Last summer Northwest String Summit headliners Yonder Mountain String Band brought out Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, who was on hand with 7 Walkers, and famed violinist Darol Anger to jam with them on Shakedown Street at the 2012 edition of the fest.
Yonder, Billy and Darol turned in a jamgrass-flavored version of the Dead classic and recently a pro-shot clip of the NWSS Shakedown Street popped up on YouTube. Take a look…
Everyone we talked to who attended Jungle Jam in Costa Rica earlier this year raved about the experience, so we’re happy to see organizers are bringing the event back in 2013 with nearly the same lineup. From January 17th – 20th, Max Creek, BK3 (Bill Kreutzmann, Scott Murawski and Oteil Burbridge), Zach Deputy and the Ryan Montbleau Band will take over Doce Lunas Resort in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica for “four magical nights.”
Unlike many destination musical events, the organizers focus on more than just the music. During the day attendees will have many options of adventures to enjoy such as flying across zip lines in the rain forest, boat cruises to see crocodiles, surfing lessons, day trips to Manuel Antonio National Park and much more. Here’s a clip from last year’s event…
Head over to the Jungle Jam website for complete travel packages.
Bill Kreutzmann Hall of Fame Series and 7 Walkers @ The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame celebrated the legacy of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia by hosting a Grateful Dead Weekend at the Rock Hall in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. On Friday night the organization held a members only Hall of Fame Series interview with drummer and Hall of Fame inductee Bill Kreutzmann just prior to a public performance from Kreutzmann with his current band, 7 Walkers, on The Rock Hall’s main stage. The events were held along with others across the country honoring Garcia during the days between the legendary guitarist 70th birthday and the 17th anniversary of his passing. In his interview with Jason Hanley Ph.D. Kreutzmann spoke fondly of Jerry, praising him for having a “big heart” and for always “looking out for the underdog.”
[All Photos by Michael Stein]
The Hall of Fame Series interview took place for nearly an hour and covered topics from the founding days of the Grateful Dead in the infamous Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco to the experiences of recording versus playing live to the difficulties of running a full-fledged independent music organization during the later years of the Grateful Dead. Kreutzmann recounted the day when Jerry called him on the phone asking him to play in a new band, then called the Warlocks, and his feeling that “This is definitely going to be a thing, and it isn’t going to be redundant!” During the early years, Kreutzmann was living in the Haight with the other band members and recalled how free they were to hold live music events by setting up stages on flatbed trucks in the middle of the street or tossing electrical cables over highways to provide power to a patch of grass where they’d decided to play.
For all 30 years of the Grateful Dead’s illustrious career drummer Bill Kreutzmann had the best seat in the house for the band’s long, strange trip. Following in the footsteps of GD band mate Phil Lesh, Billy K. will pen a memoir about his days playin’ in the band, which is set to be published by St. Martin’s Press in 2015 according to the Associated Press.
[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]
The 66-year-old drummer should have plenty of interesting stories to tell about the Dead’s lengthy career as well as performing with other legendary musicians and his time in Hawaii. As of yet untitled, the AP says the Kreutzmann tome “will include reflections on his ‘deep bond’ with the late Jerry Garcia and memories of Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers.” Bring it on!
[via @thedeadblog]
Three of the four surviving original members of the Grateful Dead will reunite this evening in San Francisco, where Bob Weir and Mickey Hart are the confirmed guests of Bill Kreutzmann’s 7 Walkers ensemble at the Great American Music Hall. Ever since Weir, Hart, Kreutzmann and Lesh toured as The Dead in 2009, collaborations between the pair that went on to tour as Furthur (Weir & Lesh) and those that continued on as The Rhythm Devils (Hart & Kreutzmann) have been few and far between.
[Photo by Jeremy Gordon]
7 Walkers have been forging a sound all their own behind the handiwork of Kreutzmann, bassist George Porter Jr., guitarist Papa Mali and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard. While Porter Jr. won’t be on hand in San Francisco for 7 Walkers’ tour-closing pair of shows at GAMH, Tea Leaf Green bassist Reed Mathis has performed with the group numerous times in the past and is set to play bass tonight and tomorrow. Tickets for both shows are on sale now and run $25.
Upstate NY’s Press-Republican newspaper ran a feature about Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann’s 7 Walkers project today and what’s most interesting in the article is Billy’s take on Furthur – a band featuring two of his GD band mates, Bob Weir and Phil Lesh. Here’s what he said…
“I haven’t really got much interest in them. They sound just like the other bands out there doing it. What do you call those bands that copy other bands—” Kreutzmann said. “Anyways, I don’t feel they’re doing anything really new with their music.
“We play Grateful Dead tunes in 7 Walkers but with our own take on everything. We don’t play them slow, we play it loud and up tempo. The saddest thing is that they (Furthur) hired a guitar player that’s not Warren Haynes. It’s too bad. They should have hired a great solo guitar player.” [Press-Republican]
Both the Furthur camp and the Rhythm Devil camp have shied away from talking smack about each other’s bands, but clearly Kreutzmann has taken a detour from the high road. Former Dark Star Orchestra and current Furthur guitarist John Kadlecik took the brunt of Billy’s criticism and you can sense the animosity in each of the drummer’s words.
We’re now over a year into Furthur’s run and there’s all sorts of rumors floating around that a number of 2011 dates will be announced soon. Do you agree with Kreutzmann’s assessment of Furthur’s music? Do you think there’s any chance the surviving members of the Dead will put the animosity behind them anytime soon? Leave a comment below and let us know.
Back in 2006 Phish bassist Mike Gordon toured with Grateful Dead drummers Billy Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart as part of the Rhythm Devils ensemble. While Andy Hess handles bass duties on the band’s current outing, Gordon did sit in with the band this past Saturday night at Higher Ground.
Cactus and Mike Gordon Band member Craig Myers joined the group towards the end of their second set at the South Burlington, VT venue for The Center, Fire > Scarlet (yes, you read that right), Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad, And We Bid You Goodnight and See You Again. An audience recording of the show is available on bt.etree.org.
For a guy who was not all that long ago described as “semi-retired,” Bill Kreutzmann seems to be everywhere these days. No sooner did his BK3 trio peter out than a new band with Papa Mali, 7 Walkers – a fierce little unit spawned from a place where psychedelic Dead meets the spiciest, unruliest New Orleans funk and R&B – came to the fore.
[Photos by Andy Hill]
And wouldn’t you know it, neither unit will be Kreutzmann’s main focus this summer. That’d be the Rhythm Devils – Kreutzmann and brother in arms Mickey Hart – back on the road with a retooled lineup that features percussionist and longtime associate Sikiru Adepoju, as well as Keller Williams, singular as ever, bass ace and former Gov’t Mule anchor Andy Hess, and, most intriguingly, Back Door Slam frontman and shredder Davy Knowles.
Hidden Track briefly caught up with Kreutzmann as the Rhythm Devils tour prepares to get underway.
HIDDEN TRACK: You’ve got so much going on at the moment and plenty of projects, from Rhythm Devils to 7 Walkers. What’s top priority these days?
BILL KREUTZMANN: Right now it’s Rhythm Devils, 100 percent. I’m just focusing on that. I like to focus on one band at a time.
HT: Fair enough. You have a new and interesting lineup for Rhythm Devils, for which I guess Davy Knowles is the wild card. Can you talk a little bit about how you and Mickey put this lineup together?
BK: Well, it’s true, when playing with different musicians, the more people you play with it, the fresher it makes it. The driving force in the Rhythm Devils — from the Devils, meaning me and Mickey, — is to have new players. The one we work with all the time is Sikiru, he’s a master drummer from Nigeria, but the new energy with different people is exciting. I’m looking forward to rehearsal.
READ ON for more of our interview with Bill Kreutzmann…
There was enough Grateful Dead material to make this Last Week’s Sauce entirely focused on GD-related-bands. But we’ve been using a lot of Furthur in this feature lately, so I chose just two of the Dead bands for inclusion.
From the Phish world we’ve got a few more tracks from Trey Anastasio & Classic TAB as their 16-date-tour came to a close. There will soon be Mike Gordon tracks showing up in the coming weeks in this column, I’m sure. And representing the present, Thom Yorke debuted a few new songs overseas, we’ll take a look and a listen to those. And Umphrey’s McGee tackled another contemporary cover when they stopped by New York City during blizzard conditions last week. As always, enjoy…
Artist & Title: Bill Kreutzmann Trio aka BK3 – Estimated Prophet
Date & Venue: 2010-02-26 Moe’s Alley, Santa Cruz CA
Taper & Show Download: shark420
I love this band, saw one of their first performances in Northampton a couple of years ago and really dug what they were laying down. It’s just a winning combination of musicians and you should catch this band the next time you can. While there are no BK3 tour dates on the books, Billy plays with Steve Kimock, Bobby Vega, Michael Kang & Chris Berry in Hawaii at Tropical Jam 5 next week.
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Help On The Way from the same show:
READ ON for tracks from JGB, UM, TAB and Thom Yorke…
The Crystal Ballroom in downtown Portland is a wonderful place to spend an evening getting lost in good music. All the history the building holds aside (Little Richard firing Jimi Hendrix on stage in the ’60s for example) this is simply a great hall in which to see a show. There’s the balcony way upstairs. With comfortable seating and its own bar, high above the often moshing crowd, it allows for a more civilized concert experience.
Downstairs has the infamous “Floating Dance Floor”. Through some antique architectural procedure that is nothing short of amazing, dare I say challenging at times, the entire floor rocks under the gyrating weight of the hundreds of concert goers. But, for me, the place to be on the floating floor is the front row. Just high enough so that you don’t have to crane your neck to see the band and just low enough that the main speakers for you are the stage monitors. If you play your cards right, there’ll be a spot to stash your coat, bottle of water or whatever. Another added benefit to the front row, you meet the nicest people there.
Tonight’s front row soiree was a two barreled jam band attack of rock, soul, jazz and blues from the Bill Kreutzmann Trio and the Greyboy Allstars. Yes, tonight’s show was part of the two week long Portland Jazz Festival, and no, Joe Lovano didn’t come out and jam with either of the bands.
READ ON for AJ’s thoughts on GBA and the Kreutzmann band in Portland…
In this digital age of live shows you can buy after the show and spoiler-free downloads posted minutes after the show lets out, I decided my first try at a Friday Mix Tape will feature tracks from shows that happened in the past seven days. All these tracks come from either bt.etree.org or the Live Music Archive, and none of these tracks are more than a week old.
Leading off we have the Bill Kreutzmann Trio with an extended take on The Dead’s China Cat Sunflower. Next, we turn to Chicago’s Cornmeal, who welcomed both horns and a percussionist to the stage for a Fat Tuesday show with Aiko Aiko. Moving on, the Derek Trucks Band contribute a 17+ minute cover-of-a-cover as they deftly explore John Coltrane’s take on Rodgers/Hammerstein’s My Favorite Things.
READ ON to stream and/or download this week’s Friday Mix Tape…
To say that the city of New Orleans has been through a lot in the last few years, would be an understatement. While the Crescent City recovers from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the one constant has been its rich music tradition and its flagship event the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
The fest once again returns to the city’s Fair Grounds Race Course on the last weekend in April and the first weekend of May to celebrate its 40th anniversary with a diverse and eclectic line up that brings together national touring acts with a plethora of local musicians. Among those set to grace the many stages and tents include Wilco, Kings Of Leon, Galactic, Erykah Badu, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris and just about every Neville you can think of.
If you can’t make it down to the Big Easy for the festivities, then maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, recent tour mates The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers, as well as former Trucker Jason Isbell all head out on their own in 2009. Craig Finn & Co. will take their raucous bar band rock on the road in early Spring with the War On Drugs, while the Truckers open up their tour with a three-night run in their hometown of Athens, before heading North to South in the first two months of the year. Meanwhile, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit have lined up a lengthy three month trek in support of their sophomore release.
