The Sadies: (left to right) Mike Belitsky, Sean Dean, Travis Good, Dallas Good. (PHOTO: Amanda Schenk)

Some eight years on, you can still hear the rallying cry of the insatiable music fan at a variety of local shows.

“Ten more songs!” a demanding patron will bellow upon the return to the stage of a favourite band. Sometimes, what with inflation and all, that number can climb as high as 20.

Sean Dean, the man who holds the bass upright for The Sadies, recalls the first time he heard it, at the close of an unforgettable set at a sweaty basement club on Rideau St.

The Sadies, always the accommodating sort, dutifully returned and performed a 10-song encore before calling it a very late night.

They’ve returned several times since, never shortchanging the crowd and on more than one occasion informing a salivating gathering that, to quote Sadies guitarist/vocalist Dallas Good, “You’ve been a great audience, ladies and gentlemen, so the least we can do is perform 10 more songs.”

“It’s really taken on its own life,” Dean says of the routine.

“Now, we hear it all over the world: Somebody will yell, ‘Ten more songs,’ and it’s like, ‘Is that guy from Ottawa here?’ ”

He may be. But the band that first took flight nearly a decade ago with the sons of a country-rockin’ Good Brother at the helm have always had difficulty leaving the stage.

Shows in our area have at times clocked in at over three hours. And given the band’s instinct for bringing out the best in neo-psychedelic spaghetti-western country-punk, they could likely run longer.

“I can’t recall a time when we’ve wanted to cut it short,” is Dean’s take on the band’s legendary fondness for honky-tonkin’ ‘til they drop.

“You have to sit in a van for eight hours or more — or sometimes sleep there. By the time you get on that stage, no matter how bad or hung over or lonely you might be feeling, you just want to play.

“And once you start, you don’t want to stop. It’s a ripple effect. Or, not to sound too corny, it’s like therapy. Playing is the one thing that makes everything else make sense. And it’s all we want to do.”

That let’s-play-two attitude has earned The Sadies a number of admirers among fellow musicians; the band has been called on over the years to back or collaborate with a decidedly eclectic cast of characters — from Neko Case and Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor, through swamp-rocker Jon Spencer, former Mekon Jon Langford, Elevator operator Rick White, Jayhawks founder Gary Louris and R&B wild man Andre Williams.

All, plus such mentors as The Band’s Garth Hudson and brothers Dallas and Travis’ extended Good Brothers family, turned up last February 3 and 4 to return favours as The Sadies recorded a live album at Lee’s Palace in their hometown of Toronto. (All, that is, save for Williams who according to Dean had scored Super Bowl tickets.)

The resulting release, The Sadies in Concert is, naturally, a double-album, boasting 40 songs and cheekily billed on the cover as ‘Volume One.’

It’s safe to say enough material was recorded over those two evenings to fill at least two more volumes.

“Logistically, it was hard to arrange,” Dean says of the ambitious two-night stint, “but our friends are pretty wonderful. We’ve really become a family.”

Tonight, one of Ottawa’s favourite musical families will headline the opening night of this year’s Ottawa Folk Festival at the Capital Music Hall. They’ll be back Saturday at Britannia Park. But chances are, Saturday evening, the call will ring out for just a few more songs.