In August 2009 Jake Uitti began sending his poetry to Robb Benson, who would turn these poems into songs. Robb had done this style of Poet/Songwriter writing successfully with his old group Dear John Letters, who had released three albums and reached as high as #34 on the CMJ charts. It had been years since Robb had collaborated in this way, so he was very excited to give it a try with another great poet. Robb was on a short break with his band Dept of Energy while his keyboard player was on an international tour. These new tunes began to multiply very quickly. Soon Robb learned that Jake was more then just a talented writer who was often published in National magazines, Jake was a fantastic bass player as well. So in October Robb and Jake began playing live as a duo. Eight months later they had played a dozen or so shows and recorded over 50 songs. Some of the demos that didn’t make the first album are available for free download at their bandcamp site. The next wave was to allow the band to expand in a natural way. B3 player Ty Bailie (who was already in a group with Robb called Dept. of Energy) soon agreed to add his magic to some of the recordings. Shortly after, the band acquired the services of drummer Perry Morgan who is now a fixture with the group, and the official drummer. The group mostly plays as a trio, but will from time to time add an extra player to add spice to the live gigs. Dust and Hours is a collection of 13 of the best of the original 50 demos. They were tweaked and mastered at Robert Lang Studios to add some sparkle and pop. These are the primary songs now heard in the groups live set. Look for the band at at club near you soon!
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