It has been almost four years to the day that The Newtown Bee first caught up with Wilco's Pat Sansone, who along with bandmate John Stirratt, formed an on-again off-again side project called The Autumn Defense. The occasion for that June 2014 call was scripting up a preview article for the band's first-ever visit to Edmond Town Hall.The Bee, "When John and I met, he had a number of complete or nearly completed songs that he wanted to track. But he really didn't have a home for them yet, and he didn't know how he was going to record them or how he was going to be recording with. During that time, we were both living in New Orleans, and I was working at a couple of recording studios in town. So the project began with John as the primary writer and me being the arranger producer, bringing those songs across the finish line."

Luckily, on-again off-again Live at Edmond Town Hall concert series promoter Hayden Bates was on the ball - connecting us with Sansone ahead of The Autumn Defense's brief summer tour launch Thursday, July 19, marking their highly anticipated return to Newtown.

The headliners will take the stage following an opening set from Johnny Irion and the Merchants of Rhythm, who go on at 6:30 pm. Tickets are just $15 in advance and $18 at the door.

For those unfamiliar with these artists who have made their indelible mark in the genre of Americana music, The Autumn Defense and Sansone's inclusion in the Wilco lineup both sprang from a relationship he struck up with Stirratt in 1999. Stirratt was reportedly drawn to the expert production work his partner was providing for indy artists like Joseph Arthur and Josh Rouse, for whom Sansone deftly replicated a 1960s-era sound and style.

He previously told 

That experience proved that the two artists had a winning formula on their hands, even if it could only be trotted out for very brief periods as Stirratt - and shortly thereafter, Sansone - worked and toured with Wilco.

Getting 'The Call'

 cast Stirratt as the primary songwriter and leaned heavily on Sansone for his creative production skills. Shortly after their 2003 sophomore effort, 

The Green Hour,Their debut project together, entitled Circles, Sansone got "the call."

"Around the time we were out promoting 

Circles, I was invited to join Wilco," he said. "By the time we got into the studio to start working on our third album about two years later, John and I were at the point where our songwriting contributions had evened out to about 50-50."

In early 2007, their third effort, simply titled 

The Autumn Defense, was followed up by the most ambitious tour the band had undertaken up to that point. And in 2010, the group signed to Yep Rock Records, where they released album number four - Once Around - and earlier in 2014, their latest album called Fifth.

According to their advance, The Autumn Defense creates a sound that both "embraces and resists the moods of autumn, and so suggests their name. The multi-instrumental duo are said to gather inspiration from classic LA pop and well-crafted melody in the '60s and '70s traditions."

Between gentle harmonies and instrumental texturing, the associations are tempting: a trace of Beach Boys, Byrds, Bee Gees, Zombies, and Love.

Reached at his Nashville studio, Sansone said he, his partner Stirratt, and their band (Greg Wieczorek on drums and vocals and James Haggerty on bass) are compressing as many gigs as possible into a tight nine-day jaunt that will end on stage at the Newport Folk Festival.

"Wilco has played Newport I believe twice since I've been in the band, but this is the first time Autumn Defense is performing there, and we're pretty happy we could make that happen," Sansone recalled. "This is a show John is curating, and we'll be in one of the tents - I don't know too much about it. I guess we should figure it out before we get there."

Sansone said every time he's been to the Folk Fest site at the medieval-looking Fort Adams, he appreciates the venue's cool vibe more and more.

"Every time I've been there, I love the feeling and the community up there, it's really great," he said. "It's pretty magical - a perfect synthesis - the music there and that setting are a perfect combination."

Vinyl Transformations

In a twisted coincidence, back in 2014, Sansone was just completing work to transfer The Autumn Defense's debut project to vinyl. And when reached ahead of the 2018 tour, he looked back on his recent readying of two more Autumn Defense projects for pressing on vinyl by UK based Be With Records.

"I had a lot of involvement on both of those vinyl releases," he said. "I do the graphics and packaging work, and was sort of the helmsman for digging up and preparing the old mixes to be mastered with the plant that did our pressing.

"Rob, who runs Be With records, approached us because he was a fan of our third record, and he wanted it to be put out on vinyl," Sansone continued. "He was just starting the company, and it's been great working with him. I've been super happy watching these two projects come to life on record - it really makes the whole project seem complete once you see it on a record."

Four years on from the release of 

Fifth, Sansone said he and his partner have found a couple of the songs occupying a spot on every concert's set list.

"The song 'This Thing That I Found,' and John's song 'None of This Will Matter' have become staples of our live set," Sansone said, admitting that there has since been virtually no new music created.

"Since we finished touring promoting 

Fifth, John and I have been so busy with Wilco that we didn't have a whole lot of room for Autumn Defense to dig in to new material. So what's exciting is this Newtown show and these few gigs are going to be something of a reunion tour for us," he said. "This will be a chance to go back and rediscover our past."

So as Autumn Defense's Sansone and Stirratt approach their 20th year together, what remains on their collective bucket list?

"I think anything and everything is possible; that's the beauty of this project," Sansone said. "We love working with our guys, so I hope everything we do is with Greg and 'Haggs' [Haggerty], maybe some stuff with strings - I would love to expand on that because we did a little of that earlier. Or maybe go the opposite and just bring the four of us in and record something live and really raw."

While they have not been writing together, Sansone said he and Stirratt had recently curated a bunch of concert material from their collections, possibly for an eventual live album - perhaps even a cut or two from their visits to Edmond Town Hall.

"The past is a little daunting, so neither John nor I have raced to the front of the line to go through all that live material, but it's something we want to do and we're going to do," he said. "In the meantime, we're just really looking forward to coming back to Edmond Town Hall - we love it there."

For discounted advanced tickets to The Autumn Defense at Edmond Town Hall, July 19, visit edmondtownhall.org/liveateth

The Autumn Defense covers Bob Welch's "Sentimental Lady" on Record Store Day live from SXSW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6OrkFyXu_c

Check out The Autumn Defense performing "Feel You Now" at the NoiseTrade EastSide Manor Sessions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h72IUSsXq1w

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