Bob Weir has formed a new band which features two members of his long-running RatDog troupe. Dubbed “The RatDog Quartet,” the group will feature Weir performing with RatDog mainstays Jay Lane on drums and Robin Sylvester on bass. In addition, guitarist Jonathan Wilson will round out the band.
The RatDog Quartet will make their debut with a pair of shows at Weir’s Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, Calif. on March 3rd and 4th. Ticketing information is available at GDTSTOO.com.
Grateful Dead / Furthur guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir’s blossoming bromance with Jonathan Wilson continues to grow as the pair will team up for a brief three-show run out west later this winter.
The duo’s jaunt begins on Feb. 26th at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It continues on Feb. 27th at the Fox Theatre in Tucson, Arizona and concludes on March 1st at The Pearl at The Palms casino in Las Vegas. Ticketing information will be revealed soon on Weir’s website.
Bob Weir and Jonathan Wilson Tour Dates:
February 26th – Lensic PAC – Santa Fe, NM
February 27th – Fox Theatre – Tucson, AZ
March 1st – The Pearl at The Palms – Las Vegas, NV
Last night HT fave Jonathan Wilson brought together an impressive array of his talented friends to L.A.’s Troubadour to participate in what we hope will be the first of many Merry Minstrel Musical Circuses. In addition to Wilson, the benefit show saw musical contributions from Bob Weir, Jackson Browne, Mike Campbell, Jeff Lynne, Benmont Tench and Jonathan’s backing band.
Rolling Stone has a full review of what looks like a fantastic show, but we wanted to share the potent version of Dark Star that took place at the Troubadour. Watch as Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Wilson and Weir team up for a well-jammed take on the Grateful Dead classic…
Rising star Jonathan Wilson and his band opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Europe this summer leading to Wilson forming a friendship with Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell. The pair discussed creating a holiday jam benefit concert and made it happen by booking L.A.’s Troubadour on December 20th for the first annual The Merry Minstrel Musical Circus: A Holiday Gathering & Goodwill Jamathon.
Campbell and Wilson called upon their friends to help out and have lined up an impressive roster to play the inaugural Jamathon. Grateful Dead / Furthur guitarist Bob Weir, legendary singer-songwriter Jackson Browne and Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench will all participate in the event. Tickets are currently available through Ticketfly. All proceeds from the benefit concert will go to Little Kids Rock and the Tazzy Animal Rescue Fund. We sure hope recordings and videos surface.
Bob Weir showed off a bevy of his bromances last night at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, where he was joined by friends Jonathan Wilson, Rob Wasserman and Jackie Greene for a guest-filled second set of his “solo acoustic” show. Greene was aboard as the opening act, but the other two were more than welcomed unannounced guests.
Greene kicked off the show with a solo set of his own that saw Wasserman and Wilson emerge for Nobody’s Fault But Mine and You Can’t Lose What You Never Had. Weir’s first set mostly featured Dead tunes and songs from his solo repertoire. Wilson came out towards the end of the opening stanza for Days Between followed by a Wasserman sit-in on RatDog staple Two Djinn.
12/8/2012 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Set I (Jackie Greene): Rob Wasserman and Jonathan Wilson sat in on “Nobody’s Fault but Mine” and “You Can’t Lose What You Never Had”
Set II (Bob Weir): Hell in a Bucket, Playin in the Band > She Belongs to Me, Shade of Grey > Big Bad Blues > Black-Throated Wind, Loose Lucy, Cassidy, Days Between*, Two Djinn+
Set III (Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, Jackie Greene, & Jonathan Wilson): West L.A. Fadeaway, Bird Song > Standing on Shaky Ground > Franklin’s Tower
Encore (Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman, Jackie Greene, & Jonathan Wilson): Ripple
*-w/ Jonathan Wilson; +-w/ Rob Wasserman
Weir’s second set consisted of Bobby, Jonathan, Jackie and Rob teaming up for West L.A. Fadeaway, Bird Song, Standing On Shaky Ground (Bowen, Hazel, Boyd) and Franklin’s Tower. For the encore, all three guests stuck around to help out Bobby on Ripple. Weir and Greene’s acoustic tour continues tonight in Bakersfield.
Check out a batch of fresh videos from the show hot out of the YouTube oven…
Last year Jonathan Wilson quietly released his fantastic debut album Gentle Spirit
Earlier this week the singer-songwriter released the three-song EP Pity Trials and Tomorrow’s Child
Put another dime in the jukebox… baby.
The Sheepdogs play the kind of scruffy, four-legged, round-up-the-flock classic rock and roll that’s totally worthy of their namesake breed. This is old school, bluesy, song-driven Southern rock and roll that was made to fuel long road trips and late night beer drinking, like the Allmans back when there were still more than one of ‘em in the band (by way of Saskatoon!), this is the real deal.
Spotify: The Sheepdogs – The Sheepdogs
MOG: https://mog.com/m#album/72573417
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B008ZTW7OU
Rhapsody: http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/the-sheepdogs/album/the-sheepdogs-deluxe
Two of the many musicians who impressed Deadheads during August’s Move Me Brightly webcast were psych-folk artist Jonathan Wilson and rocker Lukas Nelson. The pair learned that once you enter the Dead’s world you stay in the Dead World as they both performed with Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s Furthur outfit on Friday night at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles.
Furthur’s fall tour pulled in LaLa Land for the first of two shows at the Greek on Friday night. Towards the end of the group’s first set, Furthur brought out Jonathan Wilson to lead them through Mission In The Rain – a song that’s part of the singer/songwriter’s live repertoire and one which he performed at Move Me Brightly. Then, for the next tune, Wilson swapped places with Lukas Nelson who sang and played guitar on the Furthur debut of I Shall Be Released by Bob Dylan. Lukas and his Promise of the Real outfit have covered I Shall Be Released, so Nelson was very familiar with the song and it showed. Althea, featuring Nelson on vocals, closed out the first set.
Nelson and Wilson both returned for the second set-closing Gloria and stuck around for the encore which was a cover of Revolution by The Beatles. Furthur heads to Santa Barbara tonight for a show at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Here’s videos of Jonathan Wilson and Lukas Nelson with Furthur…
Of the slew of quotable lines in the 1996 movie Swingers, there is one in the beginning of the casino scene where Vince Vaughn’s character Trent tells a cocktail waitress, “I want you to remember this face, here. Okay? This is the guy behind the guy behind the guy.” That line might be the best way to introduce you to Jonathan Wilson, who over the last few years has been “that guy,” working with an impressive laundry list of musicians as both a side man and a producer, while helping to revitalize the Laurel Canyon music scene.
Wilson, who originally hails from Forest Hills, North Carolina, has logged time in the studio with the likes of Chris Robinson, Vetiver, Erykah Badu, Jenny Lewis and Elvis Costello, as well as producing J. Tillman’s (Fleet Foxes) upcoming record and both of Dawes’ studio albums at his Echo Park recording studio – Five Star Studio.
Wilson’s former home in Laurel Canyon had also been the site of much buzzed about private Wednesday night jam sessions that he began with Robinson back in 2006 and have featured another impressive list that reads like a who’s who of both classic rock and contemporary indie acts. While doing all these extracurricular activities, Wilson was also writing songs of his own and last year quietly released his proper debut album Gentle Spirit
Let’s check out the music video for Desert Raven…
