Songs for the apocalypse: The Delevantes “Suitcase of Leather”

The Delevantes have been around for over three decades now, the band consisting of brothers Bob and Mike Delevante from Nashville, Tennesse. Way back in the late-nineties when my americana genes were still not quite fully developed I discovered their debut album ‘Long About That Time’ in the Virgin megastore in Liverpool which is now empty and just contains the ghosts of hip staff raising their eyebrows when you turned up to the counter with something like this. It was released on Rounder and got some airplay on CMT – I just fell in love with the record, with its harmonies and jangling guitars. They were a thing too – here’s some archive footage of them playing with Steve Earle at the Mean Fiddler in 97 (no sound sorry, but Steve looks happy enough). The good news is they’re now back after a decade long hiatus, although it may be some time before they reach our shores again.