Dispatch has kind of taken an odd route to stardom. The ridiculously talented trio came together at Middlebury College back in 1996 and had some level of success until 2002. Then they tried to breakup. But they weren't very successful at it. Because during their breakup they did wildly successful reunion concerts in Boston, NYC and Washington, D.C. And, by wildly successful, I mean they sold out Madison Square Garden on multiple nights and became a major (non-teen) sensation.
I first heard about them in 2001 or so when oldest daughter Molly's a cappella group ("Money") sang a Dispatch song called Two Coins. Money did a great version of the song, kind of matching Dispatch's very cool harmonies - - which makes for a good a cappella song. You know.
In any event, in 2004 Dispatch announced their "Last Dispatch" concert to be performed in Boston. Outdoors. For free. And to show how huge of a cult following they had, over 150,000 fans showed up. Making Dispatch much more than a cult, indie rock band that I kind of thought they were. And then they released a documentary called The Last Dispatch, which told the story of the band's "final" 12 days.
And then, in 2007 and 2009, came the reunion concerts, which were put together to raise money for Zimbabwe. And raise money they did. The shows all sold out in minutes. And Dispatch, I think, became bigger while "on hiatus" then they were when they were still active.
Solo careers ensued. But, after teasing their fans with signs of more reunion concerts, the band reunited in 2011. And it seems that they have remained a full time band for the most part since then - - since they've released several new albums, including a very successful EP in 2011, another EP in 2012, a studio album in 2012, a live double album in 2013, another studio album in 2017, and several singles, including one this year.
One of the songs on the 2012 album, Circles Around the Sun, is a tune called Josaphine. I've had the song sitting here in my iTunes collection for five years or so, but I just recently rediscovered it. It's so good. And so Dispatch. Amazing harmonies. And just so seductive. It's beautiful.
So, although Two Coins might have been a good choice for this post, Josaphine (yes, it is spelled with an "a" rather than an "e") is today's song. And this version of Josaphine features the guys from Good Old War (song 29), who were opening for Dispatch on this tour, harmonizing with the guys from Dispatch. It's great.
And, for those of you in the Philadelphia area, Dispatch will be at The Mann Center on September 19. See you there!