The green ’50s cocktail dress is singer Christa DeCicco’s favorite. She wears vintage pieces on stage when leading Christabel & The Jons, a Knoxville band fusing period genres. DeCicco’s silky, laidback vocals stir the group’s drink.
“I’m trying to find my own style that’s original, but familiar at the same time,” says DeCiccio, who is 29. “I take a lot of inspiration from singers like Peggy Lee and Julie London. A modern singer I really like is Madeleine Peyroux.”
Christabel & The Jons are touring behind their 2008 LP, “Custom Made For You.” The set contains come-hither jazz (“Losing Sleep”), finger-snap folk (“Back to Tennessee”) and gypsy swish (the title track).
“I never ever have sat down and said, ‘I’m going to make this song sound vintage or modern,’ ” DeCiccio says. “I just try to write good-sounding melodies and good chord progressions.”
What is the most modern artist you’ve been listening to recently? Modern…Neko Case, maybe. I love Fiest. I love her voice. The arrangements are both simple and complicated at the same time.
What are some of your favorite stores to find the vintage clothes you wear onstage? I almost don’t want to tell you because I’m afraid other people will start going there. (Laughs.) But I will because it’s a thrift store. It’s in Knoxville, a place called AMVETS. It’s a thrift store the size of a Wal-Mart, and I get all of my clothes there. Another one of my favorite stores is in Charlotte. It’s called The Rat’s Nest.
What’s the Knoxville music scene like? There’s a ton of Americana folk music, jazz, a really good indie rock scene. There’s really the full gamut going on. One thing I really like about that town: unlike other music towns, Knoxville is very non-competitive. There are all these bands, all these musicians and the people are really supportive of each other. There’s a lot of cross-pollination that goes on.
You’re music definitely has a retro feel to it. What’s a way you put your own stamp on that? That’s a good question. I try to make my own by writing original songs, and keep it modern with my lyrics. I’m usually pretty autobiographical. And I think the way we arrange songs can be kind of modern. We have a multi-instrumentalist (Seth Hopper) who plays like four different instruments, different stuff for different songs.
Vince Ilagan plays upright bass in the band. What do you like about wrapping you voice around that instrument? Upright bass has a richness and depth to it other instruments just don’t have. We’ve played before with electric bass and it’s just not the same at all. It’s like switching from real coffee to decaf. It kind of tastes the same but doesn’t have the kick.
Christabel & The Jons play The Showroom in Spartanburg at 9 p.m. Aug. 29. Tickets are $8-$10.
For more information, check out www.myspace.com/christabelmusic.
