Grateful Web recently had the honor of visiting with Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay. While most folks are familiar with Donna Jean as the radiant co-vocalist of 1970s Grateful Dead, augmenting some of the seminal group’s most celebrated tunes such as “The Music Never Stopped,” “Cassidy,” “Mississippi Half-Step,”…
No doubt dominating this third and final show of Strings’ tour was the thrice performed version of the Grateful Dead psychedelic masterpiece “Dark Star.” Strings and band kicked into the song mid-way through set two, giving it an intriguingly aggressive, though melodically pleasant, introductory energy. They then proceeded to reprise it twice in a monstrous sandwich of segues and improvisation…
“It’s great to see people’s faces instead of looking into a computer; so I’m excited,” Jackie Greene said shortly after taking the stage on April 2, when as an acoustic duo he and long-time sidekick Nate Dale serenaded an intimate audience at the ballroom inside the Crystal Bay Casino…
All in all, the entirety of these six consecutive nights of performance showed a resolutely new level of musicianship from Billy Strings and his band, which is simply to say they have never sounded this cohesive as a unit. As we watched and listened to every one of the many classic instrumental bluegrass tunes they covered throughout the run, from Tony Rice masterpieces like “Tipper” and “…
Many bands are trying to figure out how to include the fans in the virtual concert experience. But those that are having the greatest success in doing so are realizing that the best thing they can do for the fans is to give us more. Not necessarily more music, but more content. Content that you can’t usually offer 18,000 viewers, Billy and his team recognized this and let us in on a…
