Spotlight: Reckoners
On Thanksgiving weekend in 2024, when Reckoners released their self-titled debut LP, the Boston collective not only introduced the world to their brand of slow-boiling rock and soul, but they also solidified their project as a true band—cultivated over the past half-decade by one of the area’s more visible architects of roots music, Johnny Trama. Emerging on the other side of a variety of intentions and ideas, a pandemic induced pause and a name change, Reckoners arrives with quite a shape-shifting history of its own. Now, with a growing schedule of live dates and a second album already in motion, Trama’s collaborative concept appears poised to settle in.
Originally making his mark as a guitarist and songwriter based out of New York, Trama first landed in Beantown in the early ‘90s. At the time, he was already well aware of Boston’s reputation as both a melting pot of musicians and a vibrant and storied haven for roots and blues music. “Throughout the ‘90s, the blues scene was way alive,” Trama recalls. “Blues artists were coming through nonstop.”
Alternating between surviving and thriving, Trama made Boston his home, adjusting with the times and tastes. For years, he held down a Sunday-night residency with a rock-and-roll outfit at Harper’s Ferry, one of The Hub’s most famed clubs. And, somewhere around 2010, he initiated a Tuesday-night residency with a groove/soul/ rock-and-roll combo, The B3 Kings, at Cambridge’s beloved Irish pub, The Plough and Stars.
Trama became a fixture in the Northeast musical community, developing a creative think tank, jamming with the area’s abundance of talent. His credentials as a crackerjack guitarist piled up, undertaking notable and varied stints with soul icon Bettye LaVette, regional reggae stalwarts Dub Apocalypse and Rhode Island rockers The Silks. It was with LaVette that Trama befriended bassist Marc Hickox and keyboardist Darby Wolf. Both had impressive pedigrees of their own: Hickox had worked with blues legend Charles Musselwhite, while Wolf did time with Rubblebucket.
The three teamed up with drummer Tom Arey, a timekeeper for esteemed rock frontman Peter Wolf, of J. Geils Band fame, as well as for modern alt-blues troubadour G. Love. Trama envisioned the newly minted roots quartet as a possible session ensemble akin to venerable ‘60s LA studio stars the Wrecking Crew. “The initial thought of this wasn’t like we were forming a band [for ourselves],” Trama says. “We saw it as band that could work with other artists, fleshing out and recording their songs.”
Calling themselves the Band of Killers, their first collaborations were with socially conscious singer-songwriter Toussaint the Liberator and singer, guitarist and fellow New York native Tim Gearan, a familiar rounder in the scene. Gearan had a local residency of his own in the early 2000s, performing every Friday at Atwood’s Tavern. Trama was a fan and would often come by.
For a brief stretch, beginning in 2019, Band of Killers essentially alternated between supporting Toussaint and Gearan. However, with Gearan, there was a certain undeniable chemistry. “I knew [with Arey, Hickox and Wolf,] I had ‘the guys,’” Trama says. “With Tim, I felt we were becoming a band. It was, like, ‘Hey, would you want to write a song with me?’ And, the next thing you know, we’ve written 25.”
The downtime during the pandemic allowed for plenty of songwriting, and Trama and Gearan stacked up more than enough material for a recording session. Then, in the early months of 2023, the quintet hooked up with Graham Mellor, a veteran sound engineer known for his years on the road with Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule. Mellor rented a small space above the Columbus Theatre in Providence, R.I., transforming the empty room into an intimate makeshift studio.
On a shoestring budget, they worked quickly, recording live as a band with minimum overdubs. They did some additional sessions as well—engineered by Soulive drummer Alan Evans— cutting tracks at a studio in Deerfield, Mass. “Both Graham and Alan come from our world,” Trama explains.
With much of the album complete, the musicians took a six-month break, performing shows and gelling as a unit. When they reconvened to finish the record, they also decided on a new name that reflected their evolution and identity as a group. “In our heart of hearts, we knew we didn’t want to call it Band of Killers,” Trama says.
They also reached out to Susan Tedeschi, an old friend of Gearan’s, to guest on the album’s lead song, “Looking for a Reason.” On the kickoff, the Tedeschi Trucks Band singer pairs perfectly with Gearan’s honey-smoked voice, heralding a set of 11 tracks dipped generously in roots rock, blues and soul.
“We do this as a collective. The mission is to make music,” Trama says. “A band vibe is not something you can just create. If you take five musicians and put them in a room, will they make bad music? No. But, the question is, ‘Will they make something special that sounds cohesive, like they’re making it as one?’ When Reckoners get together, we’re able to read each other. This whole thing around us is getting harder and harder. Basically, you give your music away. So, you have to really love and enjoy what you’re doing. We really love and enjoy what we’re doing.”
