paper Moonshiners, both of which share a love of jazz. The Dandelion Stompers, which plays a self-proclaimed “New Orleans” style, will also perform later this weekend at the Iowa City Jazz Festival.
The Dandelion Stompers, was formed in Iowa City in Chris Clark’s basement in 2014.
“We start out with a lead sheet, which is a melody and the chords that you can look at and words, obviously, but everything else we play on stage is just coming off of that,” Clark said, the bandleader and baritone saxophonist. “Everyone learns what their role is, and that’s something you get from playing together as band. You figure out how to not step on each other’s toes and how not to play the same exact lines, while still playing with each other.”
Paper Moonshiners is a duo from Austin, Texas, that focuses on vintage 20th-century music. The band has been around since 2011, playing vintage songs and creating others. The two try to bring a quirky and funny performance to the music.
“I kept trying to get [Elena Antinelli] to learn a song with me, and she wouldn’t,” said Frank Meyer, the guitarist, and songwriter. “When I brought this recording home from the studio, she listened to it. It was an old body song from the ’20s called ‘Was I Drunk, Was He Handsome, and Did Mama Give Me Hell.’ She heard that song from the studio and said, ‘I can sing that song better than that,’ so she stepped into the trap, and that’s how we started playing.”
Tonight’s audience will have the chance to hear music the bands love with an upbeat atmosphere. Followers of both groups will get to experience two different takes on the genre, band members said.
“We all have the same flavor and time period that we’re mining for our material,” Paper Moonshiners vocalist Antinelli said. “I’ve been talking to [Dandelion member] Katie for about three years. When we come through town, we try to get together. She’s super busy and has her hands stirring about a dozen pots at a time, and this is a way for her to introduce us to her fans so as we continue to tour Iowa City once or twice in the future. Hopefully, people will go, ‘Hey, these guys have something else going on.’ It’s like a microcosm of species in an aquarium. We swim together just fine; we don’t eat each other.”