Wait is over for Papadimas album

April 21, 2016 at 12:05a.m.

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

While recording his new album, Demos Papadimas wondered if he was going in too many musical directions.

The album regularly shifts gears: a Dylan-esque number will be followed by a couple of rootsy standards, and then a Mediterranean-flavored folk tune that uses a bouzouki.

“Is this jumping around too much?,” Papadimas asked Pete Drivere, who recorded the album at his Ampreon Recorder studio in Youngstown. “Pete said, ‘No – that’s just what you do.’”

So the eclectic song lineup remained, and the end result is “Waiting,” a 12-song album that was finished earlier this month. Papadimas and his band will unveil it at a record-release show Saturday at Cedars West End.

Will he ever limit himself musically to one genre?

“I’ve given it thought,” said Papadimas. “I’ve set out on different projects with the Dylan feel. But then songs come to me, and I keep moving with whatever I’m working on. I probably will keep the three styles. I like the blend, and a lot of others seem to respond to it.”

Papadimas, who plays guitar and harmonica, and his recording band – Ralph Rich (drums), Sally Quotson (violin), Andre Ptichkin (upright bass), Al Moss (pedal steel) and Chris Leonardi (organ) – are one of the most interesting and musically varied acts in the area.

To capture their sound, the band recorded about half of the new album “live” in the studio, as opposed to recording each instrument on a separate track and then mixing them together.

“We wanted to capture the energy of the band,” said Papadimas. “We tried separate tracks on one song, and it didn’t have the intensity.”

Of the dozen songs on the album, Papadimas wrote 10, and the other two are traditional songs (“Ragged and Dirty” and “Little Sadie”). But even those two songs are in the band’s style.

“Interpreting folk music is a lot of what I do,” said Papadimas. “The musical process comes through interpreting these old songs. And it needs to be represented on the album, because it’s what we do live. If we’d cut out that rootsy side, there would be something missing. Along with the Dylan and the Mediterranean, it gives the full picture.”