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The Revivalists

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New Orleans-rooted eight-piece with pedal steel and horns folded into big-tent rock — 'Wish I Knew You' and a jam band's appetite for stretching out.

Guitarist Zack Feinberg met singer David Shaw, recently arrived in New Orleans from Hamilton, Ohio, while riding his bike down an unfamiliar street. The two started playing together, added drummer Andrew Campanelli, and had their first show within a week under the name The Revivalists. The full eight-piece lineup formed soon after and settled into a routine of roughly 150 shows a year.

Early records, including a self-titled 2008 EP and the 2010 debut album Vital Signs, were self-produced and independently released. The pedal steel, saxophone and horns that mark the band's sound were part of the setup from early on, giving the songs a fuller, soul-leaning texture than most rock bands of similar size.

The 2012 album City of Sound, produced by Galactic's Ben Ellman and reissued in 2014, pushed the band further into folk, pop and soul territory. Singles from it included "Criminal," "Upright" and "Navigate Below," and it built the following that carried into their next record.

Men Amongst Mountains, also produced by Ellman, followed in 2015 and brought Rolling Stone recognition as one of the acts worth watching. Its single "Wish I Knew You" reached number one on both the Adult Alternative and Alternative radio charts and was later certified platinum.

A 2018 single, "All My Friends," from the album Take Good Care, also topped Adult Alternative radio. Onstage the band keeps stretching arrangements out, a habit tied to the jam band circuit even as their studio records have grown tighter.

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