“Musically, it works well,” says Urmston via phone from Atlanta. “It just lined up this year. We talked about who we would like to bring along – our old friends G. Love and Donavon Frankenreiter were available, and it’s been great to reconnect with them.”
For its ninth studio album, Yellow Jacket, the band went back to its ska and reggae roots.
“I wrote a bunch of songs just before last summer,” says Urmston when asked about the songwriting process. “We had some reggae festivals on the horizon, and I wanted to play more reggae and ska. It’s a bit of a throwback for us to go back to where we had messed around with that genre in our younger years. Bassist Matt [Embree] and [percussionist] JR [Reilly] had a huge love for reggae and ska and had spent their careers playing that. We wanted to utilize that in this new way that feels tailored to the five of us. The horns on the album are so fun, especially at festivals and playing outside.”
Lead single “Whisk Me Away” comes off as the kind of singer-songwriter tune you might’ve heard on AM radio in the 1970s. it features bassist Mike Embree’s smooth lead vocals.
“I just love his singing so much,” Urmston says of Embree. “He’s the forntman of Rx Bandits, one of my favorite bands of all time. It’s fun to get him out in front a little bit and have his voice be singularly heard. It’s a treat for me to sit back and hear him sing.”
The album’s theme, abuse of power, is particularly timely, and Urmston says that’s intentional.
“Well, we live in some crazy times right now,” he says. “We have a president who wants to be king. People are being arrested on the streets for speaking their minds and speaking truth to power. It’s a scary time for so many. Of course, it will come up in our music. I’ve always been a topical writer. We don’t want to be the frog in the boiling water who doesn’t know how hot it is. Everyone has to not let this autocracy wash over us. The resistance needs to be strong.”
Given the album’s theme, it makes sense that Ani DiFranco, an outspoken artist in her own right, guests on the very twangy “In the Street.”
“I love Ani,” sys Urmston. “She’s amazing. I got to know her a few years ago, and I have been a big fan since I was a teenager. It was a thrill. We sent here the song. She said yes and sent it back right away. It’s so fun to hear her inflections and to know that she has such a storied career and is such a badass.”
On another album highlight, “Trinket,” the group effectively uses lyrics from an Emily Dickinson poem.
“I had been reading a bunch of her stuff,” says Urmston. “It was when I was looking back at my sketches of songs and focusing on the more reggae stuff. I thought her poems were way better than anything I could come up, and there is a whimsical nature to ‘Trinket’ and how it sounds.”
The album concludes on a hopeful note with the tender ballad “Darker Light.”
“That song feels like the credits roll,” says Urmston. “It’s over, and it’s a departing message. [Singer-multi-instrumentalist] Brad [Corrigan] was working in Nicaragua for years and spent time in a trash dump where people actually live. He spent time there learning about it and helped create a school. That song took his lyrics, and I put them to music. His film just came out and he is doing the festival circuit. That song is part of it. I wasn’t pleased in the moment because we just went to the studio to see what would happen. I don’t like that to begin with, and he also thought we should film it. I wasn’t comfortable with it but am proud of him and how it turned out.”
Formed in the Boston area nearly 30 years, Dispatch began improvising before it was cool to improvise. Urmston says the band had to take that approach because of the nature of those early gigs.
“We liked the Dead as much as we liked Nirvana, but I think improvising probably came from a necessity of being thrown into a situation where you have to play for four hours,” he says. “Back in the day, our founding member Pete Francis was a great guitarist, and I loved letting him go [on songs]. There’s a beauty to that. The Dead are the best example. I love the songwriting too. Matt [Embree], who is a brilliant guitarist, benefits from a few songs that are open-needed. We get to be in the moment and get to really listen to each other.”
After all these years, playing in Dispatch still provides a sense of camaraderie for Urmston.
“I love these guys,” says Urmston. “We’re about to go on a hike through a bamboo forest, and I think we will see a Braves/Diamondbacks game since we have the night off. It comes down to the friendships, and that’s been really nice to hold onto.”
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This article appears in May 22 – Jun 4, 2025.
