Kevin Bronson on January 7th, 2019

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It took Anthony Frattolillo more than five years to make a second Herbert Bail Orchestra album — long enough for several musical styles to fall in and out of the musical zeitgeist. Included was the gypsy-folk movement, to which the Orchestra’s 2012 debut, “The Future’s in the Past,” was often compared.

“DeVotchKa and Gogol Bordello were really popular at the time, and because we had an accordion and a trumpet, we got swept up in that whole gypsy-folk thing,” says Frattolillo, who named the band after his grandfather. “All the cool kids in Echo Park and the venue bookers were like, ‘Oh shit, it’s a gypsy-folk band from L.A. — all they need is a bottle of whiskey and a good time will happen!’ And that’s what was written about us. But I always tried to get away from that because it felt limiting. It wasn’t a true reflection of our ethos.”

That bottle of whiskey could still come in handy to accompany “History’s Made at Night,” which the Herbert Bail Orchestra released last fall. Sure, there are still accordion and trumpet, but Frattolillo’s nostalgia-soaked ruminations are more rooted in heartfelt folk-rock like the early work of Delta Spirit, Mumford and Sons and Nathaniel Rateliff. Produced by Chris Rondinella (Levon Helm, Sara Watkins) and Seth Olansky (Best Coast), the album culls anecdotal material from his own and the band’s history. Included is the poignant “Mountain Bar,” named for the Chinatown Bar (now General Lee’s) where back in the day the Orchestra had a memorable, packed gig. “Eventually, they had to stop us from playing because they had to close down for the night, but no one wanted to go home,” Frattolillo recalls. “So the party and the music spilled out into the street, into the Chinatown square. It probably would have gone until sunrise if the police hadn’t finally broken it up.”

The party restarts this month, when the Herbert Bail Orchestra does a Monday night residency at the Satellite.

||| Stream: “History’s Made at Night” in its entirety

||| Live: The Herbert Bail Orchestra plays a free show every Monday this month at the Satellite, starting tonight, when the Eagle Rock Gospel Singers and Lawrence and Clare support.