2010 release. Recorded late last year at Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York, The Black Dirt Sessions is a deeply personal record from Deer Tick and most especially from lead vocalist and songwriter John McCauley. It is the sound of a band coming into its own, finding its voice and pouring its collective heart out. The comparisons that have often been thrust upon McCauley by the press seem to fall away as his own voice comes through more clearly. Clearly, the band is exploring some darker material here (like death, mortality, the existence of God) than they've touched on in the past, and it suits them.