It's a chilly night and you decide that ten pounds of homework just isn't going to happen tonight. You call a couple old friends and choose to meet at a local coffee shop downtown.
Walking up to the bar you think, "Is this Jason Mraz? No, it must be Ben Folds," and you decide to ask the girl behind the counter who is playing. The girl behind the counter replies, "Gabe Dixon Band."
The band's soothing coffeehouse feel isn't an accident. They began their careers playing in coffeehouses near their college campus and it seems their sound has developed into a more melodious and rich harmony since their last CD, "On a Rolling Ball."
The quartet is made up of lead singer and pianist Gabe Dixon, bass player Winston Harrison, drummer Jano Rix, and saxophonist Chandler Webber.
The Gabe Dixon Band's newest album "Live at World Caf?(c)" features six songs including the heartbreaking love ballad "More Than It Would Seem."
"Too many times you were all alone/ he left you behind cryin' by the phone/ you weren't born to lose but losing him is wise/ you've got a new fool and he's just about my size," Dixon sings.
Sappy love ballads aren't all this quartet can belt out. Similar to any other driver out there who just wants to get home, "Five More Hours" is a song about craving a destination.
"I've got five more hours of highway to go/ five more hours of highway/ till I'm in the place I know/ heaven only knows the time I've wasted/ so close now I can almost taste it/ five more hours of highway/ till I'm in the place I love," Dixon sings.
Other less-than-gushy romance ballads are two dramatically different songs. "Shallow" is about an overly selfish girlfriend whose lover is looking for someone deeper. "Hey Joe" is about a wife committing adultery and her husband wanting to kill her.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
