The latest installment of Widespread Panic’s Porch Songs series of 2-track sourced archival releases features every note of music from the group’s first headlining appearance at Red Rocks in Morrison, CO on May 31, 1996. Since that initial appearance, Widespread Panic has played the legendary venue 38 more times making Red Rocks third on the list of venues who have hosted the band the most times after Athens’ Uptown Lounge and Georgia Theatre.
Porch Songs Volume 6 comes from an interesting era in the band’s evolution. Widespread Panic had gained a solid foothold in Colorado and after an extremely successful Sit N Ski tour earlier in the year was ready to headline Red Rocks. This show took place just weeks before the band went to John Keane’s studio to record Bombs and Butterflies and features plenty of material from that LP including Glory, Rebirtha, Tall Boy and Aunt Avis. Highlights include an exceptional Holden Oversoul, sweet jams after Walkin’ and Diner as well as a Chilly Water sandwich with a Aunt Avis filling.
This installment continues a trend of focusing on 1996 and 1997 for archival releases with two multi-track releases coming from that period and five of eight shows released as Porch Songs coming from that era. Porch Songs Volume 6 is available now through LiveWidespreadPanic.com for $7.99 (MP3s) and $9.99 (FLACs). You can also purchase a physical copy on CD for $23. Check out archivist Horace Moore’s blog entry for more on this release.
