The String Cheese Incident announces the digital release of Winter Carnival 2011, a live, 21-track compilation of songs culled from the band’s recent Winter Carnival run at Colorado’s brand new 1STBANK Center. Available exclusively at iTunes beginning May 24, 2011, Winter Carnival 2011 catches all of the energy and excitement from this epic run of hometown shows.

Four years had gone by since the last "Winter Carnival", The String Cheese Incident's annual celebration of ski slopes, music, Mardi Gras, and the Winter/Spring Solstice. From humble beginnings in Boulder in 1999, through seven years at Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium, the band's annual Winter Carnival run always offered up a chance to welcome SCI’s musical heroes, as well as a few emerging favorites, to share the stage. Guest highlights over the years are numerous, including Little Feat, Bruce Hornsby, Del McCoury Band, Warren Haynes, Los Lobos, The Funky Meters, Olatunji, Dr. John, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe - and the list goes on and on.

Picking back up the tradition, for Winter Carnival 2011 the band welcomed OTT, JD Crowe and the New South, and Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk to join them on stage at the celebration’s new home, the 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado. A brand new venue just outside of the band's hometown of Boulder, The String Cheese Incident had played there only once before – hosting the now-legendary “Fourmile Canyon Revival” benefit concert. Now, it was time for SCI to lay down roots at this venue that would run deep. And indeed the 1STBANK Center proved to be a natural fit for this epic run of "Incidents."

Check out Grateful Web's review of the Fourmile Canyon Revival.

The String Cheese Incident’s Winter Carnival 2011 Track List is as follows:

DISC 1
1. Betray The Dark
2. Cottonmouth
3. Pygmy Pony
4. Rosie
5. Will It Go 'Round In Circles
6. Rocky Road Blues
7. Let's Go Outside
8. Sand Dollar
9. Colorado Bluebird Sky

DISC 2
1. Rivertrance
2. Give Me The Love
3. Blue Bossa
4. Sweet Melinda
5. Big Shoes
6. Ramble On

DISC 3
1. Rhythm Of The Road
2. Dirk
3. Way Back Home
4. Black Clouds
5. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'6. Black Clouds (Reprise)

Today, The String Cheese Incident releases the first installment of their brand new live archival series, Rhythm of the Road, which will highlight the band’s most celebrated concerts with re-mastered limited edition releases. Titled Rhythm of the Road: Volume 1, Incident in Atlanta – 11.17.00, this first offering on the historic show’s ten-year anniversary.

2000 was a big year for SCI as they became a true touring force, settling into larger venues for the first time, including Red Rocks in Colorado, The Warfield in San Francisco, and New Orleans’ Saenger Theatre. The band finished off a long East Coast fall tour with three nights in Athens and Atlanta, GA, and it’s the middle night on 11.17.00 that fans still talk about as one of the best in the band’s career. With special guest Tony Furtado on banjo for several songs and featuring covers of Led Zeppelin, Talking Heads, John Coltrane, Peter Rowan, and Peter Gabriel, as well as bluegrass standards and a host of SCI originals, this show is the perfect way to kick off The String Cheese Incident’s archival series “Rhythm of the Road.”

Incident in Atlanta features the entire 11.17.00 performance, lovingly remastered from the original 24-bit multi-track master tapes and made available on CD, download (MP3, FLAC) and, an SCI first, 24-bit FLAC download. It will be released on November 9th in stores, through SCI Merchandise, and www.LiveCheese.com.

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Track List for Rhythm of the Road: Volume 1, Incident in Atlanta – 11.17.00 is as follows:

Set 1: Smile, Joyful Sound > Orange Blossom Special*, Barstool, Pygmy Pony,
Missing Me > Ramble On

Set 2: Outside And Inside, Impressions > Glory Chords Jam > Midnight
Moonlight*, This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) > Miss Brown's Teahouse,
Wake Up, Black Clouds*

Encore: The Old Home Place*, Shenandoah Breakdown*, Shakin' the Tree*

* featuring Tony Furtado on banjo and guitar

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This year, after a three-year hiatus from the touring circuit, The String Cheese Incident played just a few select shows that sold out in minutes. By all accounts, the epic performers were well worth the long wait. Refreshed and inspired and still making music on their own terms, SCI seems to be once again reinventing the music industry model. Stay tuned for announcement of the band’s highly anticipated 2011 plans.

According to a recent lawsuit filed in Tulare County California, Tim Jones--one of the four singers/songwriters of the musical group TRUTH & SALVAGE COMPANY--was shaken awake and ripped from his bed by hotel security and local police while sleeping at the Marriott Hotel in Visalia, CA.  Jones, a Marriott rewards member and a registered guest staying the night at the Visalia Marriott in February 2010,  was handcuffed, assaulted, taken to jail and cited for trespassing and resisting arrest in his own hotel room after performing at a concert earlier in the evening. In the wake of the assault and imprisonment, Jones filed suit against Marriott Hotel Corporation on four counts, including negligence, negligent supervision, assault and battery.

Ironically, Marriott Hotel's slogan is, "Your home away from home." Tim Jones learned the hard way that Marriott's slogan is nothing more than that, simply a slogan. Instead of spending the night in his hotel room, the singer/songwriter was forced to spend the night in a Visalia jail cell. Jones was finally released at noon the following day.

Following the incident Jones said, "I was shocked by the break-in and arrest.  I kept telling them that I was a registered guest but they acted as if they couldn't hear a word I was saying."

One month after the incident, Jones was set to be arraigned in the Tulare County Superior Court. Legal representatives of the band arrived at the courthouse to answer for Jones, only to find that the District Attorney's office had not filed any charges against Jones.  To date, charges have not been filed and Visalia Police have refused to release the police incident report to the Los Angeles based Jordan Law Group, PLC; the Truth and Salvage legal team.  Attorney Vahe Jordan was quoted as saying "We’re hopeful that Marriott will accept responsibility for the way they treated Jones, who has been a loyal customer for many years."

Marriott experienced a public relations nightmare last year that spread in blogs, stemming from the legal position their Stamford, Connecticut franchisee attorneys took when a woman brought suit citing security shortcomings after being raped in the presence of her two children while in a parking structure located at the Stamford Marriott Hotel and Spa.  Court documents filed by the Marriott franchisee attorneys last year state the victim "failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities."  The defense was viewed by many as blaming the victim.  Marriott later dropped that defense.

As for Jones, he did not have any outstanding warrants; he wasn't suspected of, nor accused of, any crime prior to being violated by Marriott Security staff and the Visalia Police. He later received medical treatment for injuries sustained during the arrest.

Currently, Tim Jones and his band Truth & Salvage Co. are touring the United States in support of their self-titled debut album (Megaforce Records/Silver Arrow Records) which was released in May of this year and was produced by Chris Robinson of The Black Crowes.  Truth & Salvage Co.--set to make their national television debut on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” this Thursday, August 19--was cited as a “Top 10 Band To Watch This Summer” by USA Today and Rolling Stone said the band “has what it takes for the long haul.”  Their album was given 4½ stars by Glide.com, which noted, “Truth and Salvage is an explosion of Americana and sweaty Rock-n-Roll that comes off more like a greatest hits album than a debut...set to become an instant classic."

When members of New Monsoon, Railroad Earth and String Cheese Incident come together to create an album the result is Roostsy Americana bliss. Contribution, an appropriate name for a group whose members have bestowed many a musical gift to the masses with their previous bands, will drop Which Way World on March 30.

An album bursting with country gumption and raw poetic flare, this debut showcases the artistic veracity and harmonious nature of some of the best musicians on today’s jam circuit. A balanced blend of old-time charm and aggressive string-heavy muscle, this collaborative effort exemplifies the razor-sharp skills of Tim Carbone (violin, vocals Railroad Earth), Jeff Miller (guitar, mandolin, vocals, New Monsoon), Phil Ferlino (keyboards, New Monsoon), Keith Moseley (bassist, the String Cheese Incident), and Jason Hann (percussion, the String Cheese Incident).

From the initial notes, “Come Around” takes off like a tumbleweed in a dust storm, moving with force, freely charting out its own territory in a sandy soundscape of earnest handclaps, vocal harmonies and a fierce web of strings. Chameleon-like in nature, this opening track captures both a mischievous apathetic side and one of comforted hope. The dichotomous lyrics of “Never mind/never mind/why?” and “Sometimes you gotta lose yourself/find yourself/come around again” play out like a fencing match of internal conflict. The track rounds things off with a whiskey soaked “I don’t care!” from Carbone.

“Time Was Only Yesterday” initially breathes saloon-singer vulnerability, and holds that vintage desire to relive the past. Unexpectedly, lyrics about a “carnival parade” are quickly met by a collage of festive circus-esque clamor. The colossal racket is spiked with the scream of brassy horns and faded shouts you would imagine escaping from the lips of a vagabond ringleader.

“Better Days” proves to be one of the most lyrically poignant tracks on the album. The need for nostalgia, once again, resurfaces. While it gets off to a mellow start, the harmonized sturdy chorus of ‘Gone gone away are better days,’ which culminates with the tinge of tambourine, stands out like a mighty oak left upright after a forest fire.

Brilliance isn’t limited to the instrumentals when you stop to absorb the momentous metaphors and similes just swimming around in the ocean of sound – “Couldn’t see the danger there/ like children scaling rocks beside the sea…”

“Fear of Nothing” hits the listener like a sun shower on a sweltering day. Cool, refreshing and unapologetic, it reigns down with honky tonk tenacity. The upbeat, electrifying piano-laden, tune exudes a sense of rock n’ roll, gospel and blues. Sprinkling a ferocious feminine energy to the mix, are the Black Swan Singers who come equipped with fierce pipes—strong enough to stir a corpse. By far the most danceable tune on the disc, it resembles a hybrid of Great America Taxi meets the Black Crowes.

‘Wind Me Up’ is more spoken then sung and comes across like a sincere monologue of someone who has grown tired of, but accustomed to, going through the motions. The accompaniments and vocals are reminiscent of something quirky country alt-rockers Wilco would create.

“Which Way World,” the title track of the album, captures a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young vibe and yet at times it sounds more like a top ten contemporary country radio hit. Slow, steady and straight up Zenful, it’s a letter to our spinning sphere inquiring bout the very nature of its direction.

“Samsara” opens with piano playing that is rapidly coated by the lush emotion-evoking violin, proving that there is nothing like strings to set a melancholic mood. Capturing a rather dark tone, it sounds like a Celtic pagan homage to the earth— “I am the sky/speak through the wind/I am a shadow/darkness within...”

Let the musical monsoon of earthy cheese-coated goodness splash full force in a downpour that will have you tossing the umbrella and caution to the wind.

With the one-time constant touring machine otherwise known as The String Cheese Incident slowing their schedule considerably in recent years, fans get a chance to relive the group's legendary "Hulaween" shows on the forthcoming live release, Trick or Treat. The two-disc release - set to hit today on CD, vinyl, and digitally - is culled from several of these epic shows by The String Cheese Incident.   An expanded 9-disc deluxe box set edition of Trick or Treat will also be available in very limited quantity.  Pre-sale on the deluxe box set began September 23, 2009 at 12:00 PM EDT - with the first 200 who pre-ordered to receive a Trick or Treat cover art poster signed by members of SCI, and the first 500 who order being automatically entered to win one of 30 uncut Trick or Treat poster sheets, featuring the Michael Everett cover art poster sheet, plus all 7 mini-posters from the box set.  (These exclusive uncut sheets will also be signed by the members of SCI!).

Known to perform special concerts comprised heavily of cover tunes each Halloween, Trick or Treat offers selections from SCI performances recorded at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse (1998), Philadelphia's Electric Factory (1999), Portland's State Theatre (2000), New York City (2001), Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium (2002), Sin City's Cox Pavillion (2003), and Madison's Exhibition Center at Alliant Energy Center.

The 9-disc limited edition box set of Trick or Treat includes seven complete sets - featuring must-hear renditions of Beatles ("Come Together"), Beastie Boys ("No Sleep Till Brooklyn"), Grateful Dead ("Shakedown Street"), KC & The Sunshine Band ("Get Down Tonight"), and Phish ("The Wedge") classics, among many others. The Trick or Treat deluxe box set also features signed & numbered original artwork from Michael Everett, special commemorative mini-posters from the Hulaween shows, personalized liner notes from the band, a photo booklet by famed rock photographer C. Taylor Crothers, and plenty of special surprises.

Formed in Colorado during 1993, The String Cheese Incident has long been considered one of the leaders of the thriving "jam band" scene. Comprised of members Michael Kang (acoustic/electric mandolin, electric guitar, and violin), Michael Travis (drums and percussion), Bill Nershi (acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, and electric slide guitar), Kyle Hollingsworth (piano, organ, Rhodes, and accordion), Keith Moseley (bass guitar), and Jason Hann (percussion, joined SCI in 2004), the group performed regularly between 1993-2007. And in the process, they built a large fanbase on the strength of their live show, as well as such classic releases as Outside Inside, Untying the Not, and One Step Closer.

In recent years, the band members have focused on solo projects, although The String Cheese Incident did reunite onstage this year for a show-stopping performance at the ROTHBURY Festival. Now, here's your chance to experience The String Cheese Incident in all their in-concert glory time and time again, with Trick or Treat.

Also this fall, String Cheese Incident members Kyle Hollingsworth and Billy Nershi release a couple of solo works.  Look for Emmitt-Nershi Band's New Country Blues and Hollingsworth's Then There's Now, in stores now.