Earlier this month we broke the news that the second volume of the Garcia Estate’s GarciaLive series of live archival releases would be culled from the Jerry Garcia Band’s August 5th, 1990 show at the Berkeley Greek, which features a guest spot from banjoist Bela Fleck.
The release has been officially announced and GarciaLive 2.0 is now available for pre-order through the Jerry Garcia official store. For a taste of what you can expect, here’s the Run For The Roses…
After many years away from the limelight, Shuggie Otis has gained lots of notoriety in 2013 as he’s returned to touring and has seen his classic 1974 album Inspiration Information re-issued along with a disc of tracks he’s recorded since that time called Wings Of Love. One of Shuggie’s first big gigs was as bassist for the recording of Frank Zappa’s legendary Peaches En Regalia track from 1969′s Hot Rats LP.
Shuggie and Frank spent lots of time together in L.A. and enjoyed collaborating on jams. Otis’ father Johnny was another music legend and in addition to being a singer, musician, composer, arranger, bandleader and talent scout, Johnny Otis was also a DJ with his own show on Pasadena’s KPPC.
On a November 2nd, 1970 episode of The Johnny Otis Show, Shuggie and Frank Zappa busted out their acoustic guitars for what turned into a transcendent nine-minute jam that showed off the immense talents of each musician. Take a listen…
Back on April 21, The Black Crowes presented a guest-laden acoustic performance at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium that turned out to be one for the ages. Included among the many debuts on that fateful evening was the Crowes’ first-ever take on bob Dylan’s Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues.
While Crowes front man Chris Robinson had performed the tune with both Chris Robinson Brotherhood and Phil and Friends numerous times in the past, it was a treat to hear The Black Crowes tackle the Highway 61 Revisited classic. We’ve been waiting since the night the show took place for a recording to surface and that day has finally come. Taper Adam R. Parr has shared his recording, though he notes his mics melted down and he had to use the built-in mic on his recorder. So while this recording isn’t of the best quality, it’s still worth it to hear The Crowes and their guests – such as Old Crow Medicine Show and Sam Bush – run through these songs.
Let’s take a listen to The Black Crowes’ cover of Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues…
HT faves the Ryan Montbleau Band and ALO are currently on the road together for an eight-show tour that visited the Highline Ballroom in New York City last night. We had a feeling these groups would collaborate on stage and we haven’t been disappointed. At the first few shows the entire Ryan Montbleau Band has guested with ALO to cover Paul Simon’s Graceland.
On this version from last Friday night in Minneapolis, taped by Cliff Morse, Montbleau and ALO’s Zach Gill duet on the vocals, while Lebo adds tasteful pedal steel flourishes. Both bands aren’t afraid of improvisation, so a call-and-response segment turns into a furious jam. Take a listen…
Most bands put out vinyl for today’s Record Store Day, but HT faves MGMT aren’t most bands. They psych-rockers decided to put out a cassette single featuring the first single, Alien Days, from their forthcoming third studio album. While little is known about MGMT’s third album, the band did expect that it will come out in June when discussing the LP with Rolling Stone.
Alien Days has an electronic extraterrestrial feel with lyrics that MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden says is “about that feeling when a parasitic alien is in your head, controlling things.” That’s totally the first thought we had when listening to the tune, which the band shared on SoundCloud. Take a listen…
Earlier this month we shared the news that Mavis Staples will be releasing a new album called One True Vine, produced by Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy, that’s due on June 25. When the track list was revealed, we were excited to see a cover of Funkadelic’s Can You Get To That on there.
Can You Get To That is the second track on Funkadelic’s landmark 1971 album Maggot Brain. This wasn’t your typical Funkadelic joint as it was acoustic-based has a gospel feel. Staples’s iconic voice is almost hidden in her version of the tune, but comes out at the most opportune times. Check it out…
On June 11th legendary metal pioneers Black Sabbath will release their first studio album with Ozzy Osbourne’s Never Say Die! and today we’ve gotten our first taste of the Rick Rubin-produced LP. The band’s first single is called “God Is Dead?” and clocks in at just under nine minutes.
We’re 43 years removed from the release of War Pigs, but this new track has the same evil spirit as early Black Sabbath joints and has made us very excited to hear more. On God Is Dead? Ozzy, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are joined by Rage Against The Machine drummer Brad Wilk. Check it out…
Phish front man Trey Anastasio and his Trey Anastasio Band ensemble opened a brief four-show swing last night at the Moore Theatre in Seattle. Over the course of two lengthy sets, TAB delivered a mix of songs from each stage of Anastasio’s solo career as well as an acoustic romp through Wilson.
Before starting Wilson, Anastasio told the crowd it was a thrill to be in Seattle and mentioned that it’s a dream of his for fans to chant “Wilson” when Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson steps on the field. Trey said “use social media and tell your friends,” imploring fans to make it happen.
Friday marks the one year anniversary of Levon Helm’s passing. In recognition of all the love that has been shown towards her father, Amy Helm has posted a page of Gratitude on her website that includes photos and videos from the many Levon Helm tributes held over the past year.
Amy has also shared her version of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, a song originally recorded by The Band that her father famously stopped singing after The Last Waltz concert in 1976. You can stream Dixie Down, featuring Amy, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Byron Isaacs, Elizabeth Mitchell, Daniel Littleton, Fiona McBain, Glen Patscha, Dirk Powell and many others for free or download it on a Pay-What-You-Want basis with proceeds going towards “Keep It Goin’” and music programs in local Woodstock, New York schools.
Furthur / Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh kicked off a set of Spring Rambles at his Terrapin Crossroads venue in San Rafael, Calif. last night with a band consisting of Anders Osborne, Grahame Lesh and Luther Dickinson on guitar, Tony Leone on drums and multi-instrumentalist Jason Crosby (See our interview with JCros). The ensemble worked through material from the Grateful Dead canon as well as tunes from Anders and the North Mississippi Allstars over the course of two sets.
[Photo via Pok Pok Wings on PhilZone.org]
Here’s the setlist from last night’s show via PhilZone.org…
Set One: Alabama Getaway (TL), Dire Wolf (GL), Cold Rain & Snow (PL), Ramble On Rose (TL) Hear the Hills (LD) > Tomorrow Never Knows Jam > Burning on the Inside (AO) > extended jam > Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad
Set Two: Truckin-> Conan-> Cumberland Blues, Sugaree > Shake > Joliet Bound > The Other One > I Know You Rider, Donor Rap
Encore: Knockin On Heaven’s Door
We’ve come across audio of Sugaree > Shake > Joliet Bound > Other One > I Know You Rider…
A few weeks back Brock Butler played a solo acoustic show at Pawley’s Island Tavern in South Carolina, where he offered his usual mix of covers from the ’60s through today, sung and performed as only he can. Among the groups Butler covered at the March 28th performance were Ryan Adams, Pete Townshend, Adele, Massive Attack, Paul Simon, Sublime, Pearl Jam and Mumford and Sons.
Taper Chris Davis recorded Brock’s show and has posted a fantastic soundboard matrix to the Live Music Archive. Today we want to shine a light on Butler’s cover of Back In The High Life by Steve Winwood which he performed at Pawley’s Island. Back In The High Life was the title track to Winwood’s blockbuster 1986 album that featured backing vocals from James Taylor. Brock does Winwood proud with his solo acoustic version…
Back on Monday we told you about the Jerry Garcia estate selling a version of the Grateful Dead front man’s iconic black t-shirt that comes with a download card which will get you a crystal-clear recording of the Jerry Garcia Band’s first-ever show at San Francisco’s Warfield Theatre. Today, we bring you a taste of what the estate has dubbed “GarciaLive 1.5″ from June 26th, 1981.
Here’s audio of a fantastic version of Dear Prudence featuring Phil Lesh on bass…
HT faves RAQ’s three-night reunion run through the Northeast came to a close last night at The Blockley in Philadelphia after previous performances in Boston on Thursday night and in New York City on Saturday evening. The group showed off the impressive breadth of their catalog, repeating only two songs over the course of a run that was essentially a giant three-night Welcome To The Donkey Show sandwich as it began and ended with the fan-favorite RAQ original.
[Photo by Andrew Blackstein]
While we’re still working on a review of RAQ’s fantastic performance in NYC that will go up soon (complete with more of Andrew Blackstein’s photos), we wanted to share not only all of the setlists from the past three nights but also professionally-shot footage of last night’s show with soundboard audio. The Blockley streamed the entire 2:14 show via their Ustream feed…
Last weekend Kyle Hollingsworth and the Kyle Hollingsworth Band featuring Keith Moseley played a series of three shows in Colorado. When the String Cheese Incident keyboardist and bassist and the rest of the KHB were in the middle of the Then There’s Now outtake Let’s Go Outside during one of these shows, they segued the improv into a two-minute segment of Justin Timberlake’s Suit & Tie.
Justin Timberlake released Suit & Tie as the b-side of his Mirrors single and on his recently released third studio album – The 20/20 Experience. Hollingsworth just posted audio of the Suit & Tie jam on his SoundCloud page, noting “Ok Ok- this is more of a tease of the JT tune. We jammed it out of Lets Go Outside. I almost got all the notes…. Man that guy can sing.” Let’s take a listen…
HT faves RAQ returned to the stage last night to kickoff their first run of headlining shows in years. The mini-tour started at The Paradise in Boston, Mass.; where the quartet treated fans to a mix of classic RAQ originals and covers by the likes of Ween and the Allman Brothers Band.
Here’s the setlist from RAQ @ The Paradise…
Set: Welcome To The Donkey Show > Hannah Can, Will Run, Stuck In A Big Hole > Tumbling Down, Bootch Magoo > Late Night > Push Th’ Little Daisies > Late Night, Shirley Be A Drooler
Encore: Forget Me Not > Whipping Post, Bootch Magoo
You can check out streaming audio or download the entire performance from a SBD Matrix source at the Live Music Archive thanks to taper Ted Gakidis. We’ve uploaded the band’s covers of Whipping Post and Push Th’ Little Daisies to SoundCloud for your listening pleasure…
