The Deslondes formed a decade ago in New Orleans, evolving from an unofficial “neighborhood hang” to a formal band (originally called The Tumbleweeds) before taking their current form: five songwriters and multi-instrumentalists exploring the territories of alt-country and the genre’s more traditional forms. Yet this past September’s Roll It Out LP was a return to form of sorts, with the band revisiting their earliest ideas with a considerably more mature approach. “It reminds me of back when we were starting out, before we were even The Deslondes,” shared the band’s John James Tourville. “It’s like we’re moving forward to get to where we were.”
With a set of Texas-set live dates planned for December, the band is giving us a taste of what’s in store with a stripped-down “Neighborhoods” session in which they strum through Roll It Out cuts “Find the Ground” and “Grand Junction.” Filmed by Cartter Fontaine of Chispa House outside of the New West label offices in Athens, Georgia, the band’s Dan Cutler refers to the former track as “a song about mothers and children, and grief” and “a reminder to try to take a long view and stay hopeful when there’s pain and discord,” while Tourville notes that the latter track is “[a] song reflecting on the traveling days, from a perspective of not glorifying them.” Check out their performance of both songs below, and find their upcoming shows with Turnpike Troubadours and Emily Nenni, respectively, here.
