Fresh off their appearance at Jungle Jam in warm and sunny Costa Rica, Max Creek returned to Higher Ground in South Burlington, Vermont for the first time in nearly seven years last night. The group welcomed two of guitarist Scott Murawski’s band mates from Mike Gordon’s solo band to sit in at various points including the Phish bassist himself and keyboardist Tom Cleary during the frigid night in Vermont.

[Photos by Sam Berenson]

Gordon, who sat in with Max Creek at their last Higher Ground show which was a “trial gig” for Murawski’s new-at-the-time Languedoc guitar, emerged to lend a hand on the original Wild Side and a cover of Stay With Me by The Faces complete with Sugar Shack teases. Cactus has long been a fan of Max Creek. Phish covered the band’s Back Porch Boogie in their early days and teamed up with Max Creek for a concert at UVM’s Patrick Gym in 1989. According to Phish.net, Gordon has sat in with Max Creek over a dozen times. Cleary opened the second set with Connecticut-based rock band on Cruel World and stuck around for You’re The Only One.

UPDATE: Reader Sam Berenson was on hand at Higher Ground last night and has shared a batch of photos he snapped off when Mike was on stage…

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Today we bring you the rest of Parker’s chat with guitarist Scott Murawski (Pt. 1) In Part Two, Scott tells Parker about what attendees can expect at Jungle Jam 2013, what Max Creek has in store for 2013 and shares a bit of news about the recording process for the new Mike Gordon album.

PH: I was watching a video of the Trio and I have to admit, it was pretty hypnotic. Probably a combination of the incredible camera work with the cameras on the neck of your guitar and all over the stage as well as the lush surroundings and the extraordinary music that you were playing. It seemed like you guys were totally dialed into each other – it was mesmerizing.

[Estimated Prophet- Bk3 - Jungle Jam 2012]

SM: Yeah, it is very cool. I haven’t seen that footage, they had cameras everywhere. The film crew had a camera stuck on the end of my guitar, cameras hooked up to Bill’s drums, everywhere. I want to check that out for sure.

• Previously on HT: HT Interview – Scott Murawski, Part 1

PH:  It’s such great footage and such a great environment down there at Jungle Jam. I can’t make it to Costa Rica, but I sure would love to see some other BK3 dates in the coming year.

SM: Yeah, I’m really hoping that that can happen, absolutely – as a matter of fact, I’m going to push to make that happen.

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Scott Murawski, guitarist for Max Creek, member of the Mike Gordon’s band and part of the Bill Kreutzmann Trio (BK3), among other projects, reflects back on a jam packed 2012 and looks ahead to an exciting year in 2013.  Hidden Track contributor Parker Harrington talked with Scott recently about his reflections on the past year, his guitar, playing with some of his heroes and what he is looking forward to in the coming year. Murawski tells us about heading off for another Jungle Jam, recording a Mike Gordon album, tour dates with Max Creek, BK3 and more in Part One of our convo…

[Scott Murawski performing with Mike Gordon by Parker Harrington]

Parker Harrington: 2012 was quite a year for you. It started with Jungle Jam followed by travelling across the Atlantic with Mike Gordon for Jam in the Dam and London, then a full slate of Max Creek shows including some special ones like Gathering of the Vibes, the Haunted Halloween Bash, Strange-Creek and your Creekend Anniversary shows, among others. As you look back at the year, what were some of your highlights and what stands out in your mind from 2012?

Scott Murawski: Ah, well, Amsterdam was very, very cool. I’d never been to Europe before, so that was a great way to start seeing it. Such a fantastic city- we got to hang around for five days which was very relaxing. In London we had less time, so I didn’t get to see as much but still I managed to get over to Big Ben and other places and check  a lot of it out.

And Jungle Jam was awesome. Costa Rica is just an incredible country. I went down there the first time to play with Mike Gordon and Bill Kreutzmann for a benefit that we did down there for the school system and that was my first exposure to Costa Rica and my first time playing with Bill Kreutzmann. We’ve been going back there in some configuration or another ever since. Now Creek has their annual thing down there as well. Costa Rica is such a great country. So I guess those two: Europe and Jungle Jam were the biggest highlights.

The Creek shows were, of course, also awesome. The Gathering of the Vibes is such a great thing that we’ve been involved in since the very first Gathering of the Vibes.

PH [interjects]:  Have you guys played every single one?

SM: I’ve been to every one, I don’t think Creek has though. There was one year that Depth Quartet played and Creek didn’t. Also, there was a year that BK3 played as well as Mike Gordon’s band and I don’t think Creek performed that year, but yeah, I’ve been to every one. The first one was called [Deadhead Heaven] Gathering of the Tribe at SUNY Purchase and that was pretty cool. It’s unbelievable to think back to what that festival was – just a small stage in the middle of a college campus to the spectacle that’s its become in Bridgeport.

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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.

Max Creek was assembled in Connecticut over 40 years ago and despite a few lineup changes, the band is still going strong today. For this morning’s video post we came across a slew of footage filmed 31 years ago, in 1981, at Harry’s Harvest Party in Granby, Connecticut which gives us a look at a fresh-faced Scott Murawski on guitar as well as current members John Rider on bass and vocals and Mark Mercier on keys and vox. We’ve assembled a playlist of four covers for your viewing pleasure – Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones), The Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff), Fire On The Mountain (Grateful Dead) and Alabama Getaway (Grateful Dead). Take a seat in the HT Time Machine as we head back to 1981…

Max Creek @ Harry’s Harvest Party

Max Creek @ Sullivan Hall, April 29

Max Creek’s wearing 40 well. Or, to put it another way: you’re not regularly seeing shows by 40-year-old bands that were as effortlessly enjoyable and musically nourishing as the band’s two set monster at Sullivan Hall – the middle show in a three-night anniversary swing through Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island – and that don’t feel like canned revues coasting on nostalgia.

[All videos by NYCJamGal]

Max Creek is a curious institution. It never hit the big time or got much close to it, but it was a jamband before jambands were jambands: established long before Phish, Panic and the generations of improvisational rock acts since then, and really, a near-contemporary of both the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band, though with the tiniest fraction of the fame. It pulled back on touring just as the late ’80s/early ’90s jam seeds were sewn and the scene mushroomed, morphed and moved into the popular, yet fractured state it’s in now. But Creek still has particular renown, especially in New England, and its tri-state fans were out in force at Sullivan Hall.

Bassist John Rider is technically the lone original member, but guitarist Scott Murawski and keyboardist Mark Mercier have been around almost as long, and the band’s drum chair is now occupied by one- and two-man configurations of its various drummers since the mid ’80s: Scott Allshouse, Greg Vasso and Greg DeGuglielmo. Bands with such long-established chemistry are sometimes hindered by that comfort, and Max Creek, too, can sound workmanlike. But shit, can they still motor when they’re feeling good. It’s a well-stocked repertoire of originals and covers both well-worn and less-remembered, so often opened up with jam segments that are hearty, brilliant and powerfully expressive.

READ ON for more on Max Creek @ Sullivan Hall…

Welcome to the 2010 edition of Cover Wars – March Madness. We are taking our efforts from last year and doubling them: this year we’ve got 32 covers in the running for the Championship. Over the past year, we’ve had six different artists win Cover Wars more than once. For these winners, we have paired them up against each other in the first round. For example, if you were going to vote for Trey Anastasio because of your loyalty to him – now you have to decide if he plays a better O-o-h Child or Sultans Of Swing. We have also paired up original artists whenever possible – Did Joan Baez or The Grateful Dead do better justice to their Bob Dylan cover?

All of the winners’ audio/video has been embedded for you and we have linked back to the corresponding Cover Wars that led to each artist’s victory. We have enjoyed running this piece for you every week (or maybe, three times per month?) and hope you enjoy Cover Wars March Madness. My personal highlight would have to be us running The Ballad Of Curtis Loew edition in early May and seeing Phish pull the cover from deep off the shelf three weeks later at Fenway Park. Let’s look at the first eight matchups…

1) Cortez The Killer (Built To Spill) vs. The Maker (DMB)
2) Sultans of Swing (Trey) vs. O-o-h Child (Trey)
3) Will It Go Round In Circles (The Bridge) vs. Godzilla (GUTML)
4) Ballad Of A Thin Man (GD) vs. A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall (Joan Baez)
5) Sweet Virginia (Phish) vs. Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Clare & The Reasons)
6) You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Max Creek) vs. Eminence Front (MC)
7) Naive Melody (Perpetual Groove) vs. Time (Flaming Lips)
8) Lenny (Umphrey’s McGee) vs. Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ (UM)

For bout number one, we’ve got Built To Spill covering Neil Young’s Cortez The Killer vs. DMB’s cover of Daniel Lanois’ The Maker…

Built To Spill – Cortez The Killer

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Dave Matthews Band – The Maker

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READ ON to place your vote in this matchup and to check out and vote on the other seven March Madness bouts in this part one of our Round of 32…

You Can’t Always Get What You Want is the closing track on the 1969 Rolling Stones album Let It Bleed. Regular readers may remember we did our first Stones song edition of Cover Wars two months ago when we took a look at covers of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.

There are some very interesting quotes regarding the drumming on this track included in the book According to the Rolling Stones, you can see the page in question over at Google Books (what an amazing resource).

THE CONTESTANTS:

Aretha Franklin: This cover comes off a 1981 Aretha Franklin album that universally gets bad to lukewarm reviews. The arrangement is very 80′s. Still, it’s worth a couple minutes to hear the Queen Of Soul sing lead on this tune. Source: Love All The Hurt Away

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READ ON to hear the rest of this week’s Cover Wars contestants…

Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to tgakidis for this week’s photo.

Artist & Title: Gene Ween – Birthday Boy, Baby Bitch
Date & Venue: 2009-05-09 – The Walnut Room, Denver CO
Taper & Show Download: Eric Foelske

Last week, I let you in on my goal of using unique artists for as long as I can with this piece. Well, I’m already stretching things a little bit, but I think it’s OK. I have previously used the Gene Ween Band, but this is Gener solo – TOTALLY different. Anyway, I really like this 1-2 combo of songs as they are both well constructed tunes and have similar subject matter. There is a line in Baby Bitch, “Wrote Birthday Boy for you babe”. He’s got two more solo gigs on the books in June.

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READ ON for four more tracks from the likes of McLovins and Little Feat…

Eminence Front is one bad-ass tune on the otherwise forgettable 1982 album from The Who called It’s Hard. This song has got it all from the great synth intro to the driving guitar lines to the singalong chorus – the whole package.

Checking in on last week’s contest, Give Us The Money Lebowski has emerged victorious. If you like what you heard, don’t forget to check out these guys at Awesometown next weekend in Morrisville, PA.

The Contestants:

Cousin Fungus: This week Cousin Fungus makes their Cover Wars debut. These guys were part of the collection of emerging jambands of the late ’90s. The levels on the recording are a little hot, but they do a good job with this one. Friend of Hidden Track Dan D. is responsible for getting this show, and most of the others up on the LMA. Source: 7-2-2000

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READ ON for the rest of this week’s contestants and to place your vote…

The votes are in and we can say the mandate from last week’s Cover Wars belongs to…….Grateful Dead.

This week’s edition features a song so fantastic that dudes in many bands have no problem whatsoever citing the opening lyrics, “I am an old woman named after my mother”. Three-chord songs really are a thing of beauty. Wikipedia tells me that, Songwriter Harlan Howard once said “All you need to write a country song is three chords and the Truth.”

That’s all that original performerJohn Prine has here, and it is most certainly was an instant classic. Let’s take a look at a few renditions after the jump.