Editor’s Pick: David Dinsmore, Lost Dog Ensemble

David Dinsmore fronts the Tom Waits tribute act Lost Dog Ensemble, which is playing a show with DEVO tribute act Jocko Homo on Jan. 2 in Denver. Here he talks about getting a tribute act together, his love of Waits and his idea of the perfect super band.

Yellow Scene: How did Lost Dog Ensemble come to exist?

David Dinsmore: Colin Bricker asked what I might like to do for his festival (My Favorite Bands) that is all tribute bands. I immediately said Tom Waits and he responded with, “ok then I’ll have to play guitar.” The group is a lot of my UNC alums. We love to play together, it’s sort of my dream line up. Many of them I’ve known for 25 plus years. Al Scholl and Dave Willey came aboard because they just love Tom Waits. Al does a very convincing Mark Ribot and Dave seems to already know all the tunes by heart on accordion, piano, guitar, banjo…

YS: What is it about Tom Waits? Why not Tom Jones or Bob Dylan?

DD: The musicians all love the Tom Waits material. It’s very cinematic, and they get to play a variety of instruments. Vocally, everything is very challenging and the lyrics continue to delight and inspire. For the listener, the lyrics speak to possibility, hopping trains, hanging with barmaids and hobos. It’s all very Kerouac in a way.

YS: You get to produce a Super Band of the dead? Who’s the lineup?

DD: I always wanted Miles and Jimi Hendrix to get to play together like they had planned. I guess their rhythm section from beyond could be Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams.