It was bound to happen that the San Francisco-based Brothers Comatose, one of the hottest bohemian bluegrass bands on the circuit would wind up pickin’ and grinnin’ from the Terrapin Crossroads stage at Phil Lesh’s lair in San Rafael, California. On May 9 it came to pass, tearing up the Grate Room with the Terrapin Family Band, featuring Phil Lesh, along for the ride. Before the night was out, The Brothers Comatose ran through a set as a band of eight with Terrapin Family Band members Ross James, Alex Koford, and Lesh, the patriarch himself; had a few surprise visits to the mic from Nicki Bluhm; and a closing sequence turned upside-down due to a fiddle-string incident.

While The Brothers Comatose, great players all and the nicest bunch of guys you’d ever want to meet, have made a lot of people stand up and take notice across the land, they were not yet anointed into the Terrapin Crossroads milieu. That all changed on Saturday before a sold-out audience. After some prep and rehearsal time, the band, fronted by real-life brothers Alex and Ben Morrison, came out and the electric guitar, bass, and drums of the Terrapin Family Band melded immediately with the acoustic quintet (with upright bass player Gio Benedetti relegated to tambourine and vocals as Lesh seemed to have the bass end covered pretty well). James was clearly enjoying himself throughout, jamming one-on-one from time to time with mandolin player Ryan Avellone, and Lesh too appeared jolly while playing along on the Brothers’ fun acoustic stomp, “Pie for Breakfast,” as well as “Bertha,” the Rolling Stones old “Dead Flowers,” and a traditional ditty that the Grateful Dead performed a handful of times in 1970, “Tell It To Me” aka “Cocaine Blues.” Nicki Bluhm helped the ensemble close out the set, lending her voice to “Goin’ Down the Road (Feelin’ Bad).”

With Lesh’s work over for the night, the sufficiently warmed-up audience, many of whom presumably were having their first go at a Brothers Comatose show, danced, frolicked, and swayed to every song of the Brothers Comatose’s second set. In addition to being chock full of great contemporary newgrass players, the Brothers are fine song crafters as well, and endeared the crowd with back stories to many of the their tunes, including “Me & My Brother,” and “The Ballad of Tommy Decker.” Nicki Bluhm returned twice during the set, first for “Morning Time,” which she recorded with The Brothers a few years back, and then for the Jefferson Airplane’s old standard that she’s mastered, “Somebody to Love.” Sometime around mid-set, fiddler Philip Brezia broke a string but had no spare. He tried to mend it with one of Alex Morrison’s banjo strings but to no avail. In the end, the ever-ready Ross James and Alex Koford returned to the stage, and the band threw out the rest of the planned set for impromptu acoustic/electric performances of such tunes as the Stanley Brothers’ “Long Journey Home,” The Rolling Stones’ “Sweet Virginia,” The Faces’ “Ohh-La-La,” and the Brothers own “Strings.”

As per usual, Terrapin Crossroads had a busy dinner crowd over in the classy adjacent restaurant, where early-seated patrons enjoyed their food with the smooth sounds of the Michael LaMacchia 3io, which offered jazzed-up instrumental versions of jammy numbers including The Grateful Dead’s “Bird Song.” Later arrivals were serenaded in the restaurant/bar by the Sandy’s duo, featuring Alexi Glickman.

Funny observation: You can often smell grilled steaks outside of a restaurant, and once in a while, you may sense the wafting aroma of reefer in the air, but between sets at Terrapin Crossroads, in the cool evening air, one can experience a truly heady simultaneous mixed aroma of high-grade barbecue and high-grade herb. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

With red-clown noses in their hearts, and songs to fill the air, a few thousand caring, music-loving souls gathered to wish Wavy Gravy, America’s favorite psychedelic relic, a happy 79^th birthday on May 17. It was a fine day for a party in Sonoma County, California as attendees at the seven-plus hour gathering danced and swayed to the musical offerings of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Steve Kimock & Friends, The California Honeydrops, and Hot Buttered Rum.

Wavy acted as a ‘tweener between sets, telling stories and reading whimsical passages from “Hiparama of the Classics,” a collection of fanciful poetry from one of Wavy’s Beat-generation contemporaries, Lord Buckley.  Some Wavy Gravy-isms:

• He called Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s, “the ice cream Cohen”;
• When a sound tech called out, “Check,” Wavy interpreted it a different way, saying, “Czech, Swede, Latvian”;
• A haiku for B.B. King, who first called the former Hugh Romney “Wavy Gravy,” “The thrill is gone; the king has left the building; Lucille gently weeps;” 
• “I have 21 years till I’ll be 100,” Wavy said in classic double-entendre fashion, “It’s all downhill from there.”

Combining music, purpose, and groovy wisecracks, Wavy, still sharp witted and sharp tongued, though not quite as mobile as he once was, held court in the front corner of the stage, acting as emcee, wise-cracker, kazoo player, and cheerleader for Seva, the “compassion in action” service organization for which the day’s proceeds would be given. Seva, which since 1978 has helped ease human suffering worldwide, most notably through restorative eye care, is also famous for throwing down musical-benefit hootenannies. Wavy’s birthday often coincides with Seva benefits, and this time, Seva, who has done good work in Nepal for many years, recently announced that a substantial portion of proceeds from this benefit would go to Seva’s Nepal Earthquake Relief & Recovery Fund, following the devastating April 25 centered near Kathmandu.

The celebration of social action took place at the Sonoma Mountain Event Center, a solar-powered venue that features a cozy but sizeable courtyard/outdoor concert venue. A neighboring indoor event center hosted a glorious upscale silent auction that featured art from Nepal as well as an art gallery with works by Stanley Mouse and Pat Ryan, Mark Hensen, Jerry Garcia, and Wavy Gravy.

Hot Buttered Rum started the musical proceedings, quickly shaking out the collective cobwebs and kicking up some dust with its brand of jamming folk-grass. Joined onstage by Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman and Front Country’s Jacob Groopman and Melody Walker, the ensemble offered such tunes as “Busted in Utah,” “Summertime Gal,” “Walls of Time,” “Sittin’ on Top of the World,” and “The Music Never Stopped.”

The California Honeydrops were next dishing out their aptly self-described fusion of Street Corner Soul, Roots, Delta Blues, and Bay Area R&B. In addition to their originals including “Pumpkin Pie” and crowd fave, “When It Was Wrong,” the twin percussion-keys-sax-trumpet-and guitar collective performed “People Get Ready,” and Wilson Pickett’s “Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You,” before coming down from the stage to play and march amongst the audience.

Heralded improvisational guitarist Steve Kimock was next; his quartet for the day included fellow Ratdog alums Jay Lane on drums, Jeff Chimenti on keys, and longtime Kimock sidekick Bobby Vega on bass. Their masterful instrumental set included varied pieces of music that alternatively rocked, soothed, and funked up the crowd. The foursome, particularly Kimock and Chimenti, nicely adapted and slowed down one of their jams to accommodate Wavy’s reading of Buckley’s “The Hip Ghan,” a satirical piece about Mahatma Ghandi. When Kimock’s guitar went out later in the set during “Stella Blue,” Wavy, still a sharp jester and entertainer, sensed the lull in the music, nodded to Vega and resumed reading from Buckley’s work as Chimenti, Vega, and Lane softly played on, making it quite the unforgettable version of “Stella Blue.”

As the sun went down Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, led by Alex Ebert, closed out the main stage segment of the show. The charismatic Ebert strolled and bounded all over the stage, often taking a perch on a speaker or a monitor in front of the stage, singing directly to the crowd. The band of eight delighted the elders and the many children in the crowd with “Dinosaur Party,” “Home,” "Mayla," "Up From Below," "Man On Fire" (featured in the “August: Osage County” movie trailer), "Child," "All Wash Out," "Janglin'," "If I “Were Free," "Life Is Hard," "40 Day Dream," "Better Days," and "Om Nashe Me,” which Ebert explained meant, “the destruction of self.”

Wavy and Seva had one more trick up their sleeve, offering an additional, intimate indoor VIP reception with Hot Buttered Rum set for those who still hadn’t had their fill.

Seva’s event producer Tamara Klamner says “thanks to the help of the artists, volunteers, and sponsors and the 2000+ concert attendees, the event raised $160,000 which will help support the ongoing work of Seva.” 

• Thanks to Chelsea Dederick for help with Edward Sharpe performance specifics.

Firing on all cylinders, the 25^th annual High Sierra Music Festival, one of Northern California’s biggest and most cherished summer jubilees, was bursting at the seams with music and merriment over the Fourth of July weekend. Though several “Fare Thee Well” T-shirts could be seen around the meadows and campgrounds at this year’s festival, there was no finality in the air here as there was in Chicago as members of the Grateful Dead, fathers of the jam band scene that was on display at High Sierra (The String Cheese Incident, ALO, Umphree’s McGee), bid adieu. From its 3,500-foot-elevation perch at the local fairgrounds in Quincy, California, High Sierra offered a whole host of sounds and genres, including folk, funk, alt-rock ‘n’ rhythms, and more)

So much goes on, on and off the stages, and into the campgrounds, workshops, and impromptu jam sessions, that one cannot experience everything that High Sierra – and its devoted, free-spirited attendees – have to offer. Unscripted side shows and surprise moments containing all sorts of artistic self-expression broke out constantly as the audience was just as big a part of the festival as the bands themselves, This photo gallery serves as a two-day glimpse into High Sierra’s joyful rainbow of colorful sights, sounds and people.

Check out more photos from High Sierra Music Festival.

“You’re damn right I got the blues,” Buddy Guy sang out as he opened his headlining set at the annual Russian River Jazz and Blues Festival in fiery northern California on Sept. 13. While the so-called 73,000-acre Valley Fire, which burned more than 500 homes, raged as close as 30 miles away, the two-day festival site at Johnson’s Beach on the Russian River in the small, Bohemian town of Guerneville, California, was smoke-free. Still, while the blues is good medicine for many troubled times, Guy’s choice seemed especially apropos.

Johnson’s Beach, which hosted about 5,000 music fans per day, according to organizers, offers an unusual perch for a concert. Hundreds, if not more, took advantage of the fact that one could watch and listen while standing (or floating on a raft or small boat) stage-left in the adjacent Russian River, which had a surprisingly bountiful amount of water at that spot. In addition to the main stage, the event had a second stage that delivered fine blues tunes to the many folks who took part in wine tastings, thanks to some of Sonoma County’s most prominent vineyards. 

Artisan crafts and food booths along the beach, more upscale than a typical rock fest, provided additional enticements. Food choices included alligator, catfish, ribs, barbecue oysters, and plenty of veggie choices.  And obligatory beer tents helped fuel the party atmosphere.

Praising B.B, King as “the best guitar player who ever lived,” the 79-year-old Guy showed off his own guitar mastery, stamina, and stage presence, moving easily around the stage and into the crowd, mugging and chatting with the sun-splashed audience, delivering with ease screaming blues-guitar passages and offering high-volume, no-hold-barred vocal treatments to plenty of classics during his festival-closing set. He also endeared himself to the crowd with his down-to-earth language, for instance smiling and saying at one point, when a lyric resulted in some funny looks, “Don’t blame me; I didn’t write the fu**in’ song!”

Under Muddy Waters’ tutelage in 1950’s and 60’s Chicago, the Louisiana-born Guy influenced scores of prominent rock ’n’ roll guitarists of the past 50 years. Adding his signature powerful and emotional guitar treatments, Guy satisfied the crowd with song selections, including such gems as “I Just Want To Make Love To You,” “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man,”  “She’s Nineteen Year’s Old,” “Meet Me in Chicago,” and closing medley of “Milk Cow Blues” / “Strange Brew” / “Sunshine of Your Love” / and “Voodoo Child.”

Prior to Guy, another blues legend, Taj Mahal, and his trio delighted the crowd. Mahal, no youngster at 73, gave praise and thanks to Guy and Junior Wells for bringing Mahal into the Chico blues fold in the early 1960s before performing the timeless “Blues With a Feeling.” With his trademark Caribbean-flavored blues-guitar style and personable, often humorous and gritty lyrical delivery that include plenty of suggestive double entendres, Mahal’s set seemingly came and went in no time, with the American roots music lexicon covering such favorites as “Ballad of John Henry,” “Betty and Dupree,” “Sitting on Top of the World,”  “Queen Bee,” “Fishin’ Blues,” “Corinna,” and “Going Up the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue.”

While the main stage activities began with The Rad Trads, the day’s festivities got going in earnest with the Jackie Greene Band, which preceded Taj Mahal. Though not yet 35, less than half the age of Guy and Mahal, Greene, the renowned singer/songwriter, rocker, and blues man, showed off his performance prowess that has been buoyed and refined with his own fine band – and solo acoustic performances - as well as with stints with the Black Crowes and Phil Lesh & Friends. With longtime stage partner Nathan Dale on his right, and the band’s new bassist and drummer fusing together finely with the band, Greene’s skill and delivery visibly surprised many in the crowd heretofore unfamiliar with his abilities. 

Performing a few tunes off of his new solo album, “Back to Birth,” including opener “The King is Dead,” and encore, “Sweet Somewhere Bound,” Greene’s set also included “I’m So Gone,” “Tell Me Mama, Tell Me Right,” “Shaken,” Tom Waits’ “Big Black Mariah,” The Grateful Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie,”  Spooky Tina,” “Shaken, “So Hard to Find My Way,” and “Till the Light Comes.”

The festival’s Day 1 (jazz day) festivities included performances by Dave Koz, Rick Braun, and Kenny Lattimore; War (who put on a very praiseworthy funky jazz set according to reports); Karen Briggs and Mike Phillips; and Kyle Eastwood – yes son of Clint.

“What we have in mind, is the gift of site, for 36 million,” said event emcee and clown-nosed Seva patriarch and advocate Wavy Gravy on October 10, creating a play on words from his famous “breakfast in bed” announcement at Woodstock.

Bob Weir and Steve Kimock along with RatDog alumni Robin Sylvester and Jay Lane were the musical stars of the benefit for SEVA (seva.org) and the Mill Valley Film Festival at the intimate Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California. Displaying an interconnected lead and rhythm guitar synchronicity, Kimock and Weir led the band of four through a compelling 90 minutes of Grateful Dead and RatDog songs. But while Weir, Kimock, and friends elicited the most energetic crowd reaction, they alone did not define the night. The benefit was a celebration of Seva’s four-millionth sight-saving surgery, as well as a celebration of “Open Your Eyes,” an independent film shot in Nepal and produced by Vermilion Films and HBO (HBO plans to broadcast it in early 2016). The movie premiered earlier in the evening down the street at the Throckmorton Theatre.

Here at the Sweetwater, Seva co-founder and film producer Larry Brilliant thanked the crowd for their support and introduced Academy-Award-nominated director Irene Taylor Brodsky, who crafted the touching movie chronicling a three-day journey that allowed two adults in rural Nepal to be surgically gifted the opportunity to see the world – and their families. Ms. Brodsky then complimented the medical providers who made the film possible and spoke about what it took to document their work and present it to the world, before showing the assemblage a short trailer of “Open Your Eyes” (view trailer at: www.youtube.com/watch?t=25&v=UxYSVvgPEJY).

When the band took the stage, they proceeded to offer some purposeful “Bird Song”-evocative noodling that wandered into the opening number, “Josephine,” a jazzy R&B song with a lengthy instrumental arrangement that goes back some 35 years to Weir’s first “Bobby and the Midnights” album. Lane and Sylvester were in lock-step with with Weir and Kimock, who, in addition to communicating musically by the most subtle of glances and gestures, offered music that was tight and presented with a warranted confidence. The set included The Grateful Dead’s “Loose Lucy,” and “Bird Song,” Weir’s oft-covered version of Little Feat’s “Easy to Slip,” and two RatDog slow-tempo originals, “Even So” and “October Queen.” The set ended with a fine rendering of The Grateful Dead powerhouse, “The Other One” and an encore of “One More Saturday Night” capped off the evening,” with Weir offering an old-time spirited scream during the song’s pinnacle.

Preceding Weir and friends, Pakistani guitarist/activist Salman Ahmad, who composed the film’s soundtrack, delivered an inspiring short set of Sufi music. Accompanied by a percussionist, Ahmad’s musical offerings also included John Lennon’s “Imagine,” on the day after what would have been the Beatle’s 75th birthday. A silent auction, which contained hand-woven South Asian art and sculptures, as well as Grateful Dead memorabilia, was also on display and up for grabs.

Check out more photos from the benefit show.

Colorful costumes, joyous carousing, comfortable camping, and kick-ass jammy music of many genres came together nicely at the fifth annual Railroad Earth-hosted Hangtown Halloween Ball Music Festival. Emanating from the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in the Sierra Nevada foothill community of Placerville, California, from October 22 to 25, the festival harmoniously balanced a confluence of dust-kicking music to groove by, the Halloween season, and the still-present old-West persona of Placerville, dubbed “Hangtown” during the Gold Rush days to honor the type of swift justice handed out to the worst of the miscreants.

The fest’s three stages were spread out nicely around the festival grounds, with camping areas and fine food and artisan booths pleasingly placed about. Intoxicating festy additives included a large natural-ingredients mandala, the Big Fun Circus troupe, a laser-shooting RV, large spray-painted wall murals, and fine interpretations (by attendees AND musicians) of the fest’s costume themes of each day – Wild West Gold Rush Gala, Who Do Voodoo Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball, Halloween Monster Mash, and Funky Forest Fantasy. Also on-site was a bone marrow registration site, a non-perishable food collection site for the most hungry local residents, early morning yoga and meditation sessions, and a nicely appointed Kids zone. The T Sisters’ Erika Tietjen enjoyed the festival ambience, including “the fun, open atmosphere and the opportunity to dress up as a band and perform in character and costume!”

And then there was the music, three dozen bands’ worth, which provided the fuel that drove the festival locomotive, all the way from 10:30 a.m. to 4 a.m., counting late-night shows. Much of the music could be generally classified as contemporary bluegrass/Americana flavored with rock jams, along with some funk and soul, with several different variations on those themes. Leading the way was Railroad Earth, who churned out four sets in three nights, all of which are available at http://liverailroadearth.com. They took Friday off when Trombone Story and Beats Antique headlined the proceedings. On Saturday, RRE appropriately performed their song “Hangtown Ball,” a location-fitting ode to lawbreakers whose fates ended with their heads in a noose. Other not-yet-mentioned bands creating a lot of festival buzz included Rubblebucket, Yonder Mountain String Band, Tubaluba, Scott Pemberton, North Mississippi Allstars, Travelin’ McCourys, Midnight North (with Walking Spanish’s Alex Nelson), Dustbowl Revival, Fruition, and Lettuce.

Like most festivals, Hangtown 2015 included many chances for the musicians whose paths seldom cross to stroll around the lawns and play with some of their musician friends. In addition to an intimate mandolin workshop that featured Andy Goessling and John Skehan (RRE), Jake Joliff (Yonder Mountain String Band), and emcee/musician Joe Craven, just a few of other cool, shared-stage happenings included Craven and members of Midnight North jamming with The Eleven band; RRE’s Goessling, Skehan, and Tim Carbone joining Yonder Mountain String Band for an epic “Shakedown Street,” during which Grahame Lesh and the rest of the Midnight North crew enjoyed from a side-stage perch; RRE’s Carbone jamming with Dead Winter Carpenters; a little impromptu T Sisters set that serenated some mid-day pumpkin carvers; impromptu sets by IdeaTeam and Turkuaz, Craven dancing about a Saturday RRE set costumed as Jack Skelington, and New Monsoon’s Jeff Miller joining RRE for a “Long Black Veil” encore on Sunday.

Kind of a High Sierra Music Festival lite, in reference to the famed midsummer fest about 150 miles to its north that brings in about 10,000 per year according to the fest’s website, the Hangtown Halloween Ball is gaining its own traction as a uniquely presented and desirable annual fest destination, with a more intimate yet still vibrant gathering of some 3,000 revelers, according to my estimate. Unfortunately, the Hangtown Halloween Ball has something else in common with High Sierra and a few other festivals in the region. Some attendees’ have a tendency to turn the event into a cigarette-smoking contest, making it difficult to eat, converse, or listen to music without being immersed in cigarette fumes.

Emcee Craven, who possesses a keen wit to match his seasoned pedigree of musical pluckin’ and pickin’, summed up the Hangtown Halloween fest experience, “One aspect I find endearing about the Hangtown experience is that costuming in the event's community celebrates the importance of individual expression on the outside – which can lead to greater confidence – on the inside, empowering us to become a more creative, expressive, and confident person after Hangtown. Another important quality of this festival … is its connection to the season. Harvest time and the triduum of Hallowtide; All Hallow's Eve (Halloween), All Saint's Day, and All Soul's Day (Dia de los Muertos) are rich in cultural history and ask of us to observe, in our lives today, the celebration of life – and death as a part of the cycle of life. … These thoughts make <up> the intention of Hangtown, helping us realize that Halloween should be more than … a one-night stand based on a party, candy, and consumerism.”

Check out more photos from Hangtown Halloween Ball.

Native Northern California musical gem Jackie Greene returned to another north state jewel, the classy stage of the Sierra Nevada Brewery Big Room in Chico for two sold-out shows on November 17 and 18 (this piece - photos and words - are about the 18th). With long-time, trusty Nate Dale on guitar and a brand new bass/drum combo, the quartet ran through an inspiring rock and blues set, with Jackie's soulful and skillful guitars, keyboard, and vocals ruling the night.

While many know Greene from his tenures with Phil and Friends, Trigger Hippy, and the Black Crowes, the Jackie Greene Band is his bailiwick, and Big Room General Manager Bob Littell billed Greene as “perhaps the Big Room’s most popular performer.”

Greene and the band leaned on his current “Back to Birth” album, performing four musical pieces from the record. Greene also mixed in the old and familiar, including spirited versions of opener “Don’t Let the Devil Take Your Mind,” rockers “I’m So Gone” and “Spooky Tina,” and obligatory Grateful Dead cover, which on this evening was “New Speedway Boogie,” with a bit of “Bird Song” thrown in. While Greene is a command performer on guitar and vocals, he is equally adept at displaying a different skill set when he shifts to his dual piano/Hammond organ station. There, his offerings included the catchy “So Hard to Find My Way” and one of Greene’s oldest originals, the poignant blues number, “Tell Me Mama, Tell Me Right.” Before departing, Greene got the dance floor rollicking one last time by finishing up with an energetic encore of “Like a Ball and Chain.”

Check out more photos from the show.

Dead & Company, the latest Grateful Dead-family arena band, has made its way to California, for two shows at San Francisco’s venerable Bill Graham Civic Auditorium before heading to Los Angeles to close out the year. With both Grateful Dead drummers present and clearly enjoying the ride, and front man Bob Weir and rock/popster-turned Dead-esque-sidekick John Mayer handling guitar and lead vocal duties, the band is rounded out by longtime RatDog and other post-Grateful-Dead-band keyboard stalwart Jeff Chimenti and bass player Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit). As a team on Sunday, they delivered a robust, rip-snortin’ show.

Not surprisingly, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, and Chimenti were in lock step with the band throughout the night, while Mayer and Burbridge often looked toward Weir - or received arm gestures from Weir - in order to ensure they were on the same page. Which they were, by the way. Burbridge, who seemed not at all intimidated to be placed in the role that Phil Lesh has assumed for 50 years, kept a great bottom end and projected a big funky bass solo at the end of "Eyes of the World.” The 38-year-old Mayer, who clearly put in a lot of work to add Grateful Dead songs to his repertoire, nicely sung many of the night’s offerings and delivered searing guitar passages time and again.  

While the band did not introduce any songs that they had not performed on their recent tour back east, the material brought forth on Sunday night was plentiful and powerful. And the surprise bonus for those who stuck it out till the end was a guest spot by John Popper on encore No. 2, he wailing on the harmonica on a furiously paced “Casey Jones.”   

By measure of the large number of people searching for extra tickets before the sold-out show, and the veracity of the audience’s collective dancing and shaking of their bones, this latest post-Grateful Dead big band has clearly struck the right chord for many, even as we are now turning the page toward 21 years since the passing of Jerry Garcia, the person who most responsible for the intangible magic of The Grateful Dead. People from all ages came out to the auditorium on Sunday, while a large, particularly enthused segment of the crowd appeared to be under 35. And those folks, who did not have first-hand experience with The Grateful Dead, which concluded its run in 1995, fittingly carried on the communal, bohemian spirit of their elders, including the pre-show festivities of music, food, crafts, and revelry, which at this venue, takes place at City Hall Plaza, a green park that lies adjacent to the auditorium and San Francisco City Hall.

So what does it all mean? As there has been since 1995, through incarnations of The Other Ones, The Dead, Furthur, and the Fare Thee Well band, frequent discussions among Dead Heads still include debate as to the perceived authenticity and reverence to the original band’s essence.

One camp accepts and rejoices at each new band, including Dead & Company, which keeps alive and thriving the Grateful Dead catalog, many songs of which are recognized as important pieces of American music of the second half of the 20^th century. New generations can come, celebrate, and sway and bop to the legendary music, presented in a slightly new way, while the old guard of Grateful Dead fans can keep their musical “thought jewels polished and gleaming,” to coin a lyrical phrase.

Another camp, arms folded in front of them and shaking their heads, assert that these post-Grateful Dead bands tarnish what once was, and despite the bright lights and powerful amplification, do not, especially without Garcia, have the soul and embodiment of what The Grateful Dead were. And, some maintain, the last two such tours, with star guitarists Trey Anastasio and John Meyer – and their concert ticket-selling power – moved further still from the organic nature of The Grateful Dead.

For me, this scene has been part of my DNA for some 40 years. I embrace the first camp and its openness to new variations on the Grateful Dead theme. But ask me again 20 minutes later, and I may defend the second camp as well. It’s complicated.

Dead and Company | Sunday, December 27th, 2015

Set One: Truckin’ > Cold Rain and Snow; Brown-Eyed Women; Black-Throated Wind; Standing on the Moon; Cassidy; U.S. Blues

Set Two: Samson and Delilah; Deal > He’s Gone > Estimated Prophet > Eyes of the World > Drums > Space > Black Peter; Goin’ Down The Road (Feeling Bad)

E: Ripple E -2: Casey Jones (with John Popper-harmonica)

Thirty minutes before show time on February 9, the musicians had all arrived at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California, but band leader Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz was not finished prepping. Backstage, Lebo, bass player Steve Adams, and a three-piece brass section worked on a special arrangement of “China Cat Sunflower” that sounded like a tie-dyed New Orleans Mardis Gras Brass Band. Which was exactly the point, because as Fat Tuesday was being celebrated in New Orleans, Lebo and company were busy making their own Cajun sounds, Marin County style.

“We have a horns section for Mardi Gras; it's the right thing to do,” Lebo said, three days before the start of a big ALO tour. On this night the band included Lebo’s ALO band mate bassist Adams, who was fresh off a Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers European tour as well as keyboardist extraordinaire Jeff Chimenti (RatDog/Furthur/Fare Thee Well/Dead & Co./Golden Gate Wingmen) and drummer Jay Lane (Primus/RatDog/Furthur/Golden Gate Wingmen). The ensemble also included soulful Bay Area vocalist Lesley Grant, with whom Lebo has shared the stage at various venues, and guitarist Stu Allen, who plays with Lebo in The Rock Collection and makes plenty of waves with his own Mars Hotel. Oh, and the band also naturally included some crucial bass tones from Terrapin Crossroads restaurant/club owner and Grateful Dead co-founder Phil Lesh.

Tonight encompasses what goes on here,” Lebo said about the organic coming together of personnel. “Jay (Lane) and Jeff (Chimenti), we’ve played together with Steve Kimock, and Phil comes down and sits in. We're grateful.”

In addition to contacting and logistically arranging this musical get-together, Lebo also adapted several of the songs to include specified parts for horn players Charlie Wilson (trombone), Michael Bello (tenor sax), and Dave Len Scott (trumpet). 

“Lebo wrote horn arrangements for tonight,” Wilson said, flipping through one of several page-filled prepared red notebooks. “He empowered us.”

Led by the musically and personally charismatic Lebo, the band’s first set fused a number of different genres of music into a very cohesive set, with impromptu jams all around by each member. The sold-out room was eased into dance mode as Lebo led off with ALO’s

“I Wanna Feel It,” and its “Visions of Johanna”-flavored melody. The set also included such selections as the late Allen Toussaint’s funky, horn-heavy “Goin’ Down Slowly,” before Lesh joined the stage. Looking extremely well and fit at 75, Lesh was a major catalyst in the muscular, crowd-pleasing, closing-set sequence of a specially arranged “Rueben and Cherise,” as well as the aforementioned “China Cat Sunflower,” into the Meters (and oft-Grateful Dead-covered) New Orleans standard, “Hey Pocky Way.”

At this juncture, Lebo and Friends took an exceptionally long break as many in the Grate Room, wedged their way next door into the Terrapin Crossroads bar, where actor Keifer Sutherland led his twangy-rock band in a free, 45-minute set, which acted as a warmup for a show in San Francisco a couple of days later. The five piece did a nice job with the audience craning their necks to get a glimpse of TV’s Jack Bauer cover Tom Petty and Gordon Lightfoot, with Lesh coming over to boost the bottom end in a set-ending “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

Meanwhile, back in the Grate Room, there was much more in store, as the horn section played and marched back into the hall in New Orleans second-line fashion, meeting the rest of the band for a spirited, extended “Iko Iko.”  Firing on all cylinders, the band followed with two ALO tunes, “Try” and “Country Electro,” with an excellent “Me & Bobby McGee” sandwiched in between. Scott Law joined the band for another Allen Toussaint tune, “Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky,” before the band rolled into a closing medley of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” “Eyes of the World,” and a horn-driven version of the old funky blues number, “Junco Partner,” which ended with the horns parading off the stage into the crowd.

This exceptionally busy night at Terrapin Crossroads, which featured a Mardi Gras-flavored Sausage and Shrimp Jambalaya with Rice entrée for the dinner hour, also included sets of music at the bar by local band San Geronimo and an acoustic pre-dinner set by Scott Law, Ross James, and Dave Zirbel.

Check out more photos from the show.

Combining delicately delivered music hypnotics and subtleties with a full band sound, guitar master Steve Kimock and his new group of accomplices, dubbed K I M O C K, delivered on March 6 a satisfying two-set performance at the intimate Center for the Arts in Grass Valley, California. The quartet, which is following up a series of California shows with an early-spring East Coast/Midwest run, included longtime sidekick and funky-bassist Bobby Vega, son John Morgan Kimock on drums, and singer-songwriter/keyboardist/guitarist Leslie Mendelson. The tour coincides with the release of Kimock’s new solo album, “Last Danger of Frost.”

In addition to the tiered permanent seating, chairs were also set up in the pit for this one, and it was the right choice. While K I M O C K, the band, brought a whole lot of thrilling, soul-stirring material to bear, ambience was a core theme here, rather than a vibe of wild, twirling abandon (which is not to say that some fine swaying and grooving didn’t transpire in the venue’s pockets of open spaces).

The tone on this rainy Sunday night, both literally and emotionally, were set by Kimock, a gifted, unorthodox player in the contemporary instrumental music scene since the 1970s. Playing at least a half-dozen instruments over the course of the evening, Kimock and the band delivered a performance rife with simultaneous clarity, subtle intricacies, as well as melodic, rapturous, and tonal wonder that exemplified why he is a revered and respected improvisational music-maker.

Seated comfortably with a standup lamp behind him and a multiplicity of stringed instruments placed all around him, Kimock began the show with an intimate, jovial chat with the audience before delivering some understated lap-slide passages that led into “Surely This Day,” a delicate, slide-heavy piece of music with a Far East flavor that appears on the new record. The first set also included “Come Back My Love,” written by Ali Akbar Khan, a legendary Indian classical musician whose music school was located next door to Kimock’s first Marin County home.

There were two decidedly different facets to the show, which intertwined nicely into a pleasing, always interesting, performance. First, there were new atmospheric instrumental offerings from, “Last Danger of Frost.” Second was a trio of offerings fronted by the charismatic Mendelson that, while accompanied by Kimock’s ethereal instrumental passages, ventured into, dare I say, folk-pop territory. These selections includes new songs she co-wrote with Kimock – “Careless Love” and the very catchy “Satellite City,” as well as a cover of Bruce Cockburn’s “Waiting for a Miracle.” With a voice reminiscent of Shawn Colvin or Norah Jones, Mendelson’s cool, captivating vibe, and smooth delivery won over the crowd while providing a well-balanced counterpoint to some of the evening’s more entrancing content.  

The show also included interesting pieces of music that included prerecorded voice-overs to which the band reacted instrumentally – the first-set ender contained jovialities from “guest ghost vocalist” Orson Welles, and the second-set opener included words of wisdom from the late Carl Sagan.

The second set also included more from “Last Danger of Frost” including “Tongue ‘n Groove,” a melodic old Kimock piece that the lively Vega made especially energetic; and the evening’s capstone, the dreamy, triumphant “My Favorite Number” from the new CD. Also, before jumping into “Fingernail Boogie,” Kimock gave a shout-out to classic lap steel player and Kimock influence Freddy Roulette, who recently lost his belongings in a Berkeley house fire.

Always technically proficient and a friendly figure on-stage, the thumb-picking Vega added plenty of gusto to the mix while Kimock the drummer, who a few years ago was a nice novelty to see performing with his father, showed that he is now an outstanding performer in his own right, with his own unique set of skills.

The band was quite friendly and relaxed on this night, with Kimock telling a story about his camaraderie with the late Owsley Stanley and their mutual affinity for going barefoot for a stretch of time. Later, the band kidded Vega about his 35-year-old metal-studded bass strap, sending Vega into an irreverent monologue about how he got into the right frame of mind to staple all of those studs.

Four years into the Terrapin Crossroads experience, a multipurpose Marin County destination at which proprietor Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead fame presides, the grand opening of the venue’s Backyard took place on April 17 in sunny, celebratory fashion with a headlining three-set Phil Lesh & Friends concert. This marked a major achievement for the venue that already offers a fine local-sourced restaurant, and concert settings that include The Grate Room and the smaller bar stage.

In a collaborative arrangement, Terrapin Crossroads is leasing the small San Rafael Creek canal-front Beach Park from the city of San Rafael, according to a 2015 article in the Marin County Journal. Terrapin Crossroads made vast improvements to the small patch of formerly neglected land and on grand-opening Sunday, Phil’s new space made its proud and shiny debut. The patch of land, which lies adjacent to Terrapin Crossroads’ restaurant and patio, and down the canal from the San Rafael Yacht Club, attracted a sold-out audience that included both Bohemian-dressed Dead Heads and well-heeled locals, which were not necessarily mutually exclusive. A few onlookers also gathered in the canal in kayaks and paddle-boards. A new, big wooden stage dominated the site, which included a comfortable artificial lawn (effectively saving a bunch of precious water).

While this day’s headlines revolved around the new outdoor digs, the music offerings were duly special. Though the many latecomers would miss them, the live music began with a Merle Haggard-soaked set, delivered by Scott Law & Ross James' Cosmic Twang, which on this day included Crossroads’ friends Tim Bluhm, Jason Crosby, and Jay Lane. Soulive, featuring guitarist Eric Krasno, drummer Alan Evans and keyboardist Neal Evans was next, expertly outputting a sweet, hour-long set of danceable and swayable funk- and jazz-infused rock jams that eventually led into an instrumental duo of Beatles favorites, “Eleanor Rigby” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” Soulive’s jazzy soul essence was a mélange of sounds that simultaneously celebrated the 1970s-era funky flavors of the genre while also planted firmly in the present.

A little after 3:30 p.m. Phil & Friends took over, launching an epic performance with the familiar “7, 8, 9 10…,” followed by the booming opening notes of “Playin’ in the Band.” Phil’s “friends” included the Soulive trio, as well as Jason Crosby, joining Neal Evans in a one-two keyboard punch, a trio of “Terrapin Horns,” and special guest Jackie Greene, who was the right person for the job. Though Soulive was admirably well-schooled in performing Grateful Dead material, Greene is uber-familiar with the stuff, having played with Lesh many times over the years as well as often performing some Dead tunes with his own band.

With Lesh brilliantly pumping bass passages and often yukking it up with his fellow musicians, Greene helped command center stage of the meaty sets of Grateful Dead classics, both original and covers they used to perform, as well as the Rolling Stones “Get Off of My Cloud,” singing most of the selections and prompting the rest of the bandmates with nods and glances that kept the songs on point and generally fabulous. Sound was crisp and clear and the threesome of Lesh and twin lead guitarists Eric Krasno and Greene manifested many stirring moments. Mingled with the twin keyboard attack, horns (though subdued in the mix), and adept drumming, this Phil & Friends mélange was a winner. Some 3½ hours later the massive performance of crowd-pleasers (detailed below), came to a close with an extended encore that amounted to a third set. Not bad for a 76-year-old bandleader.

Naturally, with a music lineup that included Scott Law & Ross James' Cosmic Twang, followed by Soulive and Phil & Friends, a decided majority gathered tightly on the grass in front of the stage. But the beauty of the event, and the blueprint that it set for Backyard events to come, were the many varied perches around the property that attendees could gather to eat, drink, and otherwise watch and hear the proceedings. It was evident that staff worked hard in advance of, and during the event. Bar stools and plush couches dotted the perimeter of the concert area and plentiful, constantly restocked water stations kept people hydrated for free. The patio was turned into a food and beverage alley, with several stations from which to purchase quality brews and wines, as well as the such party fare as Pizza, burritos, hamburgers, and wings. The restaurant itself, which did not offer its full dinner menu, was graciously open for people to plant themselves in its booths, at the bar, or upstairs, which offered a Backyard view from above. The bar stage was empty, yet its adorned speakers were alive and kicking with a direct feed from the concert.

Phil and Friends, April 17, 2016, Terrapin Crossroads Backyard, San Rafael, CA:

1) Playin’ in the Band, Good Lovin’, New New Minglewood Blues, Get Off Of My Cloud, Sugaree, Revolution, Dancing in the Streets 
2) Shakedown Street > West L.A. Fadeaway, Satisfaction, Viola Lee Blues, Alligator > Caution > Eleanor Rigby (instrumental) > The Other One > Franklins Tower
3) Deal > Bertha > Turn on Your Lovelight > Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues > Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad > Not Fade Away

Led by the Tim Bluhm’s caramel smooth baritone vocals, a unique bunch of renowned San Francisco Bay area-based players got together on May 11 to deliver a musical tribute to the recently fallen Merle Haggard. The show took place at the intimate Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California. The sextet, all of whom travel in the same musical circles, performed admirably more than 20 of The Hag’s most notable tunes from the past half-century, during which he charted 38 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Country Singles charts and 16 No. 1’s on the country album charts. “This is a great honor to play a whole bunch of Merle Haggard songs. We all love Merle Haggard … wherever he is.” offered Bluhm at the show's outset.

And the sacred songs, all part of the lexicon of America’s songbook, couldn’t have been in better hands. The collection of players was technically proficient. But more than that, the salute-to-Merle group delivered the heritage material with just-right quantities of strength, reverence, grace, and sophistication.

While singer/songwriter Bluhm is best known as front man for the seminal Mother Hips, and two of the evening's other standouts, bass player Steve Adams and drummer Dave Brogan, are most commonly linked to ALO, the aforementioned three players were all part of Brokedown in Bakersfield, whose repertoire centered around the dusty, rootsy, honkey-tonk pieces of music outputted by “Bakersfield sound” heroes such as Haggard and Buck Owens.

This show’s conglomerate also included Bluhm’s Mother Hips mate Greg Loiacano, whose boldly picked Fender lead guitar passages would’ve made Haggard proud; the versatile Jason Crosby (Phil & Friends, Shana Morrison, Doobie Decibel System) on brightly stuck piano and some violin, and skilled session player Dave Zirbel on pedal steel guitar.

The seasoned collective, all familiar with Haggard’s material, worked through excellent arrangements of such favorites as “If We Make it Through December,” “Silver Wings,” and “Working Man Blues,” and of course, “Mama Tried” and “Okie from Muskogee.” Bluhm, on acoustic guitar, paid homage vocally on the bulk of the material with Brogan reverently singing Haggard’s self-effacing “Misery and Gin,” Adams taking vocal lead on “Big City,” and Loiacano singing the ballad, “Always Wanting You.”

The band’s encore, “Sing Me Back Home,” was suitably appropriate, both in message and indeed, as the Haggard song was performed a couple of generations ago by The Grateful Dead, and that band’s Bob Weir is co-owner of The Sweetwater.

Setlist: Strangers; California Cotton Fields; Someday We’ll Look Back; Mama Tried; Lonesome Fugitive; Carolyn; Living With the Shades Pulled Down; Misery and Gin; If We Make it Through December; Old Man From the Mountain; I Can’t Hold Myself In Line; Always Wanting You; Foot Lights; Big City; Kern River; Okie From Muskogee; Sing a Sad Song; Swinging Doors; I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am; Silver Wings; Working Man Blues. E) Sing Me Back Home

It was red noses all around on May 22 in Southern Sonoma County, as thousands converged at the Mountain Event Center to celebrate Wavy Gravy in merriment and song on the occasion of his 80^th birthday.  

People came with gifts, “I love you’s,” howdies, and other assorted hollers of reverence for the colorful, indomitably spirited Wavy. The 10-hour, two-staged festival was a benefit for Seva, a Sanskrit word meaning, “service.” A benevolent nonprofit, Seva’s longtime trail of compassion can be simply summarized by its eye-care program that has restored sight to millions in some 20 countries, or as Wavy has put it countless times, “to help people stop bumping into stuff.”  

From beat poetry in the 1950s, formation of the roving Hog Farm family of pranksters and entertainers in the ‘60s, co-formation of Seva in the late ‘70s, proud nuclear power disobedience participant in the ‘80s, creator of original art and a Nobody for President candidate over the decades, Wavy has, for as long as anyone can remember, directed his activism and clown persona toward easing human suffering. Wavy founded and is still a director at Camp Winnarainbow circus and performing arts camp in Northern California. Satirist Paul Krassner once called Wavy "the illegitimate son of Harpo Marx and Mother Teresa."

John Popper, he of Blues Traveler fame, played a masterful artist-at-large at the event, adapting his harp-blowing to nearly every band, including the day’s final act, Yonder Mountain String Band. The band, which has nicely adjusted to the departure of co-founder Jeff Austin and addition of fiddle player Allie Kral and mandolin player Jake Joliff, capped the day’s festivities with a 90-minute set that included “I Know You Rider,” Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” and acted as a primo backing band on Popper’s/Blue Traveler’s “Run-Around.”

Wavy, a psychedelic relic who has admitted reaching “geezerhood” for some time now, traveled back and forth between stages to introduce acts, and deliver quips and witticisms throughout. Attention all turned to Wavy for an extended happy-birthday moment at about 5 p.m., when he was presented with a splendid-looking cake and serenaded by a parade performance that combined the rhythms, colors, and costumes of the SambaDrop marching band, with the well-wishes from the juggling, stilt-walking Prescott Circus Theatre, an after-school program for Bay Area kids. Performer and longtime friend of Seva Steve Earle sang “Happy Birthday,” with Wavy surrounded by friends and circus types.

The nine-hour event felt more like a big comfy musical backyard party. Outside, face-painting and color-your-own-T-shirt stations mixed with artsy apparel and food and beverage vendors. Inside, a large assemblage of art-for-sale created a wondrous walkthrough experience, with artists such as Stanley Mouse holding court, as well as the happy folks from Stoner Comix. All the while, vibrant, sun-dropped attendees settled on blankets and danced about outside, with red clown noses attached to cap bills, clothing, guitar tuning pegs, and more. And relaxed, unhurried musicians, seemingly enjoying the Day of Wavy as much as anyone.

While Yonder Mountain String Band closed the proceedings, it had turned dark and much colder by that time and the crowd had thinned some. The event arguably peaked with the good ol’ New Riders of the Purple Sage, with David Nelson still more than capably leading the troops as he has for more than 45 years. With Wavy bridging one of the jams on “Dirty Business” with some kazoo and ad-libbed stream-of-consciousness words, NRPS ran through such old-timers as “Henry,” some modern originals such as “Higher,” the Dead’s “Friend of the Devil,” and The Stones’ “Dead Flowers.” They also attracted many a special guest including John Popper, as well as Pete Sears and Barry Sless (who are part of the David Nelson Band), Lorin Rowan, and Joli Valenti.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Steve Earle, a Seva-benefit regular, was the penultimate main-stage entertainer, delivering a solo mix of self-penned songs (including “Tom Ames’ Prayer” and songs from a new record on which he collaborates with Shawn Colvin) as well as politically charged, wrongs-that-should-be-righted spoken messages. At one point he spoke of the importance of keeping up the fight. “‘You’re singing about a lost cause,’ a friend told me,” Earle said before performing his song, “Jerusalem.” “That’s not true. We’ll keep singing this song till it comes true or if we die first.”

Achilles Wheel, a Sierra Nevada foothills psychedelic rock ‘n’ blues band of regional renown, turned a whole lot of heads and continued to gain new fans with a spirited min-stage set of crafty new originals including a particularly robust “Heal My Soul” with Popper as well as such familiar pieces as a 12-minute “Shakedown Street.”

The T Sisters were one of the second stage highlights. Led by the three free-spirited Tietjen sisters of Oakland, the emerging folk and roots band, and guest guitarist James Nash (Waybacks) charmed old fans and new with superb triple harmonies on “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad,” The Grateful Dead’s “Bird Song,” as well as originals such as the set-ending traveling song “Woo Woo” with Popper.”

Led by Nat Keefe, Eric Yates, and Bryan Horn, the friendly faces of veteran Bay Area quintet Hot Buttered Rum also delivered their brand of lively progressive bluegrass in fine form during their time-limited second stage set.

The Grateful Bluegrass Boys also delivered a fine side-stage set. The band consists of Aaron Redner (formerly of Hot Buttered Rum), David Thom (David Grisman, more), Bryan Horne (Hot Buttered Rum), Ben Jacobs (Poor Man’s Whiskey, Achilles Wheel), and Isaac Cantor (Dusty Green Bones Band).

Earlier in the afternoon, Lake Tahoe’s Dead Winter Carpenters, featuring Jenni Charles’s fiddle, Jesse Dunn’s rhythm guitar, and Dave Lockhart’s double bass, kicked off the main stage activities and Terry Haggerty (Sons of Champlin, Terry & The Pirates) serenaded the event’s early arrivals from the side stage. Preceding the Dead Winter Carpenters set, Warm Springs Nation member Quiltman spoke briefly in honor of the late John Trudell.

The solar-powered concert venue is a 3,000 or so capacity charming  courtyard situated in the middle of what is known as SOMO, (Sonoma Mountain Village), which, when built out over the next dozen years, is expected to be a walkable, bicycle-friendly community with lots of retail space and more than 1,500 homes.

Check out more photos from the show.

Euphoric dancing paired nicely with a rock ‘n’ roll varietal that included flavorful notes of blues, psychedelia, and other jam-happy material on June 3, as performed by the David Nelson Band at the Center for the Arts in the Sierra Nevada foothill community of Grass Valley, California.

Maintaining a marvelous groove of unison throughout, the evening, the band showed its versatility through originals that appear on the band’s most recent project, “Once in a Blue Moon,” as well as many covers, all with the requisite stretched-out DNB improvisations. Such re-do’s included Bill Monroe’s 1945 standard, “Rocky Road Blues”; the 50’ rocker delivered Cajun style, “Shake Rattle & Roll”; Eddie Cochrane’s “Summertime Blues”; and classics “Peggy O” and “Iko Iko.” An encore of The Grateful Dead’s “Box of Rain” followed a closing sequence of three Robert Hunter-penned, originally New Riders of the Purple Sage songs: “Ghost Train Blues,” “Suite at The Mission,” and “Kick In The Head,” the latter of which first appeared on “The Adventures of Panama Red” LP way back in 1973.

The band’s most important ingredient, David Nelson, you know, the guy who cut his musical teeth in the early ‘60s with Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter in the Wildwood Boys and then went on to co-found the still-in-the-saddle New Riders, was on point throughout. With his trademark tie-dye shirt and tie-dye head band pushing his hair up high, Nelson was the central figure, triggering jam chord changes and solo passages with an unassuming nod or look toward one bandmate or another.

A genuine American music icon of several sorts, not only does the venerable Nelson possess at his fingertips a catalog of hundreds of originals he’s had his hands on and mind around over the years as well as a staggeringly diverse set of covers from which to choose, but at 72 this patriarch of the psychedelic cowboy rock scene remains sharp as ever and is a fine bandleader, guitarist and vocalist.

The cohesive DNB quintet boasts marvelous players, each with the pedigree to prove it. Barry Sless is a monster on lead guitar. Sless, who has been part of the DNB since the beginning, in the mid-‘90s, presents a Garcia-reminiscent picking style but not for a second does one get the feeling that he’s copying Garcia’s licks. Instead, Sless taps into fresh, heretofore unexplored lead passages as he helps bring fabulous escalating crescendos of sound to the mix.

At it for almost 50 years, Pete Sears, a mild-mannered fellow in person (which isn’t to suggest that the other fellas aren’t swell!) still delivers fierce bass passages that would be the envy of most rock ‘n’ roll players half his age. Sears’ pedigree is almost incomparable, sharing stage and studio over time with such artists as Rod Stewart, Stoneground, Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, John Lee Hooker, and more.

John Molo (Bruce Hornsby, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Other Ones, more), was masterful on the drums, setting, maintaining, and modifying the beats to coincide seamlessly with whatever song and jam were being beamed to the beholden audience.

The fifth player, keyboardist Mookie Siegel (Phil and Friends, RatDog, Donna Jean and the Tricksters, Kingfish, many other Bay Area bands) has also been with the David Nelson Band since 1994. His twin keyboards meshed compatibly with the rest of the band and on this night he took an admirable lead vocal on Peter Rowan’s “Sweet Melinda.”

Part of the cohesiveness is no doubt due to the fact that three-fifths of the band – Sears, Sless, and Molo – spend a good part if their time working with another popular Bay Area progressive band, Moonalice. Since both NRPS and Moonalice each play plenty of shows each year, these David Nelson Band performances are fairly infrequent, much to the chagrin of the band’s small but dedicated following.

“We Rainbow Girls are normally at festivals because we are scheduled to play them,” said multi-instrumentalist Caitlin Gowdey, 27, “but High Sierra is the only festival I will always go to even if I have to pay for my ticket.”

Indeed for many, the 26^th annual four-day music and camping adventure at California’s Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds cemented its reputation as a prime, rejuvenating festie destination.  Held in a mountain town they call Quincy, where the elevation far surpasses the population – except for festival weekend – the big music jamboree once again satisfied the bohemian itch of revelers of all ages over the Fourth of July weekend.  Diverse headliners included Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Thievery Corporation, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Joe Russo’s Almost Dead. Paige Clem, Director of Marketing and Festival Programs confirmed that approximately 9,000 people attended this year’s festival over the course of the weekend.

“Anything goes … everything works,” said Pam Mitchell, 67, of Bishop, California, summing up the High Sierra Music Festival proceedings. “All of the different kinds of people, thousands of us camping together for four days and no hassles. It’s because of the power of music.”

Erin Chapin, 27, also one of the Rainbow Girls, described an “anything goes” moment. We played at the ‘Unstable Camp’ on Thursday night … and they were “demanding originals including our infamous number, ‘The Naked Song’ so they could all get naked. We definitely had the best seat in the house for the next 10 minutes with 20 to 30 naked bodies moving and shaking all around us.”

The fairgrounds were suitably fashioned into a Neverland for free-spirits, buoyed by such activities as parades, playshops, and plenty of visuals. The fest’s ubiquitous handmade wooden signs with their witty messages, like “Music is the strongest form of magic” and “Art is just a pigment of your imagination,” were among these welcoming sights. A festival Facebook page survey of long-timers, who were asked to describe High Sierra with one word, yielded these top two answers: “home” and “family,” Clem said.

Boredom at High Sierra is not an option. In addition to the fine and varied musical fare offered day and night by more than 50 artists on the three main stages, there was, as always, plenty to see and do. Daytime playshops offered in the big-barn-like High Sierra Music Hall, offered attendees to so their favorite artists in an offbeat way, in one-of-a-kind collaborations with other musicians as they performed to themes like “Allen Toussaint Tribute,” “Digging Into the Roots of Hot Tuna,” and “Funkify Your Life.”

And of course there were High Sierra’s famed late-night doings, which require separate tickets but always draw hundreds of frenzied merrymakers who love the chance to jump and dance from midnight to 4 a.m. Such events this year included double bills that included such performers as Lettuce, Break Science, and the North Mississippi Allstars, the latter of which did a double set as the band Twiddle were not able to make it do to a string of travel snafus.

For those who chose not to continue to rage late at night but sought out quieter digs, special intimate 11:30 p.m. Troubadour Sessions that included unplugged and seated solo and collaborative pieces of music, were the perfect medicine. Sessions included such cool collaborations as Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Scott Law, Lesley Grant, and Kimon Kirk on Friday night, and Luther Dickenson, Steve Poltz, Sierra Hull, and Eric McFadden on Saturday night.

While many things were reliably familiar, the roster of performers was especially fresh, with many making their High Sierra debut.

“The musical mix was great this year with almost half of our artists new to High Sierra for the first time,” said Clem. “There was a lot of buzz about newcomers Samantha Fish, The Record Company, The Accidentals and more and big shout outs to sets from Anders Osborne, Greensky Bluegrass, Xavier Rudd and The Motet.”

Also new this year, Clem pointed out, was a new parade team who presented a special “Saturday night glowing parade,” and she gave props to fest sponsor Kleen Kanteen, which “donated water filtration systems in multiple locations to help reduce waste and keep folks hydrated.”

Everyone had their own favorites and unique observations. Bettina, from San Rafael and who has attended about five High Sierras dating back many years, worked the late-night box office. “People getting tickets were funny, entertaining,” she said, “Certainly great people-watching at High Sierra…. What’s really great about High Sierra is the community that attends High Sierra.”

David Vert, 57, from Chico, Calif., called the fest “the happiest place on Earth for four days.” This was the 17^th consecutive year that was a festival volunteer. “What’s good about High Sierra? All the loving people, all the music lovers, and the noncompetitive vibe,” Vert said. “Which leads me to my only gripe, which is when rogue camps bring P.A. gear and crank Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” at 5 a.m. before they go to the <traditional early-morning> kick-ball game.”

In addition to the Motet’s salute to 1977 set, Dawn Stevenson, 47, of Grass Valley, Calif., who has attended “approximately 14” High Sierras, especially enjoyed New Mastersounds’ daytime set. “I love to watch Mr. Roberts play guitar and dig jazzy tunes,” she said. The acoustic Troubadour sessions also resonated with her sensibilities. “The chill vibe was a nice change as were the focused fans listening respectfully top awesome singer/songwriter,” she said.

Campgrounds, which usurp several different patches of ground around the fairgrounds, provided comfortable, if compact, residences for friends to rest, share food and drink, and otherwise share in the weekend’s adventures.

And then there are the attendees themselves, bonding with friends old and new. In addition to planned get-togethers with established friends from near and far who gathered at the fairgrounds, the old Grateful Dead adage, “Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand,” was never more relevant.

Speaking of The Grateful Dead, their spirit was still quite vibrant at High Sierra in 2016, despite fact that the band’s patriarch, Jerry Garcia,” passed away 21 years ago, In addition to Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, which offered two sets of material of The Dead’s catalog, and Scott Law & Ross James’ Cosmic Twang, which also leans on the band’s repertoire, The Grateful Dead’s undeniable legacy could be heard all over the place, like Thievery Corporation’s reggae version of “Fire on the Mountain,” Lebo and Friends’ version of “China Cat,” and Steve Poltz’s “Casey Jones.” And oh, that Steve Poltz! His irresistible sing-along style – not to mention his penchant for crowd-surfing – was in fine form. “It goes without saying that Steve Poltz endears himself to every person he encounters,” said Clem. “<He> had folks laughing and crying at his Sunday Grandstand set, as The Fruity Salmons with last minute sit-ins from Leftover’s Vince Herman and Fruition’s Tyler Thompson. And people are still talking about his ‘Steal Your Poltz’ organic renditions of Dead tunes alongside a cast of friends.”

Music was delivered from stages small to massive, and the staff, volunteers, and the facility itself nicely accommodated all the merriment that was thrown at it, which was considerable. The enormous on-site campgrounds were their own major festie ingredient. Dotted with simple tents to RV sites rigged with lights and sound systems, all sorts of musical fun and games went on, including some big unofficial events like the California Honeydrops serenading a crowd of perhaps 100 revelers with a full set at “Kamp Bitchin’ Kitchen” while a monster crab feed was being prepared, and New Mastersounds and Big Sticky Mess getting down at “Camp Happiness.”

A diverse set of food vendors and were abundant and kept late hours, portable toilets were kept clean, free water was plentiful, and self-contained portable sink trailers and showers helped keep it all civilized. Although, when it came to showers, some opted for Dr. Bronner’s clothing-optional community Magical Foam Tub – which was a more, uh, “natural” kind of “civilized.” The presence of many nonprofit awareness stations were also good for the soul.

Other layers of the fest that allowed festivalgoers to mold their weekends in a variety of ways took place on “The Lawn.” These happenings included tight-rope walking, acro yoga, poi spinning, and fire dancing.

Aside from those that received top billing, dozens of jam band types and several cross-genre acts filled the days and nights. Each one had its own nuances of electronica, funk, reggae, world fusion, and/or bluegrass. Some of the biggest fun was found “discovering” a performer that had not before been on one’s radar.

Musicians making a special amount of buzz included psychedelic/jazz jammers DRKWAV (featuring John Medeski, Skerik, and Adam Dietch), Xavier Rudd’s electric didgeridoo, Greensky Bluegrass’s tender bluegrass version of Prince’s “1999” delivered at 2 a.m. And there was New Orleans vocalist Margie Perez, who performed on two stages at the same time on Saturday – going back and forth between the California Honeydrops’ set in the Music Hall and with Papa Mali on the Vaudeville Stage.

The Family Village had a full schedule of colorful kid-friendly activities and music, including the Banana Slug String Band, the Lebo/Bo Carper-led Bumpity Bumps, and Pamela Parkers’ Little Bear playshops.

Headliners naturally performed on the fairgrounds’ Grandstand Meadow Stage, as did most of the other largest acts, such as Chris Robinson’s Brotherhood, Leftover Salmon, Dr. Dog, Greensky Bluegrass, and Elephant Revival.

Artists at-large Lebo, Scott Law, and Eric McFadden were seemingly everywhere, always happy to collaborate with others.

Elephant Revival, featuring the dreamlike vocals of Bonnie Payne who also plays washboard, djembe, and saw, played several sets over the weekend, drawing in more and more fans with each of their captivating performances. Perhaps more than any other act, they had gone through the most drama to get to High Sierra. Band multi-instrumentalist Charlie Rose (banjo, pedal steel, guitar, horns, cello, double bass) voiced how the band has made it through what has been a challenging summer. On June 17, while parked at a gig in North Carolina, the band’s large bus caught fire, with several unique handmade instruments caught up in the blaze. Still, they carried on. “The charred carcass of the bus was out there while we were playing,” Rose said of that fateful night in Hickory, N.C. “The outpouring of support just makes us feel thankful,” Rose said. “The band and crew are OK and we’re moving forward with the music – and I think that’s coming through in the music.”

Less than one year and about 50 shows into this thing, Dead & Company illustrated on July 29 at the newly renamed Toyota Amphitheatre near Sacramento, that it has found a powerful groove that satisfies those who have been immersed in the Grateful Dead culture for 50 years or 50 weeks. Reverence to the Grateful Dead catalog of songs, which arguably is one of the most important such collections of the second half of America’s 20^th century, combined with the booster -shot infusions of fine-tuned and powerful new arrangements, delivering a satisfying live experience. Twenty-one years after Jerry Garcia’s passing, the slight weirdness of him not being there has almost disappeared, for me. And Lesh, he’s still uber-active in the Bay Area and New York area with his fine friends, so I didn’t pine for his presence so much (and Burbridge is a bass beast).

Not everyone smoked weed of course at Dead & Company’s visit to the Toyota Amphitheatre about 35 miles north of Sacramento, but everyone did bake under the current heat spell’s super dry, 105-degree sun that felt akin to a pizza oven. Attitudes were good all-around at the pre-show parking lot marketplace scene, as hearty attendees drank and gave away water, covered up with all means of silks and other light-fabric throws, and generally moved about slowly. Slow does not equate to unenthusiastic however, as smiles still beamed from most rosier-than-normal cheeks walking about. And besides, this being California, the temperate dropped by 30 degrees by show’s end – two approximately 90-minute sets and 35-minute break

From the 15-minute “Uncle John’s Band” through the acoustic “Ripple” encore, the band on this night fired on all circuits. Even to this admittedly fairly jaded Grateful Dead music curmudgeon, the Bob Weir-led ensemble, with John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti all playing superb, essential roles, and a couple of pretty fine drummers named Bill and Mickey, was sublime. While Weir and the Mayer traded lead vocals, Burbridge and Chimenti added background vocals. In addition, Burbridge lent a hand during the second set’s drumming passage, turning it into a three-man creation.  The post-drums sequence of “New Speedway Boogie,” “Morning Dew,” and “Casey Jones” was tremendous.

These players should be wholly commended for songs being taken to unprecedented heights, including jams on “Ramble On Rose,” “China Cat Sunflower,” and “He’s Gone.” Every song had a special new wrinkle and flourish than the versions of songs that many of us were weaned on. Even songs that in days of yore were known as mellow songs, such as “Loser” and “Lost Sailor,” each had jams in them that were as powerful as a 1980s-era “The Other One.” And that’s no small feat.

T

echnology does play a role in the awesomeness of the Dead & Company product. While the band is clearly well-rehearsed, the crisp clarity of the sound – even in this large amphitheater – combined with state-of-the-art lights and visuals, including brilliant stage-backdrop live video feeds and artful animations, added to the experience. The gestalt of it all was something to behold.

The crowd included those young and old, and one father and son (both named Jon, but with different middle names, I’m told), from Elk Grove, Calif., near Sacramento had different but equally positive points of view.

Jon the father, age 53, saw about 35 Grateful Dead shows in his day. He knew all of the material and was pleased with how Dead & Company has developed. “They are so much more in sync than they were eight months ago.  They don’t even need to look at each other to communicate anymore. They just go!”

Jon the son, 22, whose experiences with The Grateful Dead scene included a Fare Thee Well show in 2015 and being held as a baby at one of the many Garcia memorial celebrations in 1995, was also enthused, based on, if nothing else, his ongoing cell phone capturing of the band and its ever changing visual backgrounds. “Most of my friends don’t appreciate this music, but if I have the time, I listen” the younger Jon said, adding that he liked hip-hop and “everything.”

Scattered thoughts and recollections of the Dead & Company show near Sacramento, circa July 29, 2016

• While there were lots of young shiny faces in the audience, they didn’t overly exalt when the band broke into “Touch of Grey,” The Grateful Dead’s biggest charting single. It was pleasing to see that the crowd loved it all.
• It’s true what everyone’s been saying about John Mayer, of whom I was admittedly not a big fan a year ago as I stood there with my arms folded whispering to myself, “OK, show me.” He showed me. His improvisational jamming skill and obvious appreciation for The Grateful Dead and their material was evident from start to finish.
• Jeff Chimenti, who has been Weir’s chief keyboard side man for almost 20 years, was flawless, as he is in virtually every band in which he plays.
• Toward the end of “He’s Gone,” Mayer delivered some improvisational scat vocals, as Burbridge stomped around next to him powerfully plucking his bass.
• “Easy Wind,” played for the second-time ever by this band, was fine fun, with all of the band members, old and new, enthusiastically riding out the verses and jams of the old Hunter/Pig Pen roadhouse rocker.
• Mickey Hart’s post drum percussive session was a fabulous fast-paced, energetic tribal/electronica/cosmic jam. His strums on the Beam were a heart-shaking full-body experience.
• Anticipating what song will come next, a Dead Head game since the original band’s early days, is still a thing. “Sounds like it’s gonna be ‘Shakedown,’ … no … it’s … Oh, it’s “Touch of Grey.”
• Old Grateful Dead concerts had a lot of subtleties to them and moments of vulnerability that were all part of the experience when Jerry Garcia was at the helm. Dead & Company, at least on this night, powered through (except for “Ripple”), almost all notions of subtlety. That’s not a criticism, just an observation.
• Similarly, this band obviously rehearses more than The Grateful Dead ever did. But does that mean they lose some of the spontaneity of a good ol’ Grateful Dead show? And if so, is that OK? I don’t know; just something more to think on.
• Famous Dead Head and NBA Hall-of-Famer Bill Walton was planted at the soundboard, reveling in the proceedings. He especially seemed to enjoy “Saint of Circumstance,” a phrase he throws around sometimes on NBA broadcasts.
• The show was very well attended, though not a sellout. Under-$30 lawn seats at the gate allowed everyone to get in (though still some parking lot folk sought free tickets from their concert sisters and brothers).
• In 2016, dabbing cannabis concentrates and other methods of consumption have replaced old-fashioned doobie smoking for some, but marijuana is still the king of intoxicants on the scene.

At 57, I’ve been at this Grateful Dead music thing for about 40 years. So as a concert reviewer, you’re not gonna get a “they crushed it,” out of me very often. But this Dead & Company band, in this current space in time, on a super-hot night in California’s north valley, they indeed crushed it.

A quintet of renowned Northern California jammy groups – Jackie Greene Band, Steve Kimock & Friends, David Nelson Band, The Mother Hips, and Moonalice – provided a nine-hour supersonic background on August 6 for a couple thousand bohemian yet genteel attendees at the 2016 incarnation of the Petaluma Music Festival. The proceedings had all of the markings and vibes of a big family gathering, which played out at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds amid beaming sunshine and comfortable temperatures that never rose above 75.

While there were no members of The Grateful Dead at the fest, it certainly felt like an assemblage of Grateful Dead extended family, once removed. Versatile guitarist Mark Karan, who spent many years with Bob Weir’s RatDog, as well as with bands led by Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart, was the designated “artist at large.” Jeff Chimenti of Furthur, Dead & Company, etc., was there, working his keyboards with Steve Kimock and Friends (Kimock himself had oft-performed with Bob Weir’s RatDog as well as Phil and Friends). Another keyboardist, Jason Crosby, who spends many-an-evening performing at Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads, was also a busy player on this day. And a couple of old Grateful Dead roadies kibitzed and held court backstage all day.

Good ol’ David Nelson, there with his band (not the NRPS, which he continues to tour with), has ties that go way, way back in Grateful Dead folklore, first as a member of the Wildwood Boys in the early 1960s with Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. Also part of the way-back contingent, Darby Slick, who was a member of The Great Society with his sister-in-law Grace before she joined the Jefferson Airplane more than 50 years ago, was also on-hand, performing with the aforementioned Karan on some Karan tunes as well as “Somebody to Love” (which he wrote), and “White Rabbit.”

Moonalice and The Mother Hips also have their own ties to the Grateful Dead family – the Hips after 20-plus years of success have as of late performed many times at Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads. And all members of Moonalice – John Molo, Barry Sless, Pete Sears, and Roger McNamee are steeped in collaborations with and the jamming style of The Grateful Dead.

There was a friendly fluidity to the whole day, with many players performing many times. Karan delivered lead guitar flourishes with The Mother Hips, and Jackie Greene, as well as an acoustic set with Darby Slick. Crosby played keys with Moonalice, Kimock & Friends, and an acoustic Doobie Decibel System set. And as always, members of Moonalice, David Nelson Band, and Doobie Decibel System, bands which rarely (if ever?) have all performed together on the same day, shared many of the same beloved players.

And while there was no official dedication to Jerry Garcia or The Grateful Dead, that band’s songbook made it into many set lists. This event occurred during what some call “The Days Between,” meaning the period between Garcia’s birthday of Aug. 1 and his death on Aug. 9. David Nelson Band (with Wally Ingram as a second drummer) delivered an epic “Iko Iko” that segued into a sweet version of “Ripple,” with Sless’s pedal steel passages turning into a masterpiece. Kimock and Friends – which included an all-star cast of Chimenti, Lebo, Bobby Vega, Leslie Mendelson, and Ingram – performed a whole host of songs that Jerry Garcia used to execute with his own band.  The set included fine renderings of “Oh Babe, It Ain’t No Lie,” “Tore Up Over You,” “Mystery Train,” and “Waiting For a Miracle.” Finally, with a crescent moon rising over his shoulder, Jackie Greene led his band with a pleasing festival closing sequence of “Jackstraw” followed by The Beatles, “Don’t Let Me Down.”

All that is not to say that the Festival Stage bands were obsessed with Dead material; each band brought forth plenty of their own pieces of music. The Mother Hips set included their old scorching rocker, “Smoke,” as well as Magazine,” “Song in a Can,” and the Everly Brothers’ “Gone Gone Gone” (the latter of which Steve Kimock covered as well).

The Jackie Greene Band’s set included opener “Back to the Bottom,” as well as “Spooky Tina,” “Gone Wanderin’,” “So Hard to Find My Way,” “Light Up Your Window,” and a rare version of Traffic’s “Medicated Goo.”

Moonalice’s intricate set of songs and jams included, after the obligatory Steve Parish introduction, “Joker’s Lie,” “Live to Love,” “You,” “High Five,” “Tell Me It’s OK,” and their oft-played cover of The Byrds’ “Mr. Spaceman.”

Finally, David Nelson Band’s improvisational-jam-filled set opened with a typical “Rocky Road Blues,” and also included “Fable of a Chosen One,” “Different World,” “Man Overboard,” “Movin’ Right Along,” “Earl’s Girls,” “Edge of the Wire,” and Traffic’s “Rainmaker.”

In addition to the main, “Festival” stage, the fest featured up and coming performers on two smaller stages. Many of the day’s musicians also performed acoustically on a small indoor stage. The multiple stages kept things moving quickly, though there were a couple of times when music lovers had to make a tough choice. For instance, an acoustic Doobie Decibel System trio set, featuring Roger McNamee, Jason Crosby, and Lebo, took place while the David Nelson Band delivered songs and jams from the Festival Stage, 

The itinerary for the Lagunitas Stage included spirited performances by regionally renowned acts: David Luning, The Sam Chase, Joy & Madness, and The Highway Poets. The Petaluma Stage provided an outlet for several not-yet big-time rock bands to let loose live.

The infrastructure of the fairgrounds itself, smaller and more intimate than the Sonoma County Fairgrounds some 15 miles to the north, was a fine event venue, with its multitude of shaded picnic tables, permanent bathrooms, and a pleasing field of green grass in front of the main stage that held comfortably all of the attendees, though word was that this was better attended than years’ past. Colorful food and drink vendors lined the avenues between stages and a kid’s carnival area added to day-at-the-hippie-fair vibe. More than once people were heard to say, “What Outside Lands?” in reference to the epic music and arts fest taking place that weekend at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band displayed in Oakland, California, why its stock has vaulted the group toward the top echelon of touring outfits and headlining roles at many-a-music festival. Anchored by a couple of blues-rock stalwarts, each with a consummate musical pedigree, the husband-and-wife team of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks presided over the 12-piece ensemble’s performance on Sept. 8 that was all at once brilliant, exhilarating, wide-ranging, and classy. With its intimate capacity of 2,800, the ornate midtown Fox Theatre, originally opened in 1928 (then closed in 1973 until extensive renovations allowed it to re-open in 2009), provided a wonderful space for the event.

Still not yet 40, Derek Trucks (nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer/co-founder Butch Trucks) is remembered by many after being first introduced to him sitting in with the Allman Brothers while he was just 13, and then joining the band for 15 years. And some got their first infusion of Susan Tedeschi in the 1990s when she began leading her own band, or when she was part of the Lillith Fair in 1999, B.B. King’s Blues Festival tour in 2000 or with The Other Ones in 2002.

The awe-inspiring Grammy Award-winning band has the personnel, talent, and muscle to deliver powerful, quintessential versions of any blues, rock, and/or jazz tune of its choosing.

On this night, some songs spotlighted Trucks’ seemingly effortless, scintillating blues and slide-guitar passages alongside Tedeschi’s raw, emotional vocals and ample guitar licks. Others moved the pair toward supporting roles, while fabulous keyboardist Kofi Burbridge (Oteil’s older brother), or one of the six-member horn-and-vocal-harmony section players took the spotlight.

Preceded on this night by a set from Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, Tedeschi Trucks’ set – they would do two sets the following night – included original pieces of music from the bands current project, “Let Me Get By.”

Also on aural display were reverent versions of classics and standards by a extensive list of heritage artists such as George Harrison (“Isn’t It A Pity”); jazz god Miles Davis (the epic “Bitches Brew”, which spotlighted the horn section, of course, most notably trumpeter Ephraim Owens); country legend George Jones (“Color of the Blues,” a ballad from 1958 featuring only Tedeschi on soft guitar with vocal harmony accompanists by Alecia Chakour and Mike Mattison); and blues master BB King (“How Blue Can You Get” – originally recorded by Johnny Moore 15 years before King’s famous 1963 version). The Box Tops classic, “The Letter,” was covered in full-band regalia a la Joe Cocker’s famed live version of the song, and a performance of the recently deceased Allen Toussaint’s “Get Out of My Life Woman,” was particularly thrilling and dynamic.

The band’s set also featured several nicely stretched out interpretations of Tedeschi Trucks originals from “Let Me Get By, “including “Don’t Know What It Means,” “Laugh About It,” Right On Time,” and I Want More.” And when they got to it, all of us were in the band for the performance of the catchy, mid-set “Let Me Get By,” as our collaborative voices and raised arms matched with Tedeschi’s oft-repeated vocal cries of “Let… Me… Get… By.” The group also performed “Bound For Glory,” from the “Revelator” disc, which was a big, horn-filled blues revival experience.

The set ended with a blazing, Woodstock-reminiscent version of Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice,” and an encore of BB King’s “Let’s Go Get Stoned” brought an end to the Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and Joe Cocker’s “Space Captain.”

Toward the end of the set, Tedeschi welcomed to the stage Alam Khan, a friend from nearby Marin County who contributed sarod (a sitar-like Indian classical music instrument) passages on “These Walls,” a song on which Khan appeared on CD, but had never performed with the band live. Kahn is the son of Ali Akbar Khan; in the past, Trucks sat in on several classes at the Ali Akbar College of Music.

Opening the evening’s festivities, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers delivered a fine set of tight and sassy rock, with a hint of country twang. Her band’s Van Sessions covers have attracted millions of eyeballs on YouTube, and they have toured incessantly. Barely missing a step after the departure of band co-founder Tim Bluhm a year ago, Nicki Bluhm marches on more than ably, with an outstanding cast of supporting characters including lead guitarist Deren Ney, rhythm guitar/vocalist Dave Mulligan, bassist Steve Adams, and drummer Mike Curry.

Praising Susan Tedeschi at one point, Bluhm recollected back to when she was in eighth grade when she saw Tedeschi perform at KPIG radio Fish Fry At one point, saying to herself, “I want to be onstage doing that!”

The Grambler’s set included quite a few tracks from the band’s two full-length discs, as well as the Jefferson Airplane classic “Somebody to Love,” which allowed Bluhm to showcase her rock ‘n’ roll vocal strengths. Set standouts included “Little Too Late,” a soulful blues-rocker in which a sassy Bluhm offers, “It’s not how you swim, it’s how you hold your breath. It’s not about playin’ fair in this life, it’s more about cheatin’ death.” Before the band’s final number, Bluhm shared with the crowd that she grew up and rode horses in the East Bay Area town of Lafayette, a time and activity she fondly remembers. She then closed the set with the self-reflective ballad, “Queen of the Rodeo.”

The Fox Theatre shows are also worth noting for one, they were video-recorded for a future Tedeschi Trucks concert movie, and two, $1 of every ticket benefited the Seva Foundation, the Berkeley-based philanthropic organization most noted for its work including more than 4 million sight-saving surgeries in the Far East and Africa. Wavy Gravy, who co-founded Seva in 1978 and still sits on its board of directors, was in attendance with his wife, clearly enjoying the proceedings.

On an evening in which summer still ruled in North-Central California, the compelling and charismatic Avett Brothers visibly pleased 5,000 or so souls with their lilting musical storytelling on Sept. 16. The unbridled, rootsy, folk-rock stomp took place at Thunder Valley Casino Resort’s outdoor venue in Lincoln, near Sacramento, California.  

And just as the cooling, ocean-fed Delta Breeze swept over and refreshed the scene, so did Scott Avett, Seth Avett, and the rest of the band refresh the assemblage with a music outpouring of life’s tales, backed with song-appropriate ebbs and flows of dynamic instrumental layers and textures.

The North Carolina-based band, whose touring unit has numbered seven for the past several tours, were on point throughout the two-hour set and double encore, presiding over declarations and odes of love, joy, sorrow, and wisdom; all delivered with Seth’s and Scott’s endearing folky Southern drawl.

Seth Avett (guitar, vocals, keyboards, more) and Scott Avett (banjo, vocals, keyboards, more), the non-rock-starry stars of the band, alternately stayed at their center-stage mics – mostly while singing, -- and tramped about the stage during jam passages, adding to the party vibe. Bob Crawford stood motionless at most times, letting his profoundly mighty bass tones (electric and stand-up) put forth a wide range of bottom-end emotions.

The delightfully unorthodox Joe Kwon, who played and moved about with his cello as much as it was anchored on the ground, and dynamic fiddler Tania Elizabeth, were an in-synch string duo throughout, while keyboardist Paul DeFiglia and drummer Mike Marsh provided top-notch supporting roles.

The set opened with the upbeat, novelty bluegrass ditty, “D-Bag Rag,” with Seth and Scott contributing kazoo jams, followed by the title track of the recently released, Rick Rubin-produced, “True Sadness,” In all, The Avetts performed eight of the new album’s 12 tracks, all of which melded nicely with the band’s extensive catalog. New-material highlights included the popular and insanely catchy bass-fueled hit, “Ain’t No Man”; raucous revival-like rocker, “Satan Pulls the Strings,” highlighted by an exciting fiddle/cello collaboration; and the folk-lively “Smithsonian.”

Of course the band mixes it up from show to show, and indeed, only 15 of 26 songs were performed on the previous evening. Most unusual, and simultaneously crowd pleasing was the solid, second-ever performance of Bob Dylan’s classic, “Tangled Up in Blue,” led by Seth’s vocals and jangly guitar, Scott’s harmonica, Crawford’s steady bass, and Kwon’s cello. Also fairly rarely played were the touching ballad, “Famous Flower of Manhattan,” and “Pretty Girl from Michigan,” actually part of a career-spanning series that includes “Pretty Girl from Matthews,” “Annapolis,” “Cedar Lane,” etc.

Other crowd pleasers along the way included, “Live and Die,” “I and Love and You,” and “Kick Drum Heart,” with the audience rapidly clapping and air-drumming at the appropriate moments. The set also included the anthemic “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise” (during which a keen ear noticed that the lyric, “your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected,” was changed to “the person that’s elected”); and “Divorce Separation Blues,” which Seth singing what could’ve been the actual long-form title, “The tough education, no celebration, bad communication, worse interpretation, love deprivation, pain allocation, soul devastation, cold desolation, life complication, resuscitation, divorce separation blues.”

The band also performed three scaled-down acoustic songs with Seth, Scott, and Crawford gathered around one mic, including the hundred-year-old gospel ditty, “In the Garden.”

“Hard Feelings,” also on the new project, was excellent in its final encore slot with the Avetts vocally offering words to exit and ruminate on: “I’m finally learning why; It matters for me and you; To say it and mean it too; For life and its loveliness; And all of its ugliness; Good as it’s been to me; I have no enemies; I have no enemies; I have no enemies; I have no enemies;.”

Opening the show, was the uniquely voiced singer/songwriter Brett Dennen, backed by a drummer and bass player. Better served is a smaller venue, Dennen delivered a nice set of tunes, but they were almost an afterthought once the concert was said and done.

Check out more photos from the show.

“Never trust a prankster,” a motto of the Acid Test-producing Merry Pranksters back in the 1960s, was apropos on Friday, at Bob Weir’s inaugural Campfire Tour show in San Rafael, California. In support of Weir’s new countrified, ballad-heavy album, “Blue Mountain,” all signs pointed to a live show in which Weir’s new band would mosey on through a series of sparse, slow-paced odes.

But while that was essentially true for the first set, and certainly enjoyable, the huge video backdrop segued between sets from wide-open-spaces scenery like old farm houses and galloping antelopes, to undulating, pulsating, psychedelic visuals, prompting a second-set outburst of full-throttle Grateful Dead material that surprised and delighted the assemblage.

The first set did include, as expected, a preponderance of “Blue Mountain” material. And it was awesome. After the genteel crowd had gathered in the comfortable, 2,000-seat Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, Weir came out onstage alone, and said, “Fifty-some years ago, a 15-year-old kid thought it would be fine thing to do to run away one summer and be a cowboy.” It was his way of introducing the hometown audience to the title track of the new record, which includes the oft-repeated lines, “Blue Mountain you’re azure deep; Blue Mountain your sides are steep.”

Throughout the evening, the clearly fit Weir was comfortable in stature, mood, and music prowess, with some attendees stating that they’d never seen or heard him in such fine form. He and the band performed, during the hour-long first set, cool and breezy versions of seven tunes from the new, 12-song record, including the album’s opening track, “Only a River,” which includes snippets of the old, traditional “Oh Shenandoah,” and which has been getting a lot of airplay (and digital play) over the past month. Each cowboy-tinged, story-telling tune was nicely delivered, and it seemed as if the now-elder Weir was letting us peek behind his personal curtain to share his formative memories.

As the story goes, according to a recent Dennis McNally published piece, Weir spent some preteen summers at a cattle ranch in Squaw Valley, California. “I spent a lot of time as a kid hanging at the riding stable there,” Weir is quoted as saying. “It was manned by these old cowpokes, and they kind of took a shine to me.” In addition, some of Weir’s teen adventures took place at a school in Colorado and on a Wyoming ranch, both with future lifetime friend and collaborating lyricist John Barlow. It was in the bunkhouse of Barlow’s ranch where Weir says he first heard, “Blue Mountain,” and 50 years later, he reworked the song with the new album’s co-chief songwriter, Josh Ritter. Weir said, “It helped us shape the whole concept of the record when we finally starting nailing that one together.”

The nameless – so far — new band includes three members of veteran indie band, The National, including Scott Devendorf (electric bass), Bryan Devendorf (drums), as well as Josh Kaufman, who co-produced “Blue Mountain” (electric and acoustic guitar passages, and stints on piano). With Aaron Dresser not able to make the tour, stepping up to the plate are Jon Shaw of the bands WOLF and Shakey Graves (mandolin, stand-up bass, piano) as well as longtime Weir collaborator Steve Kimock (guitars, lap steel). Both Kimock and Shaw played on the new album.

Weir’s collaboration with The National has some history. Onstage, Weir performed a Grateful Dead music-filled show with The National at Weir’s TRI Studios in early 2012, and Weir appeared with them for a song at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival in 2013. An additional, National-to-Grateful-Dead connection occurred earlier in 2016, as The National acted as a house band on “Day of the Dead,” a six-hour, 59-song tribute to The Dead with proceeds going to the help the those affected by HIV/AIDS and related world health issues.

Back to the show: Weir was quite spontaneous. At one point early in the first set, he turned to Kaufman, and spoke into the mic to all of us as he pointed behind him to one of the rustic backdrops, “See that? Look at that,” Weir said. “I spent a lot of time around scenery like that.” He then talked about how old abandoned barns, like the one shown in the scene, would remain there seemingly forever until becoming almost petrified. He also amusingly introduced “Lay My Lily Down” as “basically a love song for a horse.”  Weir was also not afraid to share with the crowd that he was still becoming familiar with live arrangements of the new songs, and before starting one song, he changed his mind, saying, “I’ll tell you what, we’ll do that next set. I need my cheat sheet.” For a guy who would perform most Grateful Dead shows without saying a word to the crowd (letting the music do the talking), such banter and intimacy was refreshing and comforting. He also gave props to Ritter. “It was a lot of fun working with Josh Ritter on these songs,” Weir said. “He’s a gifted young American writer.”

For a first-show-ever by this band, the group was quite cohesive and all on the same page, including the recently added Kimock and Shaw. Weir and friends’ penultimate song of the first set, which garnered plenty of hoots and hollers from the crowd, was a well-placed, long-time Grateful Dead piece of music, “He’s Gone,” a song that an old friend used to say has the pacing of a plodding horse. The wonderful rendering of “He’s Gone” eventually led into the upbeat, Johnny Cash-like, “Gonesville” (“Well if I’m alone will you take my hand; Will you stand with me in the pouring rain; With my seven sins and my contraband”).

After about a half-hour break, all modicums of lullaby-like cowboy songs were put to rest, and muscular versions of classic Grateful Dead songs took over. The second set opener, “Althea,” was delivered with intensity and it quickly became apparent that Kaufman’s twangy, country-blues riffs were a perfectly balanced counterpoint to Kimock’s psychedelic guitar approach, as Weir played earnestly in between them. Though awesome on its own, “Althea” foreshadowed more of what Weir had in store for us. An excellent, reworked rootsy version of the old favorite “My & My Uncle,” with extended twangy jams from Kaufman and Garcia-reminiscent jams from Kimock defined the band’s potential latitude. The band then went all-out for the rest of the 80-minute set, bringing the crowd to its feet as it poured forth dazzling, on-fire versions of “Playin’ in the Band” into “The Other One,” with Weir surprisingly playing an acoustic guitar through much of the hoopla (and Scott Devendorf clearly enjoying the moment he got to deliver Phil Lesh’s old staccato bass intro that signals the vocal portion of “The Other One”). The band carried on, gearing down for a sublime version of Weir’s signature, “Looks Like Rain,” with Kimock’s lap steel passages bringing to mind Jerry Garcia’s early accompaniments of the song, a la 1972. Then, with a sweet reprise of “Playin’ in the Band,” and the second set was complete. That is, until a triple encore ensued.

Weir first returned for an encore alone to play his medium-paced new cowpoke ditty, “Ki-Yi Bossie,” which Lukas Nelson helped Weir to write. Two old Grateful Dead-catalog favorites that fit the “Blue Mountain” motif, “”Mama Tried” and “Ripple,” ended the festivities.

One couldn’t help but wonder how much of an effect that Kimock had on the band, in terms of injecting a big Grateful Dead vibe into the show. If Aaron Dresser was in the band, as originally planned, would the whole thing have been different? Not so, according to Matt Busch, Weir’s longtime manager. “The song selection has not changed from what was originally planned, yet,” Busch said the next day. “There's definitely a difference in style between Aaron Dessner's guitar playing and Steve Kimock's and while Aaron would've added additional keyboards along the way, he does not, like Steve, play lap steel and pedal steel so those parts in ‘Looks Like Rain’ and other songs would've been different. <That’s the> best answer I can give after one show.”

Note: The show came about two weeks after Weir received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2016 Americana Honors & Awards.

Bob Weir and band, Oct. 7, 2016 | Marin County Veterans Auditorium, San Rafael, CA

Set 1) Blue Mountain, Only a River, Lay My Lily Down, Whatever Happened to Rose, Ghost Towns, Gallop on the Run, He's Gone > Gonesville.

Set 2) Althea, Me and My Uncle, Playing in the Band > The Other One > Looks Like Rain > Playing In The Band reprise.

E) Ki-Yi Bossie, Mama Tried, Ripple

As the sun set on Disney World on Oct. 20, nighttime was dawning at the House of Blues on the west end of the park’s Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney). And there, along Lake Buena Vista, adjacent to Wolfgang Puck’s Grand Café, a giant Cirque du Soleil tent, and the DisneyQuest Emporium, Rusted Root performed a pleasing, passionate set of joyous jamming. Blues rocker Devon Allman and his band opened the proceedings at the 2,100-capacity multi-tiered club. The show was part of a month-long tour for this double-bill, set to end on November 19. South Floridians ready for a Thursday night party along with tourists who happened to be in the area and ready for some post-Magic Kingdom thrills filled the room and reveled in the goings on.

Rusted Root made a big splash in the early-mid 1990s with a couple of trendy albums and participation in early Furthur and HORDE festivals, as well as opening slots on Santana, Dave Matthews Band, and Page & Plant tours. The Pittsburgh, Pa.-based folk/alt-rock band steeped in African/Middle Eastern beats has kept its music torch burning ever since, still led by front-man Michael Glabicki (lead vocals, acoustic/electric guitars), and co-founding members Liz Berlin (backing vocals and a plethora of hand-held percussion instruments), and Patrick Norman (bass, backing vocals).

The band’s seminal, tribal-tinged song, “Send Me on My Way,” also remains synonymous with the band. And indeed the song is currently featured on a national car rental company’s TV commercials.

Rusted Root’s 90-minute set at the House of Blues consisted of songs from across their timeline, including old favorites such as the euphoric, dance-inducing “Ecstasy” and an extended version of the mid-tempo, hypnotic “Laugh as the Sun.” Rusted Root also delivered outstanding treatments of Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl” and dearly departed David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel.” The set also included a few heavy-grooved songs from what promises to be a fine upcoming album.

Rusted Root’s triple encore included three pieces of music that date back to the band’s early days -- Glabicki’s solo acoustic treatment of “Scattered,” followed by the bass-and-bongo-driven “Lost in a Crowd,” and finally, the crowd-pleasing, celebratory “Send Me on My Way,” complete with penny whistle.

The aforementioned Devon Allman Band, featuring three exceptional supporting players, opened the show with a solid 45 minutes of road house blues and rockers, and Allman came down from the stage to jam with the crowd for a spell.  The son of Gregg Allman and leader of Honeytribe and Royal Southern Brotherhood, Allman ruled the stage with material from his new “Ride or Die” project, which on October 8 reached No. 1 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart, as well as some diverse covers including Bob Marley’s timeless, “No Women, No Cry,” and The Spinners old soul tune, “I’ll Be Around.”

The most popular performance of Allman’s set was a passionate, raucous version of “One Way Out,” a song that the Allman Brothers made famous more than 40 years ago (though written by Elmore James or Sonny Boy Williamson, depending on which source you choose to reference).

Part of the House of Blues Mission, as evidenced by the inclusive cultural icons across the top of the stage, is “To celebrate the diversity and brotherhood of world culture” and “to promote racial and spiritual harmony through love, peace, truth, righteousness and non-violence.” That is a nice notion during these turbulent political times.

Jackson Browne on October 26 headlined a rousing and inspiring benefit in Sacramento, in support of California’s Yes on Prop. 62 / Repeal the Death Penalty election effort. The legendary singer/songwriter has advocated musically for positive social change initiatives since the 1970s. During the course of the entire show, Browne was as affable and funny as he was skillful, performing each tune with great dedication and reverence. During his 90-plus minute set, Browne accompanied himself on piano and myriad acoustic and electric guitars, and didn’t miss a note. He was also self-effacing and swayed far from the set list he had on the floor in front of him. At one point during the final few numbers, he amusingly scolded himself, saying “I’m doing the opposite of a professionally sculpted set.”

Dionne Wilson, who spoke before Browne’s set, is the widow of a police officer killed in the line of duty in 2005, but supports that abolishment of the death penalty in California. She said to the attentive crowd, “Some people say the death penalty is the ultimate justice. But to me, the ultimate justice is making sure crime victims get the services they need and we can't do that if we waste $150 million a year on a failed system that does nothing to increase public safety and that only delivers ‘justice’ to less than 1% of all crime victim family members."

Browne’s material included a few tracks from Browne’s 2014 album, “Standing on the Breach’’ as well as career-spanning old favorites such as “Running on Empty,” “Late for the Sky,” “The Pretender,” “In the Shape of a Heart,” and I’m Alive.” He also delivered Warren Zevon’s “Monkey Wash Donkey Rinse,” Bob Dylan’s “License to Kill,” and a rousing version of Steve Van Zandt’s “I Am A Patriot.”

Clearly, politically, Browne still calls ‘em like he sees ‘em. From the current’s CD’s “I’m Long Way Around,” he sang in skewering fashion: “It's a little hard keeping track of what's gone wrong / The covenant unravels, and the news just rolls along / I could feel my memory letting go some two or three disasters ago / It's hard to say which did more ill / Citizens United or the Gulf oil spill.”

A Bob Dylan song Browne chose to perform, noting that Dylan was the latest Nobel Laureate, included this hard-hitting, Election-2016-appropriate message: “Now, he's hell-bent for destruction / he's afraid and confused / And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill / All he believes are his eyes / And his eyes, they just tell him lies.” Possibly more endearing to the crowd was Browne’s story of the time he spent in Havana with famed Cuban revolutionary singer/songwriter Carlos Varela. Browne translated Verela’s “Walls and Doors,” which includes the declaration, “There can be freedom, only when nobody owns it.”

But the favorites of the night were the old songs of sensitivity, love, and personal struggles that concertgoers have held dear for decades. In “Rosie,” for example, which dates back to 1977, people, some with their eyes closed, swayed softly in their chairs as Browne delivered such life-lesson lyrics as, “Of all the times that I've been burned / By now you'd think I'd have learned / That it's who you look like / Not who you are.”

Browne’s canon of material is quite extensive, if judged only by the breadth of different song titles that eager fans requested to be performed. A couple of tunes, such as the old love song, “Rosie,” were carried out. People to the left, right, and directly in front of him barked out their favorites prompting Browne to liken it to an auction. He really didn’t seem to mind; however. He was humbled by the process and said that he appreciated it. “They’re all MY songs,” he said proudly and a little sheepishly.

He thanked the Yes on Prop 62 activists and also thanked “everyone who’s working so hard on this election.” He thought for a second and joked, “Well, not EVERYONE!” He then mentioned that a lot of people say that everyone should vote, no matter who they vote for. “I’m not going to say that,” Browne proclaimed. “It really DOES matter who you vote for,” garnering laughs and more applause.

Also on the bill was veteran singer-songwriting troubadour Peter Case, who laudably regaled the crowd during his warmup set. Case, a friend of Browne’s for more than 30 years, is a fairly unsung great American musical minstrel. Strumming and finger picking with a bold clarity that showcased distinctly the high end and bass end of his guitar, Case also sang with an emotional, slightly rough vocal delivery that added to his dynamic journeyman’s charm. Case’s compelling set, which included material from of his latest project, “Highway 62,” began the show with an obscure eight-verse Bob Dylan song that dates back to 1963, “Long Time Gone.”

His set also included the thoroughly apropos – for this night – “Pelican Bay,” a prison-plight ballad that he introduced by saying,” there are 8,000 in solitary there; here’s a little toe-tapper about that.” In addition, Case delivered “Old Blue Car,” a Grammy-nominated song from his self-titled 1986 solo debut;  “All Dressed Up (For Trial);” “Ain’t Gonna Worry No More,” and final song, “Put Down the Gun.”

The storied, original Fillmore in San Francisco played host to “Ramble on Rose,” an elegant Rex Foundation benefit on December 3 that featured the Midnight Ramble Band along with a bunch of renowned local guest players. The group, which over the years recorded three “Midnight Ramble Sessions” live CDs with The Band’s co-founder Levon Helm, and was Helm’s final music ensemble before his passing in 2012, rarely performs and even more rarely comes to the West Coast.

Amy Helm (Levon’s daughter), Larry Campbell, and Teresa Williams, all on guitars and vocals, fronted the group of 10 consummate players. The dynamic, two-hour-plus performance included material that showcased exquisite harmonies, New Orleans-infused brass, and a whole bunch of material from Americana’s acoustic lexicon. Brian Mitchell’s exuberant, Creole-flavored keyboards and delightfully growling vocals, along with Jim Wieder’s guitar accompaniments, and a three-piece brass section, also helped define the performance for a well-heeled audience, many of whom donated several hundred dollars to the foundation and attended both the show and pre-concert, sit-down reception.

The Midnight Ramble Band’s massive set included plenty of old favorites from The Band, including an opening sequence of “This Wheel’s On Fire,” “The Shape I’m In,” and “Life is a Carnival,” as well as “Ophelia” (with Grahame Lesh on guitar), and the finale number, “The Weight,” for which all guests returned to the stage. Levon Helm’s “Sing Sing Sing” and “Dirt Farmer” were also part of the musical proceedings.

In addition, in keeping with the Rex Foundation’s history, the Band/Grateful Dead connection and the makeup of the crowd, the show included an extended sequence of Grateful Dead music: “Attics of My Life,” “Shakedown Street,” “Brokedown Palace,” “Sugaree,” “New Speedway Boogie,” and “Ripple.”

The set also included a bunch of other classics that seemed tailor-made for the audience, many of whom had a touch (or more) of gray. All the while though, an exuberant bunch of younger lively celebrants, who helped turn the gig into a dance-in-front-of-the-stage affair, helped facilitate the party into a more energetic affair. Such comforting cover tunes included “On Your Way Down” (Allen Toussaint), “Ain’t That Good News” (Sam Cooke), “Atlantic City” (Bruce Springsteen), “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” (Blind Willie Johnson), “Long Black Veil” (Lefty Frizzell), and “Kingfish” (Randy Newman / Levon Helm).

The legendary and intimate Fillmore, one of Bill Graham’s primary venues during San Francisco’s psychedelic music scene and cultural renaissance of the late 1960s, provided an apropos setting.

The Rex Foundation, founded in 1983 and named for late Grateful Dead crew member Rex Jackson, is a nonprofit environmental, arts, and social services advocacy organization. Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead are among the luminaries on the Rex Board. During his introduction of the band, Rex Foundation Executive Director Cameron Sears praised Levon Helm, announcing that Levon Helm and his surviving legacy, which carries on at Levon Helm Studios and The Barn in Woodstock, N.Y., were the recipients of the Ralph S. Gleason Award.

The award “represents somebody who has kept a commitment to creative arts and music in the community and we chose to give it to Levon Helm,” Sears said. “Levon Helm and The Grateful Dead have a wonderful history. … We’ve all lived it together. His scene in Woodstock really epitomized what we felt was a great combination of creativity and community. And we gave them a grant to ensure that people  there that are carrying on his tradition continue to do that.”

Flanked by Levon’s daughter Amy Helm to his left and performer wife Teresa Williams to his right, Larry Campbell was bandleader and conductor. During the proceedings, the core group was joined by several guests: Grahame Lesh (guitar, backup vocals) and Elliott Peck (most notably on vocals on “Ripple”) of Midnight North; Vicki Randle (from “The Tonight Show,” Aretha Franklin); Nicki Bluhm (who led a sweet three-part harmony with Amy Helm and Teresa Williams on “Brokedown Palace”; and Jason Crosby (keyboards). Sublime harmonies were also achieved during “Attics of My Life” as well as a rocking gospel version of “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” by Williams, Randle, Peck, and Lesh. It was notable that all but one of the guests were 42 and younger, a deserved tribute to the newer guard of Bay Area players.

The Midnight Ramble Band was preceded by Wake the Dead, a veteran Celtic-styled Grateful-Dead band that has performed at previous Rex Foundation benefits. That band featured Danny Carnahan (guitar, octave mandolin, fiddle, and vocals); Sylvia Herold (guitar and vocals); Paul Kotapish (mandolin, guitar, and vocals; and Kevin Carr (fiddle, uilleann pipes, and pennywhistle). They delivered a host of Grateful Dead material, all with Celtic flair, including “Cumberland Blues,” “Deal,” “New Speedway Boogie,” and a rousing, set-ending “Scarlet Begonias,” that included impressive jig- and reel-style jams. Their set also included Neil Young’s/Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul,” Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With,” and Bob Dylan’s “Just Like A Woman,” with Herold doing a splendid, soulful job on vocals. 

To learn more about or to donate to the Rex Foundation, visit www.rexfoundation.org.

Check out more photos from the show.

It was a 1967 jukebox performance like no other at The Fillmore in San Francisco on January 31, when a veritable who’s who of contemporary Bay Area jamsters came together for a “Surrealistic Superjam.” The event, presented by the Recording Academy San Francisco Chapter, was a salute to “the 50th Anniversary of the Summer Of Love and San Francisco's own Jefferson Airplane’s release of the iconic album ‘Surrealistic Pillow’ on this day in 1967.”

With fresh approaches and nicely tweaked arrangements, some 25 players ran through pleasantly rehearsed, well-school versions of classics from 1967, the historical heyday of the of the so-called “psychedelic San Francisco sound.” Beginning with “Cold Rain & Snow” from The Grateful Dead’s first record – the performers played it in modern-day mid-tempo style rather than the frenetic paced version on The Dead’s original record,  to an epic sing-along to The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love,” it was hard to tell who enjoyed it more, the musicians or the sold-out assemblage.

For those who have not noticed, while respect has not diminished for the members of the San Francisco music scene circa 1967, some of whom are still performing, the baton has slowly but surely been passed toward a new breed of bright-eyed, music whiz kids. And on this night, only a couple were in the 50-and-over crowd.

“Right now, the Bay Area musician scene is riper than I’ve ever seen it in the almost 20 years I’ve been living here,” said Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, a main catalyst and facilitator for the Superjam’s proceedings. “So much collaborating and sharing of ideas. It’s a really inspiring time. The lineups just fell into place.”

The core band, included Lebo (from ALO and other bands, on guitars/lap steel/vocals), Steve Adams (from ALO and Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, on bass/keyboards), Jason Crosby (highly in-demand session and live player, on keyboards/guitar/vocals), and Ezra Lipp (Stu Allen, New Monsoon, etc., on drums).

There was a proud, organic San Francisco flavor to the event, set in the original Fillmore, a focal point of the local music scene all those years ago. Over the course of the entire show, which clocked in at about two hours, the backdrops included undulating liquid lights and iconic images, some from TV, and some from the lens of the late, great Jim Marshall.

And the musical material itself was more than just a bunch of old radio classics. Part of America’s musical lexicon of the 1960s, these were pieces of music are an important, indelible part of the fiber of American popular culture of the second half of the 20^th century. The material’s familiarity helped engross and gratify the crowd who nodded, smiled, danced, and visibly appreciated the songs, and made for fairly easy crafting of arrangements for these like-minded friends and players from different bands.

“We did one rehearsal with the core band,” Lebo said. “I find this scene of people to be really efficient at rehearsing. Everyone showed up knowing the songs already.  That way the rehearsal <was> spent working on the finer details. From that point we just ran through the arrangements backstage and at sound check with the other 20 musicians.”

The proceedings went as follows (lead singers in parentheses):

Set 1: “Cold Rain and Snow” (Lebo from ALO, other bands)

“For What It's Worth” (Jason Crosby/Roger McNamee from Moonalice, Doobie Decibel System)

“(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” (Dave Mulligan from Nicki Bluhm & the Grambers / Elliott Peck from Midnight North) 

“San Francisco – Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair” (Ben and Alex Morrison of Brothers Comatose)

“White Rabbit” (Paula Frazer from Tarnation)

Set 2: “Embryonic Journey” (Instrumental - Bo Carper from New Monsoon / Lebo)

“California Dreamin'” (Grahame Lesh from Midnight North, Terrapin Family Band)

“Happy Together” (Zach Gill from ALO)

“Stand” (Lesley Grant from Katdelic)

“Today” (Trevor Garrod from Tea Leaf Green)

“Somebody to Love” (Nicki Bluhm from Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)

“All You Need Is Love” (All)

Each song was presented with reverence to the original versions, but with tasteful enhancements and augmentations fueled by, in addition to the names mentioned above, the vocal skills of Erika Tietjen (T Sisters) as well as the instrumental prowess of folks including Pete Sears (Moonalice & more), Ross James (Phil & Friends, Terrapin Family Band),  Scott Guberman (Phil Lesh & Friends), Deren Ney (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers), Jonny Bones (California Honeydrops), Rob Dehlinger (Stormy Jones, composer), and Mike Curry (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers).

The Superjam followed the local Recording Academy’s San Francisco Chapter Board’s 59^th annual Grammy Nomination Celebration, which took place immediately before the concert.

Check out more photos from the show.

How many lead guitarists does it take for one to sufficiently experience Jimi Hendrix? Well, according to the Experience Hendrix Tour that rolled through the Mondavi Center in Davis, California, on Feb. 22, the correct answer is seven. Now gone for 46 years, the music and legend of Jimi Hendrix, still recognized as among the top rock guitarists of all time, still survives and flourishes.

Attendees at the upscale UC Davis venue received a three-hour, two-set immersion into myriad classic Hendrix songs, all done up proper with big arrangements and searing leads from such guitar greats, mostly from the blues world, as Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Zakk Wylde, Jonny Lang, Dweezil Zappa, Mato Nanji, and Keb’ Mo’. So much guitar power almost made for sensory overload by night’s end, but the appreciative crowd hung on every poignant Hendrix-tribute note throughout.

The most massive guitar performances of the night were courtesy of Wylde and Shepherd. Wylde, whose 15-minute-plus jam on “Purple Haze” included passages delivered in several different stances from the theatre’s walkways and aisles, culminating with a one-to-one jam and a follow-up fist bump to a delighted woman seated in a wheelchair.  Shepherd’s extended take on the “Voodoo Chile Medley” was uber-epic and super-charged.

Guy, now one of the last surviving blues guitarists of the original Chicago blues scene of the 1950s, finally took the stage late in the second set and closed the show, with “Who Knows,” Muddy Waters’ “Louisiana Blues,” and “Hey Joe.”  His set featured drummer Tim Austin, from Guy’s Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues Band (and 25-year tenure with the Staple Singers), and 75-year-old bassist Billy Cox, who befriended Hendrix all the way back in 1961, and has the notoriety of being the only surviving member of the Jimi Hendrix Experience (toward the end of that band’s run) and Band of Gypsies.

Already possessing 20-year careers, though both still in their 30s, bluesmen Shepherd and Lang fronted and shredded on several Hendrix tunes in the second set. Shepherd was featured on “Gypsy Eyes,” “I Don’t Live Today,” and “Come On,” for which bandmate Noah Hunt providing vocals.

Lang excelled on “Fire” and emotionally charged versions of “Wind Cries Mary” and “Spanish Castle Magic.”

Blues rocker Mato Nanji, from Indigenous, has been on the Experience Hendrix Tour bus since 2002, He was onstage through most of the night, providing plenty of scorching guitar passages on lead and as secondary lead during Lang’s and Guy’s sets.

Zappa’s role was delivered early in the show. With a calm smile and without rock-star gyrations or persona, Zappa dished out great solos during the show-opening sequence of “Freedom” and “Stone Free,” as well as on “Ezy Rider” and “Love or Confusion.”

Veteran bandleader Henri Brown provided stage presence and vocals on and off throughout the night, taking lead vocals on “Foxy Lady” and Buddy Miles’ “Them Changes.”

Keb’ Mo’, usually a more rootsy, low-key onstage presence, brought plenty of fire to the show, offering excellent bluesy lead licks on “Killing Floor” as well as “Catfish Blues” and “The Sky is Dying.”

Darick and Chuck Campbell, from the appropriately named group, The Slide Brothers, delivered a twin pedal-steel-guitar assault on “Catfish Blues” and “The Sky is Dying.”

Throughout most of the night, Chris Layton, best known for his work with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble provided steady and powerful beats as Experience Hendrix’s house drummer. And Scott Nelson, a veteran bassist of Shepherd’s band and many, many other blues projects, combined with Layton to provide a fierce bottom end that laid the foundation from which the lead guitarists flourished.

Check out more photos from the show.

In a three-set, five hour night of music at the Warfield Theatre on February 25 that began with an unusual David Nelson Band performance, the current, proficient Melvin Seals and JGB turned in an fine set before giving way to special band roster, also led by monster organist Seals, but with the addition of Stu Allen on lead guitar, Oteil Burbridge on bass and 1980s-‘90s-era JGB vocalists Gloria Jones and Jacklyn LaBranch.

As Grateful Dead fans, we all knew that band patriarch Jerry Garcia had a wide ranging interest in various musical genres. From its beginning in the early 1970s, the Jerry Garcia Band, a definite departure from The Grateful Dead, exhibited such multidimensional material, bringing wondrous and compelling arrangements of a bevy of Motown, reggae, rock, ballads, and other classics of contemporary music to the stage. And often, the Garcia Band turned three-minute radio hits into stretched-out improvisational masterpieces. Though there was a Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia Band overlap with songs such as “Sugaree,” “They Love Each Other,” and “Deal,” and songs from Garcia’s several solo albums, the band always showcased a wide range of American classics.

Keyboardists always played a major component in Jerry Garcia’s electric-band side projects, from Merl Saunders at the beginning (as Saunders/Garcia Band and the Legion of Mary), to Nicky Hopkins, to Keith Godchaux, and then Ozzie Ahlers for a couple of years. But in 1980 Melvin Seals joined the band and meshed perfectly, with a heavy, swirling, Hammond B-3 organ that was seamlessly interlaced with Garcia’s improvisational stretches.

More than 35 years later, and 22 years after Garcia’s passing, Seals is still at it, relying on the vast catalog of material that Garcia delivered from the stage, keeping the band’s flame burning brightly with a relevance that doesn’t feel like a contrived imitation.

On this night Melvin Seals and JGB offered two sets, the first with their current lineup of Seals (organ), Zach Nugent (guitar/vocals), Pete Lavezzoli (drums), John-Paul McLean (bass), and Shirley Starks and Cheryl Rucker (vocals).  With all songs performed in lush, stretched-out fashion, the first set included the Rolling Stones’ “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” Jimmy Cliff’s “The Harder They Come,” Peter Rowan’s “Mississippi Moon,” Norton Buffalo’s “Ain’t No Bread in the Breadbox,” Little Junior's Blue Flames’ “Mystery Train,” and Sam Cooke’s “What a Wonderful Word,” followed by a pleasing closing sequence of Bruce Cockburn’s “Waiting for a Miracle” that segued into J.J. Cale’s “After Midnight,” and then flowed into an instrumental version of The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” which evolved back into “After Midnight.”

After the set break, Seals summoned the band’s guests, and while the first-set band members’ had greater familiarity with the material and each other, the second set, with Burbridge on bass and Allen on lead, added a little more excitement and seasoned star power, and a lot of “Stuuuuuu” calls from the crowd.

The special second set, with Allen on vocals, included versions of the following Jerry Garcia Band (and JGB) favorites: Marvin Gaye’s "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," Hunter/Garcia’s “Cats Under the Stars,” Eric Clapton’s “Lay Down Sally,” Hank Ballard’s "Tore Up Over You,” Garcia/Hunter’s “Run for the Roses,” Los Lobos’ “Evangeline,” Lennon/McCartney’s “Dear Prudence,” and Van Morrison’s “And It Stoned Me.” JGB’s Nugent, McLean, Starks, and Rucker returned to, along with Burbridge, Allen, LaBranch and Jones, deliver a spirited night-ending encore of Hunter/Garcia’s Deal.

The show’s opening act, the David Nelson Band, also had a couple of twists in addition to the stalwart core players of Mookie Siegel, Pete Sears, Barry Sless, and John Molo. First, the “role of David Nelson,” which has been aptly filled over the past several months by Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman as Nelson recovered from shoulder surgery, was on this night fulfilled by Peter Rowan after Nelson announced days ago that he needed additional time away from the stage to concentrate on more health treatments.

Rowan, a friend (including on record and on stage) of Nelson’s for more than 45 years, is a legend for his work in Earth Opera, Sea Train, Old & in the Way, The Rowan Brothers and the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band. In addition, blues-rockin’ singer/songwriter Katie Skene, who has occasionally been adding guitar and vocals with the band as of late, sat in with the band at the Warfield.

This version of the David Nelson Band dished out a great set that unfortunately seemed to go over the heads of some in the audience, who chose to chatter it up rather than watch and listen. With Rowan at the helm on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, the band offered Jimmy Rodgers’ classic “Mule Skinner Blues” to open thing up. Next, was the famous weed-smoking saga that Roan wrote for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, “Panama Red,” done the way Rowan has performed it of late, flowing into the traditional “Freight Train” (credited to Elizabeth Cotton more than 100 years ago), and back into “Panama Red.” Next up was “Sweet Melinda”, a Rowan song that has occasionally found its way onto the DNB concert stage, followed by Rowan’s “Pullin’ the Devil by the Tail." Sears next sang an anti-war mid-tempo song apparently called, “Hand in Hand," and Rowan followed with one of his staples, “Land of the Navajo,” first recorded with Old & In the Way. Skene then led the band with her song, “To the River,” and the set closed with a crowd pleasing “Iko Iko.”

Ian Anderson, once and always front man of the legendary Jethro Tull is embarking on two major projects: a new album in which he and a British string quartet created of reworked Tull classics, as well as some major U.S. touring of a program dubbed, “Jethro Tull, performed by Ian Anderson.” Anderson took time recently to speak to Grateful Web via telephone.

GW: To help set the scene, from where are you speaking to me today? 

IA: My office in Southwest England.

GW: Can you tell me more about the upcoming album, “Jethro Tull: The String Quartets,” due out on March 24?  How did the idea come about and how did the collaboration with John O’Hara and the Carducci Quartet come about?

IA: A year ago I was looking at various projects for the future and one of those was to do a classical album, just a string quartet stripped down, add a judicious addition of myself to remind people where it comes from.  I thought I should try to make it an interesting. After first developing melodies we worked on arrangements at the Worcester Cathedral in the outlying country side,

GW: Did you write the arrangements of these songs?

IA: They were written down by John O’Hara, a keyboard player who’s a classically trained orchestral arranger. He worked on these for a few months on and off and we met a few times to run through things and then we had a day’s rehearsal with the string quartet just to get them ready for the recording – but they had already done quite a bit of prep.

GW: You have been working with John O’Hara for a number of years with Jethro Tull and forward.

IA: That’s true. He’s been playing keyboards <with me> for about 10, 12 years now.

GW: Was the project within the comfort zone of the quartet or did they have to change their music mindset a little?

IA: Well, I picked them because I went to see them perform in London; they were introduced to me via the brother of one of the musicians who recommended them.  They had a very good tight, intuitive, rhythmic feel and performed a lot of difficult string quartet pieces, but more contemporary than traditional/classic so I knew they could cope with the rhythmic feel and energy that I felt the music deserved. So they were well prepared by the time they came in for rehearsal. They were in good shape, not having to make too many changes to the way they play, because they already had their bowings worked out and they worked out their little signs and nuances. They were following each other without the need for any conducting or bow-keeping or whatever

GW: Do you have a fitness regimen or secret to staying fit and performance-ready?

IA: It’s what I’m doing at the moment. I travel off to Budapest on Thursday for a week of concert touring and I have to spend maybe three or four days before a tour just warming up and rehearsing every day and running through songs and generally getting my fitness level back to where it should be. Because if you’ve been off the road for two weeks everything tends to sag a bit. You know, the embouchure of playing the flute to the flexibility of the fingers. As you get older it’s the case, I believe, that you’ve actually got to spend more time rehearsing, not less. Even though you may know the music intrinsically, you have to train the body and mind – all that muscle memory that’s involved in fingering, performing and even singing too.

GW: Let’s turn our attention please to your upcoming live tours in the United States. It is completely separate from the quartet efforts, yes?

IA: The string quartet album is a standalone project. We’re not going out on tour to perform with a string quartet. We have three tours planned this year in the United States. One is with the Colorado Symphony (May 26 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre), which is a one-off concert with a full orchestra – a different kettle of fish altogether – and the rest of the concerts are I suppose what you’d call best of Jethro Tull, but with a lot of video production stuff so they’re quite entertaining and visual and mainly, pretty much kind of “up” material. It’s a rock concert so that’s what much of the time I do, although from tradition a certain amount of the music is acoustic that we play too. You know there’s probably three, or four, or five pieces that you would describe as “acoustic”; most of it’s fully rock music.

GW: And tickets are available for all of the U.S shows?

IA: Venues and promoters don’t usually want to put tickets on sale until they’ve programmed their on-sale periods, because from a competition point of view they usually plan very carefully when they want to release tickets to the general public. Which is much later than I would choose to do because we go to sale much earlier in Europe with tickets. But in America it tends to be three or four months before a tour, which in my view doesn’t allow people enough time to really plan ahead – for those people who really do have to make arrangements to see the concert.

But it’s not up to us. It’s not even up to the promoter. It’s the venues that don’t wants tickets being announced until they are in a position to take orders and quite often you’ll find that they don’t want to put tickets on sale for a show that’s going to happen in September because they’ve got  artists playing in May and June and they want to sell those tickets first. We don’t really work that way in Europe. We tend to put tickets on sale as soon as box offices and venues and ticket agencies are able to cope with the orders, because people like to plan ahead as I said. Also, for promoters, they’d like to have some money coming in via the ticket agencies to offset some of the advance costs. In America it’s a slow turn.

GW: Will folks on the East Coast and West Coast have a chance to see you?

IA: We did play the West Coast last November, or October was it? So no, this time it’s the mountain states and to Texas and in august we do a bunch of dates kind of east coast-ish, but winding our way up through various spots of the more, not exactly, the Midwest, though we are playing Chicago, we play Detroit, Michigan, and various places and upstate New York and then we come back in November. We’ll be playing in New York, and on with it.  I’m sure other places on the East Coast and two or three shows in Florida.

GW: Live shows will include big classic Jethro Tull songs – crowd pleasures so to speak?

IA: I don’t really play songs in order to please the crowd. I’m an Ian-pleaser. These are my songs. I play what I like because I love to play and if the coincidence exists that the audience likes those songs too that’s great. The minute you go out just to satisfy the demands of the audience I think you’re kind of in danger of selling yourself out. I play the songs that for me are kind of landmark songs, kind of crucial songs. When I sit down and make up a set list I think yeh, y’know, they’ll like that and they’ll like that and then maybe one or two songs that I’ll slip in that are not maybe so well known to the audience. But 80% I would think will have a high level of  conformity between my choice and probably what most the audience would pick. You want to do songs that I know the audience in America, for example, might choose and that I tend not to play. They are pieces that I don’t particularly enjoy and they’re also not particularly popular except in America. Wherever you go in the world there are certain songs that are biggies in different countries.

GW: Interesting. Can you name one that is big over in America here but not necessarily in Great Britain or the rest of Europe?

IA: Yes. The song “Bungle in the Jungle," they quite like that one in America but doesn’t mean much anywhere else.

GW: That was what we used to call a “hit single.”

IA: Right, and I feel self-conscious about it because I wrote it for radio play; it just feels a little too deliberate.

GW: Are you still in touch with Martin Barre? Do you still talk and do you keep up with his musical projects. (Note: Barre was a core member of Jethro Tull from 1969 to 2014.)

IA: I keep up with his musical projects, absolutely. I’m checking out where he’s going, what he’s doing. Happily, after all these years he’s finally taken my advice about having his own career and life before it’s too late. I encouraged him many years ago, to start developing his own career outside the band and it took him a long time to do that, but I think he’s having a great time now and playing in his own right and being confident enough and sure enough of his repertoire and his place in the scheme of things.

GW: Do you have any feelings about our new American president and how he’s behaving? What do you think of this guy?

IA: I’m not an American citizen, I’m not an American voter. But my views, as you can imagine, is that America is very polarized in the context of a very populist president and indeed populism across the planet seems to be the name of the game these days. It divides sharply and the nations, not just in America but in Europe you see nationals sharply divided in a way that I don’t think they have been in a long, long time. In America specifically with two-party politics. Mostly in Europe we have more than two parties vying for the role of government and in American it is a very left and right thing, the liberal Democrat vs. a traditional conservative Republican.

However, Mr. Trump doesn’t really fit the role of being a conservative Republican. He’s no more of a Republican than I am. He’s just  a man out there to exercise I’m sure his beliefs and exercise his fantasies  of being a powerful American president. He’s not only dividing the nation he’s dividing the Republican Party. But he’s the result of a democratic vote and at this point there’s nothing you can do except wait and see if he does manage to develop the skills, the diplomacy, and the tact that he will need to be a good president, not just for America but for Planet Earth. And that’s I guess why many people are frightened of Mr. Trump because he doesn’t seem to be rational, he doesn’t seem to have tact and political awareness. He’s a loose cannon attempting to govern by Twitter, which scares the shit out of people all over the world, not just half of America.

You know, the other half of American may not be entirely approving of everything he does but that’s who they voted for. So people like me shouldn’t be coming along and telling folks how they should vote. My only word at any time is to say, vote. Don’t be a stay-at-home, be part of the process even when you think you’re voting between lesser of evils. It’s still your right, something your forefathers fought and died for and may well again in the future. Like it or lump it when you cast your vote and you end up with a Mr. Trump, Or in other cases, other prime ministers and presidents of other countries, That’s what you get and have to ultimately accept it and hope and pray and exercise what forces can be brought to bear to tame the leaders who don’t turn out to have the stuff that leaders should be made of.

GW: Thank you very much!

IA: Thank you very much indeed. Take care.

WinterWonderGrass, in its third Lake Tahoe-area incarnation, this time with a feet-thick blanket of snow all around, brought a distinctive assemblage of mountaintop adventure-seekers to Northern California for a symphonic unification of jam-happy roots and bluegrass music, fine craft brews, and mountain views/activities. The setting for the utopian weekend, March 31 to April 2, was once again the pastoral Squaw Valley, site of the 1960 Winter Olympics.

With celebrated live headlining performers – The Infamous Stringdusters (Friday), Greensky Bluegrass (Saturday), and Leftover Salmon (Sunday) – leading the way with head-swaying and foot-stomping 90-minute closing sets, WinterWonderGrass 2017 provided a glorious locale for upwards of 5,000 appropriate-clothing-layered music fans per day, according to Festival Producer/Partner Jennifer Brazill, who in February helped preside over the sixth such annual event in Colorado, this time in Steamboat Springs. In addition to the aforementioned headliners, inspired main stage performances were delivered by other phenoms deeply entrenched in the roosty/jammy/Americana circuit, including Dustbowl Revival, Yonder Mountain String Band, Fruition, Dead Winter Carpenters, and Head for the Hills.

One of the core distinctions of WinterWonderGrass is the “pride of place” as California folk welcomed Colorado folk (and other intrepid travelers) to the idyllic scene, all ready to greet weather that can range from brilliant early spring sunshine (which is did), to early spring mountain storms (which it didn’t).

In addition to the obvious magnificent landscapes, both mountainous and musical, another facet of the charm here was the vibe. Sold-out as it was, and especially crowded on Saturday, the bowl-shaped festival environs always felt intimate. Water was provided by large water tank fill stations, the dispensing of which was made easier by the metal Klean Kanteen cups given to fest attendees. Fire dancers, a kids activities area, and other enhancements dotted the scene and contributed to WinterWonderGrass’s overall composition.

“We are elated with the local support and incredible inspiring words from fans traveling from around the country to join us,” said Festival Co-founder Scotty Stoughton, an adventure-seeker himself who got into the acro-yoga circle and nailed it.

The festival-wide camaraderie included musicians as well, as pickin’-and-grinnin’ collaborations transpired all over the place. During Fruition’s Friday afternoon main stage session, for instance, Yonder Mountain String Band fiddler Allie Kral, The Infamous Stringdusters’ banjoist Chris Pandolfi, guitarist Tyler Grant of the Grant Farm, and veteran dobro player Jay Starling all joined the fun (the latter two on Fruition’s song, “Spliff.” And Dead Winter Carpenters’ twilight set on Sunday included Leftover Salmon’s banjoist Andy Thorn, Fruition guitarist Jay Cobb Anderson, and front woman Jenni Charles’ dad, Pete, on bass.

And then there were unique occurrences like a shit-kickin’, impromptu set Friday afternoon by the Lil’ Smokies atop the Zeal Optics sunglasses booth-turned stage, and fest band Dead Horses playing free to the public early Sunday afternoon in the Olympic Village Events Plaza.

There was also plenty of Grateful Dead in the air. On Saturday in the Pickin’ Perch tent, the Bluegrass Generals, featuring Chris Pandolfi and Andy Hall from the Infamous Stringdusters as well as Jon Stickley kicked out, newgrass style, such old faves as “Mr. Charlie” and “Brown-Eyed Women.” On Sunday in the Jamboree tent, “Pickin’ on The Dead” sets, featuring Tyler Grant, Jake Wolf, and members of the Good Time Travelers, were extremely popular. Revelers downed beer samplers while foot-tapping to such Dead classics as “U.S. Blues,” “Oh the Wind and Rain” (Jerry Garcia), "Throwing Stones,” “Jackaroe,” and “Beat it on Down the Line.”

Away from the stages, gourmet food venders, more than last year, dotted the perimeter with high-quality provisions, and festival promoters provided heat-generated beer-hall-and-performance tents, two of which offered myriad beer choices while the other served up hot beverages. The VIP section, which featured outdoor standing heaters, also had a heated beverage and meal tent in which to lounge. And all weekend, neighboring Olympic Village, a classy wintertime destination community, was thriving with winter sport activities, hotels, shops, bars, restaurants, and fun.

The festival’s irresistible promotion band of “beer, bluegrass, and mountains,” was spot on, with each ingredient deserving a deeper look.

Beer: Sure, every festival serves beer. But the added bonus here was that between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. daily, 21-and-over attendees were privy to free, craft-beer tastings to the accompaniment of afternoon main-stage acts that included Hot Buttered Rum, Head for the Hills, and Mandolin Orange. One was able to have as many three-ounce cupfuls as desired, though lines for each brew did keep beer intake, and potential boorish behavior, from getting out of hand. About one dozen California craft-beer brewers were present, including Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas, North Coast, Two Rivers, Magnolia, and Green Flash breweries were pouring. Samples were served from the massive Pickin’ Perch and Jamboree tents, which simultaneously presented music during quiet main-stage times, including sounds from The Good Bad, The Grant Farm, The Deer, Dead Horses, and Horseshoes & Hand Grenades.

Music Legends: On Saturday, mandolinist/singer/songwriter Sam Bush, who co-founded New Grass Revival with Bela Fleck, John Cowan, and others more than 45 years ago, presided over a heritage-filled early-evening set that included classics such as Bill Monroe’s “Roll on Buddy, Roll On,” and Flatt and Scruggs’ “My Little Girl in Tennessee,” and older Sam Bush tunes such as “Riding That Bluegrass Train,” and newer, such as “Play By Your Own Rules.” In addition, Bush turned Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” and Robert Palmer’s “Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley” into delightful, though improbable contemporary bluegrass numbers. Bush also guested later that night on Greensky Bluegrass’s headlining set. Stoughton got into the Sam Bush act as well, delivering a stream-of-consciousness rap, accompanied instrumentally by the Sam Bush Band.

“Totally spontaneous,” Stoughton said. “Sam asked if I would join him on a freestyle, so we discussed a little backstage about the song and potential style. I was side stage talking to Sam's wife, nervously asking what she thought; I think she said, ‘Let it rip.’ When I get invited to speak or freestyle I am always focused on humanizing the experience between the audience and the players on stage - providing a direct conduit to the feelings both parties are experiencing and doing my best to deliver the positivity between the two.”

Sunday, contemporary bluegrass pioneer Peter Rowan, who invited members of Mandolin Orange, Fruition, and Grant Farm onstage, performed many of his classics including “Panama Red,” “Free Mexican Air Force,” “Midnight Moonlight,” and an epic set-ender of “Land of the Navajo,” also threw in the traditional “Wayfaring Stranger and tunes by bluegrass patriarchs Bill Monroe and Jimmy Rodgers.

Bluegrass: While this genre was not represented by pure, traditional bluegrass excepting the aforementioned traditional pieces of music by Bush and Rowan, bluegrass WonderGrass-style was more aptly a potpourri of acoustic/electric contemporary roots and Americana. This is not to say that performances lacked variety. While each band gave at least a nod to bluegrass and some delivered sounds closer to the traditional genre than others, each band’s jammy take on progressive bluegrass, circa 2017, was compelling to behold, with everyone delivering their unique allures and charms.

“Grass After Dark”: After each day’s headlining performances the energy continued with two-act, late-night shows at Squaw’s Olympic Valley Lodge, as well as at Moe’s BBQ, on the lake in Tahoe City. These created interesting combinations, such as Friday night’s twin billing of The Deer, a team of quirky evocative dreamscapers, and Front Country, a Bay Area-rooted quintet of merry contemporary bluegrass performers. Their midnight set coincided with the release of their new album, “Other Love Songs.”

“Late night sets are always high energy and a party,” said Front Country’s Jacob Groopman. “The highlight of that night was having Chris from the Dusters and Jake from Yonder Mountain come sit in. It's always a little scary playing new music for people, and our new music is somewhat different then what it’s been in the past. I felt like the new tunes went over really well!  It was also great to hear The Deer open for us. They are a fantastic band from Austin, Texas that I had not heard of before.”

A quite notable late-night show occurred on Sunday, while most attendees were already on their way off the mountain. There at the Olympic Valley Lodge, the Everyone Orchestra, led as always by Matt Butler, included members of Leftover Salmon, Fruition, The Grant Farm, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, and more.

Mountains: An abundance of snow surrounding the bowl-shaped festival site provided an idyllic winter wonderland setting that was fairly missing from last year’s snow-drought-stricken WonderGrass environs. And while the snow allowed top-notch spring skiing and snowboarding conditions for those that purchased a “music and mountain” festival pass–more than 75 open trails on a mountain that received over 650 inches of snow this season, according to Squaw’s website—daytime conditions at the 6,200-foot festival’s base level were downright balmy. The unseasonably warm weather allowed many festivalgoers to romp around in shirt-sleeves and open shoes, at least by day. At night, the chill did come quickly, with music fans donning additional, and fashionable, insulating garments.

An Inconvenient Truth: While Saturday’s full house created a challenge of maneuverability around the festival grounds, there was also air of harmony in those tight quarters. Whether or not you knew the people around you, you both formed an unspoken bond sharing something very special, at a very extraordinary place. However, for some reason, the crowd also turned Saturday evening into unannounced cigarette night, with scores (hundreds?) of attendees exhaling a toxic shroud on their surroundings while abandoning designated smoking section signs and descriptive guidelines that appeared on the socially and environmentally conscious WinterWonderGrass website: “Squaw Valley Mountain Resort is a non-smoking property except in designated areas. We respectfully ask you to follow Squaw Valley policies and smoke only in designated areas and a distance of 25 feet away from any persons.”

And There Was More: Some lucky few witnessed a Jon Stickley Trio midday set at 9,000 atop one of the Squaw Valley peaks on Sunday.

That particular set was “open to the public and anyone skiing/riding Squaw Valley that day,” said Festival Partner Jennifer Brazill. “You do not technically need to have a festival wristband to watch the on mountain show but it is ski in/ski out only so you have to have a lift ticket! We transported the gear up to the top on Snow Cats and snowmobiles.”

A very lucky few witnesses rode along on one of two famed “tram jams,” in which many fest players perform inside of a moving 110-person capacity aerial tram. “They are a unique opportunity for the bands and artists to collaborate together in a very special setting,” Brazill said.

And totally off the main WinterWonderGrass grid, winter-sports video legends Warren Miller Entertainment recorded Fruition performing on a Squaw mountaintop.

“I feel so lucky to be able to create these incredible events in these very special communities,” Brazill said, referring to both California and Colorado festivals. “We have a small team that works very hard to deliver the best possible experience for the fans and artists. Having lived in San Francisco for over 10 years, Squaw Valley has always been special to me and it’s a dream to be able to call this my job. 

In the cozy confines of the Crazy Horse Saloon in Nevada City, CA, on April 29, Shakey Zimmerman turned lots of heads with their powerful, compelling takes on venerable Bob Dylan and Neil Young material. Opening the show was the acoustic duo of Shakey’s Pat Nevins along with music newcomer Jennifer Mydland, daughter of Brent Mydland, The Grateful Dead’s longest-tenured keyboardist – and vocalist. Jennifer, who has been performing live only for a month, was one-year-old when Brent passed away in mid-1990.

The Mydland/Nevins duo performed four songs: Amy Winehouse's "Valerie," Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy" (which coincidentally Brent sang many a-time with The Grateful Dead), Ingrid Michaelson’s “You and I,” and Beyonce’s “Daddy Lessons.” Nevins’ steady, experienced guitar accompaniment provided a solid platform for Mydland’s voice, which was strong and clear with a promise of good things to come. Mydland also remained onstage with Shakey Zimmerman to add vocals to the band’s fine version of "Not Fade Away" -> "Goin' Down the Road."

After a nice ovation for Jennifer Mydland, whose sister was in attendance and enjoying the show with the rest of us, Shakey Zimmerman, a new collective of excellent players, including the aforementioned Nevins along with guitarist Jody Salino and bassist Jen Rund, settled in for two muscular sets. Nevins’ Bob Dylan/Neil Young-reminiscent voice, and the rockin’ band around him quickly won over the saloon’s attendees, with awesome, full-throttle versions of such Young classics as “Cowgirl in the Sand,” “Cinnamon Girl,” and “Powderfinger,” and pleasing treatments of Dylan’s “Slow Train Coming,” “Tombstone Blues,” and “Highway 61 Revisited.”

Sammy Hagar, Bob Weir, Dave Grohl, Sarah McLachlan, Mick Fleetwood, Pat Benatar, Don Felder, and Steve Vai lent their musical support at The Fillmore in San Francisco on May 15 for the fourth annual Acoustic- 4-A-Cure benefit concert. The show, for which musicians played for free according to event co-creator Hagar, benefited the pediatric cancer program at the University of California San Francisco’s Benioff Children’s Hospital.

Hagar kept the pace brisk and entertaining as the jolly and affable ring leader for the grand two hour, 45-minute set.  Hagar’s lead-in set, with just he and longtime musical partner Vic Johnson strumming at his side, consisted of the self-descriptive “Sam I Am,” Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus,” the brand new “Father Time,” and a crowd pleasing version of Van Halen’s iconic “Right Now.”

Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir entered the stage next and was vigorously hugged and then lauded by Hagar as a guy who had played the Fillmore stage innumerable times over the years. And spanning the years, Weir’s interesting set included song lyrics he wrote back in 1968 to a song he wrote in 2016. The set began with a quiet solo rendering of “Peggy O,” a traditional ballad that The Grateful Dead performed oft times with Jerry Garcia at the mic. Steve Vai (acoustic lead guitar), Mick Fleetwood (drums), and Bay Area bass player Ruth Davies joined Weir as he carried on with a fine version of “Easy to Slip,” a Little Feat tune that he has performed for some 35 years. That morphed nicely into “Only a River,” the most popular of the offerings from Weir’s 2016 solo project, “Blue Mountain.”

Next, strumming increased in pace and volume until it revealed itself as “The Other One,” Grateful Dead’s ode to the old psychedelicized days at The Fillmore and beyond. Fleetwood and Vai visibly appreciated playing in the band on this one – to coin a phrase – and did justice to the solid, acoustic-driven interpretation. Then, with Hagar back onstage, the players morphed into a party-hearty version of The Grateful Dead’s “Loose Lucy,” a song that Hagar played in the past with Weir. After more hugs and Weir’s polite wave and bow-out, The Grateful Dead portion of the show was over, but the evening was really just beginning.

Next up, Don Felder took the spotlight. An unsung core member of The Eagles, Felder’s long-time tenure with the band included several years sharing dual lead guitar duties with Joe Walsh. Here, with Fleetwood, Vai, and Davies still onstage, Felder sang and played guitar on reverent versions of The Eagles’ “Tequila Sunrise,” which he dedicated to the late Glenn Frey, and “Hotel California.” Felder relished playing with Fleetwood, fondly pointing out that in days of yore, he and Fleetwood performed many, many nights together on co-billed Eagles / Fleetwood Mac shows.

The stage was then cleared and Sarah McLachlan entered solo, sat at the piano, and delivered heavenly, voice-perfect versions of some of her famed pieces of music from the 1990s, namely “Possession,” “Adia,” and “Angel.” She also performed “Beautiful Girl,” recorded in 2014, which she dedicated to her children. Regarding cancer, “I have two daughters myself,” she said, “and I can’t imagine dealing with that beast.”

Pat Benatar, one of the most anticipated stars of the night, performed next with Neil Giraldo, her 35-plus-year partner on and off the stage. Seated on a stool, Benatar’s powerful voice was still in great, dynamic form, satisfying the crowd who sang along with such classics as “Love is a Battlefield” (from 1983), “The Ties That Bind” (1993), “We Belong Together” (1984), and “the one that started it all,” Benatar said, “Heartbreaker” (1979) that was wrapped around Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and Roky Erickson’s “Don’t Slander Me.”

Next, Vai, whose storied live lead guitar collaborations over the years range from Frank Zappa to Whitesnake, led a jam with Fleetwood and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, which included a raging drum duet that eventually led into an epic version of Fleetwood Mac’s “World Turning,” with Hagar on vocals and the addition of Johnson to the stage.

An engaging and talkative Grohl entered the stage with words for Hagar, “There goes my hero, go Sammy,” he said. “He puts on a great party; he’s been trying to get me drunk all night.” Grohl’s set, Foo Fighters songs all, included “Times Like These” (from 2003, performed as a solo), followed by – with Vai, Fleetwood, Hawkins, and keyboardist Rami Jaffee onstage – “My Hero” (1998), “The Sky is the Neighborhood,” (debut of a new song), and “Everlong” (1997), which closed the show.

While Acoustic-4-A-Cure co-creator, Metallica’s James Hetfield, appeared on a pre-recorded video, he was in New York on this night, performing on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”

From Acoustic-4-A-Cure: “UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital creates an environment where children and their families find compassionate care at the forefront of scientific discovery, with more than 150 experts in 50 medical specialties serving patients throughout Northern California and beyond. The hospital admits about 5,000 children each year, including 2,000 babies born in the hospital. To donate to the cause, go to https://give.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/landing/ways-to-give.

It’s been 14 years since most of the world discovered Los Lonely Boys’ fresh faces and fiery brand of “Texican” rock ‘n’ roll through the big hit “Heaven.” That success earned them a Grammy Award and a Best New Artist nomination that ultimately went to Maroon 5. On June 1, the three-member band of brothers composed of Henry, Jojo, and Ringo, now all in their late 30s, returned to Sacramento for a powerful show at the intimate, vintage Crest Theatre, in a twin bill that included singer-songwriter Lisa Morales.

Los Lonely Boys suitably flexed their collective muscle by delivering plenty of high-octane, high-quality rock and blues combined with conjunto tejano sounds that spanned the band’s career. Strengthened by the telepathic communication the three weave onstage thanks to their shared pedigree, Henry offered particularly spirited guitar solos on his well-worn Fender Stratocaster, Jojo’s bass was right on time and powerfully amplified without being harmful to the mix, and Ringo held up the bottom end with his usual perfection.

The 75-minute set kicked off with four selections of the band’s most recent CD, ”Revelation,” including the spirited opener, “Don’t Walk Away” and soft pop-rocker, “So Sensual.” One of Los Lonely Boys’ most endearing qualities is that they pace their sets very well, including crooning love ballads as well as inhibition-freeing rockers. Such was the case mid-set, when they unleashed a powerful rendering of “Born on the Bayou,” the 1969 hit that represented Los Lonely Boys’ contribution to the 2016 Latin tribute album to Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Quiero Creedence.”

Next up was a thrilling rendering of “Rockpango,” the title track off their 2011 CD that was delivered with the combined clout and spirit reminiscent of both Jimi Hendrix’s “Manic Depression” and Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground.” The set continued with two old fan favorites, the bilingual love song, “Nobody Else,” and after a drum solo lead-in, the powerful “Crazy Dream,” with its Stevie Ray Vaughn-reminiscent lead guitar passages. Next in line was a full-tilt presentation of “Oye Mamacita,” with a super-jam intro that was arguably the climax of the show. That happily exhausting number was followed by another enduring piece, from the band’s first album, the harmony-vocal-driven love ballad, “Velvet Sky.”

The show eventually concluded with the obligatory “Heaven,” with fans that were seating throughout the evening bursting up, marching down and gathering at the stage, rocking out, extending their arms, and scrambling to catch one of several guitar picks that Henry threw their way.

Opening artist Lisa Morales, who like Los Lonely Boys resides in Texas as does her entire band, also performs songs in English and Spanish. Famous too for her work in a sibling-based band, the still-active Sister Morales, Lisa Morales opened the show with her own six-piece ensemble. She offered finely crafted songwriting, guitar licks (in addition to the band’s lead guitar), and emotional vocals that confirmed a credibility and authenticity that speaks to real-life experiences. Her 30-minute set of Latina-influenced music was well received by the crowd, many of whom stood during the ovation at the conclusion of her performance.

The Crest Theatre opened originally in 1912 as a Vaudeville performance room called the Empress Theatre. As the crowd poured in just before show time, theater manager Yulya Borroum was proud to talk about the venue’s new sound system, including new subwoofers, wedge monitors, and infill loudspeakers, which indeed provide superb acoustics on this night. The venerable venue hosted 260 events in 2016, she said, including cultural events, graduations, burlesque, and weekly gatherings of the progressive Project Church. “If you can think it, we can do it,” Borroum said.

While official Summer of Love 50th anniversary festivities for San Francisco are still mired in licensing/permit negotiations, Dead & Company’s return engagement to the Bay Area on June 3 was a magnet for 1967-ish apparel, attitudes, smokeables, and music – the concert’s first set featured “Viola Lee Blues,” the closing tune on The Grateful Dead’s 1967 self-titled debut.

The jumbo Shoreline Amphitheatre, which holds more than 20,000 patrons, was full to the brim as tickets even for the massive lawn were a rare commodity, judging by the more than usual “Cash for your extras!” being bellowed by many folks with their optimistic “miracle” index fingers held high.

At about 7:15 p.m., with the mild day’s waning sun rays beaming directly onto the stage, Grateful Dead core members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, and Mickey Hart, as well as their esteemed “Company” – John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, and Jeff Chimenti – commenced with a 15-minute “Playin’ in the Band.” That song’s magic aurally wafted over the assemblage, nicely allowing musicians and attendees both to get centered and fall into a give-and-take unison of music distribution and appreciation. As did their Grateful Dead forbearers, these Dead & Company players deliver an intoxicating potpourri of of blues, jazz, rock, and soul jams into their collective brew.

Throughout, Dead & Company generally paced their songs slower than the old Grateful Dead versions, but with power and volume that turned each piece of music into a big production. The first set was a powerhouse, with the inclusion of the aforementioned “Playin’ in the Band” and “Viola Lee Blues” as well as a fully stretched out “Here Come Sunshine” and “One More Saturday Night” as a jubilant ode to rock ‘n’ roll set closer. Most of the second set, with Mayer passionately by bouncing up and down during “China Cat” at the outset, was sublime.

Weir reliably provided competence and vibrancy on second guitar and vocals, often displaying an admirable openness to slightly revising and tweaking old songs to keep them fresh. And co-front-man Mayer, the A-list popster-turned Dead-esque-sidekick, still surprised many with his short-in-years-but-long-in-authenticity Grateful Dead acumen, providing searing, improvisational lead guitar work in addition to many turns at the mic. Longtime RatDog and other post-Grateful-Dead-bands keyboard stalwart Chimenti supplied expert accompaniments that were always just right, and threw in some super solo flourishes throughout the night (piano on “Eyes of the World,” Hammond B3 organ on “Deal,” for instance).

But the top story of the evening belonged to bassist Oteil Burbridge, whose career includes long stints with the Allman Brothers Band, Aquarium Rescue Unit, and others. After a powerful, crowd-pleasing second-set opener of “China Cat” and “I Know You Rider,” Burbridge moved up to his mic and led a tender version of “China Doll” that visibly thrilled the crowd. It was his first turn ever as lead vocalist with Dead & Company. This was the second time the band ever performed the poignant song, with Weir taking lead in a November 2015 version in Buffalo, NY. A friend pointed out that three of Burbridge’s mentors passed away in 2017 – Col. Bruce Hampton, Gregg Allman, and Butch Trucks – which might have led to the discernibly emotional vocal performance. 

Trusty, legendary drummers Kreutzmann and Hart, whose mere presence adds to the distinct Grateful Dead brand, were in lock-step with the rest of the band from start to finish. Many noticed an unusual occurrence during the post-drums “Space” portion of the second set, as Hart kicked with gusto his percussive Beam and waved his arms about. It’s unclear whether it was just Hart being Hart, doing anything to coax unusual sounds out of his equipment, or whether, as some asserted, that he was angry that the rest of the band came out too soon during the portion of the show in which he usually has more time to shine.

Technology certainly played a role in the gestalt of the show. The crisp clarity of the sound – even in this large amphitheater – combined with state-of-the-art lights and visuals, including brilliant artful animations, added to the experience. This was especially true during the drum-duet when, in addition of the pounding rhythmic vibrations felt in one’s chest, dissolving video effects amid psychedelic fractals and blazing, flashing blue lights were tremendous.

Those who heard some John Coltrane in the midst of the second-set jam that led into “The Wheel” were not hallucinating. Well, not about that anyway. After returning to the stage after “Drums” and “Space,” Weir, Mayer, Chimenti, and Burbridge put forth a hornless but reverent interpretation of the “Acknowledgement” portion of John Coltrane’s iconic 1965 album, “A Love Supreme,” with Chimenti channeling McCoy Tyner’s original piano work.

The end of a slow-tempo but moving version of “The Wheel” included a new reggae-flavored twist, with Weir and Mayer repeating over and over the lyric, “(Won’t you try just) a little bit more, a little bit more, a little bit more?” The slow-paced but potent “Good Lovin’” set ender, a song that dates back to 1966, the year before the Summer of Love, had the house rocking, and the “Black Muddy River” encore was a lovely, heartfelt send-off.

As has been common during their 20-month existence, Dead & Company comparisons to The Grateful Dead are obligatory. The original band, which grew organically out of the mid-‘60s San Francisco-area music scene, included of course Jerry Garcia, whose way with lyrics and lead guitar licks had a unique, engaging je ne sais quoi that was easy to “get.” With Garcia, the once and forever Grateful Dead icon at the helm, onstage subtleties and moments of vulnerability were a distinctive and engaging component. Only “China Doll” produced that particular unscrupulous vibe on this night. Which isn’t to say that Dead & Company’s more powerful approach is dubious or bad.

More thoughts and recollections from the Dead & Company show, June 3, 2017: 

• Iconic Grateful Dead phrases still audibly strike a chord with many in the audience. Such examples were, “Drink all day and rock all night,” “Bound to cover just a little more ground,” “If he catches up to me, I’ll spend my life in jail,” “I wish I was a headlight on a northbound train,” and “Just a little nervous from a fall.”
• On a Chamber of Commerce-weather day in the South Bay Area, low 70s by day and upper 50s by night, the pre-show scene was vibrant, with early arrivers carrying on the communal, bohemian spirit of their elders, including the presence of music, food, crafts, and respectful revelry.
• Hart, during “Me & My Uncle” and on into “Friend of the Devil” got some nice rhythmic tones by clacking together the heels of a pair of women’s flats.
• “Looks Like Rain” as the penultimate song in the second set was a disappointing choice. I typically laud this band’s willingness of moving songs about from their spots at Grateful Dead shows, but not this song, in this spot.
• The venerable Shoreline Amphitheatre was designed by concert impresario Bill Graham, a name that incurs, “Who?” to some of the young staff, lamented the venue’s Media Relations Coordinator who has been on staff there since the ‘80s.
• Out in the Participation Row area of the amphitheater, which included several socially conscious nonprofit tables, the San Francisco-based BIG FUN Circus and Santa Cruz-based Samba Stilt Circus combined to provide a Kesey-like carnival presence, augmented with a flute-accompanied drum circle.
• This being the band’s fifth show on the tour, it is commendable that they hadn’t repeated any songs during the previous four shows and even on this night, they only did three repeats and that was from the first show, in Las Vegas on May 27.

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of what many consider the most historically important and socially significant music festival, performers, music lovers, vendors, historians, nonconformists, and perfect coastal California weather came together to celebrate nostalgia and create new remembrances at the Monterey County Fairgrounds. This version of the three-day Monterey International Pop Festival took place on June 16-18, precisely the calendar days of the original festival, which marked the beginning of the so-called Summer of Love all those years ago. While instruments were not smashed or set on fire a la 1967, the fest seemed to please equally those in their 70s and those in their 20s.

Prominent contemporary acts abounded, including Jack Johnson, Gary Clark Jr., Regina Spektor, and Leon Bridges, each serving up excellent performances. A few notable musicians who performed at the original festival were also on hand to play: Booker T. Jones, Eric Burdon, and Phil Lesh.

The vibe was civilized and well-mannered, and though the days of unbridled psychedelic explorations were far in the rear-view mirror for most, Monterey Pop 2017 did have a discernable abundance of energy devoted to bohemian fashion, frolic, and revelry. Still, now as then, music was the great common thread. Performances ranged from 45 to 90 minutes and were presented on one stage, allowing the audience to absorb everything rather than having to choose among simultaneous shows among multiple stages.

Grateful Dead co-founder and bassist Phil Lesh closed out the festival, appearing with his Terrapin Family Band, which often serves as the house ensemble at Lesh’s Marin County venue, Terrapin Crossroads. The band, which includes the 77-year-old Lesh’s son Grahame, began with an apropos “The Music Never Stopped,” with Nicki Bluhm offering backup vocals. Their bountiful set included plenty of Dead standards such as “Box of Rain,” "Jack Straw” and “Terrapin Station,” as well as Bob Dylan’s 60’s anthem “Like a Rolling Stone,” and a throwback to the Dead’s 1967 Monterey Pop performance, “Alligator” -> “Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks).” Their set, and the festival itself wrapped up with the traditional “I Know You Rider,” which has been part of Grateful Dead history since their beginning.

“Fifty years on, Monterey Pop remains the original from which all subsequent festivals grew,” Lesh said in a prepared statement. “And it is truly an honor to be able to revisit that spirit with the fine young musicians in this band.”

Earlier on Sunday, led by Jonathan Russell and Charity Rose Thielen, The Head and the Heart dished out their brand of an infectious mix of folk, pop-rock, and Americana. The highlight of their set was when Michele Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas surprised the assemblage by coming onstage and contributing vocals on a soaring version of the iconic “California Dreamin’.”

Booker T’s Stax Revue produced one of the weekend’s highpoints, with Booker T’s familiar Hammond B3 organ sounds setting the mood. In addition to performing material such as his iconic instrumental “Green Onions,” which was also part of his Monterey Pop set in 1967, the 72-year-old Booker T and company served up soul-heavy versions of classics “Try a Little Tenderness,” “Soul Man,” and “Mr. Big Stuff,” and honored the late Otis Redding by performing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” as well as “Respect,” a Redding song made most famous by Aretha Franklin.

Blues guitar phenom Gary Clark Jr. thrilled the crowd by leading his band in an energetic set, made more special with Booker T. helping out on the organ for “Bright Lights.” Clark Jr.'s set also included a rendition of Jimi Hendrix's "Third Stone from the Sun."

The Bay Area’s Nicki Bluhm, who as of late has been performing less with her Gramblers and making more vocal front woman appearances, offered a pleasing performance, backed by legendary New Orleans outfit, Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Their set included Bluhm’s own “Little Too Late,” a cover of the Rolling Stones, “It’s All Over Now,” and riveting versions of “White Rabbit” and “Somebody To Love,” both performed by the Jefferson Airplane at the original fest.

Kurt Vile & the Violators sensitive, lo-fi, indie-rock performance provided a nicely insightful and introspective late-afternoon set.

Earlier in the afternoon, many people discovered for the first time Hiss Golden Messenger, the M.C. Taylor-fronted country-folkish band. Flanked by such well-known players as lead guitarist Josh Kaufman, the band’s show included The Grateful Dead’s “Brown-Eyed Women.”

Starting the proceedings on Sunday, Bay Area-based ALO motivated the noonday crowd with its infectious brand of songs and jamming. Their set included “Barbecue,” “Try,” The Country Electro,” and The Who’s “My Generation.” The previous evening’s headliner, Jack Johnson, whose band includes ALO’s Zach Gill, joined ALO for a song they recorded together, “Girl, I Wanna Lay You Down."

Always happy to perform, the band also made good use of the smaller and largely unused Garden Stage – the only act to do so – by throwing down an impromptu acoustic set late in the afternoon that included “Plastic Bubble,” "Wasting Time,” and “Blew Out the Walls.”

Saturday night’s festivities were brought to a close by Jack Johnson, whose rock-pop band opened with the hit, “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing,” and delivered such throwbacks as Steve Miller’s “The Joker,” Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady,” and The Beatles’ “Rocky Raccoon” with Jim James; G. Love sat in with the band for a few numbers.

Immediately before Johnson, Norah Jones mesmerized the audience with her spellbinding piano and vocals, leading her band in a set that included “Don’t Know Why,” “Sunrise,” and a closer of The Grateful Dead’s “Ripple.” She also joined Jack Johnson and his band for a gorgeous version of Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released,” which was another of the weekend’s pinnacle moments. It’s important to note that her father, the late Ravi Shankar, was one of the featured performers at the 1967 Monterey fest.

Saturday early evening performances included a theatrical rock fusion enactment by Jim James, front man for My Morning Jacket, whose set included several pieces of music from his debut and soon-to-be-released sophomore solo albums. He also performed Buffalo Springfield’s timeless, “For What It’s Worth.”

Dr. Dog also delivered an engaging show of jamming psychedelic rock that included, “How Long Must I Wait?” and “Broken Heart.”

Earlier in the day, most in the audience were introduced for the first time to, and blown away by, Jamtown, led a trio of players, all with accomplished resumes and distinctly different regional influences: Cisco Adler (Malibu, Calif.), Donavon Frankenreiter (Hawaii), and G. Love (Philadelphia). Jamtown, which will soon release an EP of original songs, wowed the crowd with a spirited, fast-paced set of feel-good folk. The band also included Duane Betts on lead guitar, as well as North Mississippi Allstars drummer Cody Dickinson. Just before their set, Adler touched on the meaning of his band playing at what was to many people his dad’s festival in 1967.

“It’s an amazing place to watch a show,” said Cisco, son of Lou Adler. “I have deeper quantum levels of this thing, “But it’s funny ‘cause I was semi-retired or if not completely retired from playing live. I was producing and songwriting, and if this <record> didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be playing here. It was very serendipitous in that, oh wow, this gets to be one of our first shows. So it’s special; it feels great.”

Preceding Jamtown, Jackie Greene and his band offered an excellent set of all-Jackie material. Limited to seven songs given the band’ 45-minute window, Greene, who in recent years has performed with the Black Crowes, Trigger Hippie, and Phil Lesh & Friends, made the best of it, playing a set that satisfied his many loyal fans as well as those who discovered him for the first time. Greene, Nate Dale, and the rest of the band delivered fine versions of “Gone Wanderin’,” “I’m So Gone,” “Like a Ball and Chain,” and “Till the Light Comes.”

Earlier still, searing blues/rock was in the air for a set by North Mississippi Allstars, led by the aforementioned Cody Dickinson and his mighty guitar playing brother Luther. After a song or two, Luther said, “We’re standing on hallowed ground here,” then joked, “Who’s got the Owsley?” Their set included compelling versions of The Allman Brothers Band’s “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed” (with Duane Betts on guitar), Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Turn on Your Lovelight,” and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s “You Got to Move.”

Back on Friday, festivities included a show by Eric Burdon and the Animals. Burdon, now 76, and still in fine voice and energy, delivered a powerhouse set of familiar Animals tunes, including, “We Got to Get Out of This Place,” “House of the Rising Sun,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” and “When I was Young.”  He also performed “the greatest protest song I ever heard,” Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It's Worth,” and covers of Three Dog Night’s, “Mama Told Me Not to Come” and Sam & Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’.” He also played “Monterey,” written following 1967’s Monterey Pop, with lyrics that rang true in 2017, “The people came and listened; Some of them came and played; Others gave flowers away; Yes, they did; Down in Monterey; Down in Monterey.”

Blanketed in a framework of dream-pop, Father John Misty conveyed through socially conscious intelligent lyrics his deeply personal world perspectives.

Songstress/pianist Regina Spektor’s solo set was a wonderful diversion to the male-dominated performances of the day. With a passionate, expressive voice and classically trained piano skills, and a couple of songs on the guitar, Spektor’s selections included “Us,” “Better,” “Fidelity” and “Eet.”

Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats also appeared on Friday, ending his set with a powerful version of Janis Joplin’s “Piece of My Heart” (another throwback to the original Monterey Pop).

Performing too on Friday was soul-and-gospel headliner Leon Bridges – whose set included his biggest hit, “Coming Home,” a version of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay”, and ended with Rateliff and Misty onstage for “Mississippi Kisses.” Langhorne Slim & the Law, and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek fame started things off on Friday.

All dressed up for the occasion; the Monterey County Fairgrounds offered all sorts of goodies for attendees along the walkway to the main stage. Special audio/visual treats abounded and made for an opportune blend of reverence and admiration toward the 1967 Monterey fest. The renowned Morrison Hotel Gallery hosted a photo collection in one of the utility buildings that highlighted dozens of iconic images from the original festival, and many of the original photographers were on-hand, including Lisa Law, Henry Diltz, and Elaine Mays.

The “It Happened in Monterey Exhibition” occupied one of the large buildings. There, all sorts of rare memorabilia and ephemera were on display. All the while, the 1968 documentary film “Monterey Pop” was being screened on a large indoor screen. Filing out of that fine sideshow, one was greeted with the wafting, pristine sounds of 1960’s era live music, thanks to the constant offerings from the sound system on the otherwise unused Garden Stage.

Around the corner in the welcoming Levi’s Outpost courtyard, pillowed shared seating mixed with activities such as group embroidery and on-the-spot clothing modifications added to the communal spirit. Colorful Crafters and high-quality food vendors also dotted the landscape.

A print on display relayed a proclamation that original festival performer Lou Rawls made, summing up the impact of Monterey Pop. “There was a lot going on politically at that time. Many factions – the Black Panthers, the students at UC Berkeley — were making statements, but the statements didn’t get serious press, only superficial attention. The press never focused on the counterculture until the festival. The festival did it … it was the first chance for all of us to really get together and touch, actually physically see, and communicate. It was a special moment in time, and I think everyone was aware of that.”  

One of the biggest new-music buzzes of the June 2017 edition of the Monterey International Pop Festival was a pioneering performance by Jamtown, a burgeoning venture from three separately renowned musicians – Cisco Adler (from Malibu), G. Love (from Philadelphia), and Donavon Frankenreiter (from Hawaii). Cisco also happens to be the son of Lou Adler, who helped produce the original Monterey Pop in 1967 and was on-site in 2017 as well.

Each Jamtown member sings and each plays guitar. Evocative of The Traveling Wilburys and The Highwaymen in their organic coming-togetherness, these accomplished songwriters/producers/players and longtime friends gathered in Cisco's Malibu studio in late 2016 and hatched some compelling and infectious alt-folk and Americana songs. Appearing at Monterey Pop 2017 in support of good music and their newly released EP, Jamtown sat down with Grateful Web in the band’s trailer. Upon entry, all three were strumming guitars in anticipation of their Saturday afternoon performance, which included five supporting band members, three of whom, Duane Betts, Cody Dickenson, and Khari  Mateen, have been part of Cisco’s studio band, the Sunset Boys. Donavon didn’t speak but continued to provide background acoustic fretwork throughout.

GW: All three of you independently have awesome credentials and pedigrees, so how did the music convergence happen?

Cisco Adler: Just like this. (They all continued to noodle on their guitars)

GW: When did this special trio get started and the ideas begin to generate?

G. Love: Pretty recently.

CA: We’ve written a few tunes together, one for my project and one for a project he did. Oh, this is Cisco, talking about G. Love, as I point in audioland. And then I’ve worked with Donnie <Frankenreiter> forever, and I think each little duo of us, y’know, of the triangle, has history separately and then together.

GW: It’s like a math thing.

CA: Actually, I was just going to produce a record for these two dudes that I know is a long time coming in those guy’s world. And once we got in, at first they wanted to do some new versions of their older tunes, and I just was absolutely all against it.

G. Love: And he was going to quit unless we went all originals.

GW: Like that would be OK and stuff, but let’s make some new music?

CA: Let’s make some new music.

G. Love: And we thought that was a horrible idea (laughs).

CA: For me as a producer, it was, “What do I feel like all of your collective longtime fans want to hear from you?” But then I started singing on it with them. One time we sang a three-part harmony, and we just clicked. This is a band; this is a project! It’s not me producing them. It’s not anything other than three guys getting together and collaborating on music in the purist form.

GW: I feel this troubadour, feel-good folk stuff from what I’ve heard so far.

CA: Yeh, that kind of just took shape. The beauty is that we ended up making music that is maybe reminiscent of each of our collective vibes but doesn’t sound like any of our vibes, so it almost makes you have to visit this island while you’re visiting our other island.

GW: That’s awesome – and that’s not easy.

G. Love:  The first time I walked into Cisco’s studio, well, I have a punctuality problem. I’ll admit it. So I showed up in the studio and I came in. I was 45 minutes late. Cisco had already made this really cool track, which ended up being called “Strawberry Moon,” and the sound, Cisco had a pallet in mind, which was basically this yellow nylon-string guitar, a cajon, and vocals. But like Cisco said, it was like the sound was something that was completely new. It was unexpected to me but it’s a sound like you also feel like you’ve known your whole life, but I never really heard this sound. It was even this thing that this one song is really simple, just three chords. But I was, “Man, what are those chords that we’re playing?”

CA: That’s ‘cause I also tuned the guitar down a half step or up a half, so everything’s in F-sharp and weird chords, which is kind of amazing.

GW: We’ve got to touch on the fact that you’re appearing here at Monterey for the 50^th anniversary. This is more than just another concert event. You like the vibe here?

CA: They weren’t here yesterday. I was here yesterday and got to experience it as an onlooker. The fairgrounds is an amazing place to watch a show, an amazing sounding venue and everyone here is here to watch and listen to the music that is playing at that moment. And that’s a special thing, and you feel it.

GW: Your dad was a part of the original Monterey Pop.

CA: Yeh I have deeper, like fucking quantum levels of this thing. But it’s funny ‘because I was semi-retired, or if not completely retired from playing live.

G. Love: Yeh I think I see one gray whisker on your chin.

CA: There’s a couple (laughs). No, I just was producing and songwriting, and if this record didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be playing there ‘cause it would’ve made no sense to perform. It was very serendipitous in that, oh wow, this gets to be one of our first shows. So it’s special, man; it feels great.

GW: What do you hope the audience comes away with?

G. Love: A buzz and a new favorite band (laughs). I know that I’ve been waiting to be a part of this situation for my whole life and it feels so great. The three of us, we all are front men in different projects and now we get to come here and lean on each other, and the whole band is unbelievable. Like Duane Betts, who is Dickey Betts’ son, on guitar; Cody Dickenson on the drums; Khari Mateen on the cello and bass – he’s done a lot of work with the Roots in Philadelphia. “Beardo” <Jeramy Gritter> was in Whitestarr with Cisco, and in Julian Casablancas + The Voidz. And Mark Rudin, who is in a Philly band called Town Hall.

GW: It’s an all-star collaborative

CA: It’s just all fuckin’ players. For me, it’s my studio band on every record I make. So it’s funny, when the discussion of what are we gonna be when we play live it was like, The Sunset Boys. They’re already ready; they already played on six records together. They know each other. It’s almost like we got up there and it just works.

GW: Awesome ingredients.

CA: Yes, we make an awesome dish.

Music, imagery, and delightful anecdotes from San Francisco’s so-called Summer of Love intertwined in charming, profound fashion at the city’s newly renovated Nourse Theatre on July 22. The multimedia concert spotlighted Joan Baez, Nicki Bluhm, the T Sisters, and a host of other burgeoning Bay Area players and singers.

Of the many celebrations across the land marking the 50th anniversary of San Francisco’s summer of ’67, this one was undeniably special, exemplified by the elegance of the setting and the performers’ fine, passionate reinterpretations of the beloved sounds of the day. Many of the pieces of music performed on this night first made their indelible marks on music lovers’ psyches back when they tuned into their favorite AM stations on transistor radios.

The event was co-written by in-demand musician, teacher, bandleader, singer-songwriter and musical theater producer Jimmy Dillon as well as longtime music journalist Paul Liberatore, who introduced each song with interesting narratives about each 1967-era San Francisco band and song being highlighted. All the while, iconic images of the day, many by Jim Marshall and Herb Green, were displayed on a giant stage backdrop. Another colorful dimension was Kelli Hill’s occasional frolicking go-go-dancer moves and grooves. The evening’s proceedings moved along at a brisk, seamless pace, with artists smoothly and continuously sidling on and off the stage.

The mostly 50-plus crowd was a genteel group, wearing clothing and accessories that often, at least in some small way, affirmed their affiliation/remembrances of 1960s’ San Francisco. When Liberatore spoke of the 1967 Human Be-In, held in San Francisco, at which Timothy Leary famously urged people to “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” many laughed and clapped when Liberatore suggested “some of you probably did.” With everyone comfortably gathered in the 1,600-seat Nourse, the show began with an Erik Heldfond-created nine-minute movie as the house band conjured up fond memories with a creative overture of iconic melodies of the day. The musical sequence written by Dillon, included The Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” and The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”

Setting the tone for the 2½ show, Liberatore then discussed the Youngbloods’ influential “Get Together,” including the revelation that the song was in fact written by Chet Power, aka Dino Valenti, of Quicksilver Messenger Service. The renowned Oakland-based T Sisters trio entered stage-right and in colorful technique – in fashion and voice – harmoniously sang the tune in three-part harmony to the audible pleasure of the audience.

Next up, banjo virtuoso Tim Weed, who played guitar and banjo with the house band all night, assumed vocal duties of Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair).” Written by The Mamas and the Papas John Phillips, this Top 5 single is likely the most iconic of all Summer of Love songs, proclaiming in part, “There’s a whole generation, with a new explanation.”

Soon the presentation included mentions of The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, including his work on Jefferson Airplane’s 1967 breakthrough record “Surrealistic Pillow.” And The Airplane, arguably the biggest draw of all local bands in 1967, were in excellent vocal-tribute hands as Nicki Bluhm channeled Grace Slick, passionately handling “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” as the band rocked out.

Liberatore then mentioned the tender Marty Balin-penned love song, “Coming Back to Me,” in which Garcia played guitar passages on that Airplane record.  The song itself was presented with poise and reverence by 17-year old Caroline Sky, a Marin County, California-based singer-songwriter who, in addition to experiencing rising demand for her own music and performing solo and collaboratively with other famed players, also was a recent contestant on NBC’s “The Voice.”

When a giant image of Bill Graham, on the phone, came across the screen, Liberatore joked that he was probably yelling at someone on the other end. But to Graham’s credit, Liberatore related a quote attributed to Jerry Garcia, in which Garcia compared Graham to Chet Helm, head of the Family Dog, another San Francisco concert promoter. “Chet,” said Garcia, “never appeared to be doing anything, as opposed to Bill who appeared to be doing everything.”

The ensemble then performed a triad of songs associated with The Grateful Dead, who in 1967 were a very feral version of what they’d become in the 1970s and onward, but still were one of the most popular bands in San Francisco. First was a nice run-through of the traditional “I Know You Rider,” which was one of the band’s earliest performance numbers, with shared vocals by Bluhm, the T Sisters, Liberatore, and Jesse Ray Smith, a Bay Area songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and studio owner. “Truckin’” followed, The Dead’s biggest hit single till “Touch of Grey,” with musical director Dillon and Jesse Ray Smith handling vocal duties. The T Sisters followed, delivering a gorgeous a capella version of The Dead’s “Attics of My Life” to the spellbound audience.

Making a nice segue, Liberatore said that while The Grateful Dead toured with Bob Dylan in 1986 and ’87, there was a performer who collaborated with Dylan far earlier. Applause and cheers increased as the crowd sensed and then watched as the featured performer, Joan Baez took the stage. Now 76 and with a still strong and uniquely distinguishable voice, Baez launched into a captivating medley of Dylan songs. While slides on the big screen showed images with, and without, Dylan through the years, Baez’s solo acoustic set included “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” “I Pity the Poor Immigrant,” “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.”

With a promise from Libertore that Baez would be back, everyone moved on eagerly to see what would come next – which were images of Carlos Santana and his band, a soft rendering of Santana’s delicate instrumental “Samba Pa Ti,” and a brief oration about their importance in the San Francisco psychedelic music scene. The band then lit up the crowd with a pleasing “Oyo Como Va,” a Top 20 hit in its day, with Smith and Martin Luther McCoy on vocals, which turned into a full rocking rendering of that classic piece.     

Next up, Liberatore reminded the crowd that one week before the famed Monterey Pop Festival of June 1967, the largely overlooked Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival took place in Marin County, and The Doors were one of the participants. Like clockwork, the sounds of “Break on Through” gathered momentum as Smith returned to front-and-center stage to deliver Jim Morrison’s memorable lyrics.

One of the best crowd participation moments came soon after, when McCoy, a San Francisco-based actor and gospel/rock/R&B musician, sang with distinction Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” turning the mic out to the audience who collaboratively carried out the classic whistled portion of the much-loved No. 1 hit song.

After additional quick comments from Liberatore, including an acknowledgement of the famed Jim Marshall photo that memorialized the moment that Hendrix set his guitar on fire at Monterey Pop in 1967, two Jimi Hendrix songs followed. McCoy sung powerfully “Little Wing,” and “All Along the Watchtower” followed, with Smith taking on the vocals and the band, particularly guitarist Jimmy Dillon, showing their collective rock muscle.

The featured topic of the moment then quickly turned to Janis Joplin, and local soul star Omega Rae took the mic and gave commanding vocal performances of “Get It While You Can,” which Joplin did as a solo artist, and “Piece of My Heart,” which Joplin made famous with Big Brother and the Holding Company.” Rae sang in front of a big-screen rendering of a Grace Slick caricature of Joplin.

It’s a Beautiful Day’s “White Bird,” a peaceful flowing musical expression from the day, was next, sung sweetly by Caroline Sky.

Liberatore then embraced California’s new recreational marijuana use laws and recalled how Quicksilver Messenger Service sang about the topic back in 1970 on their Top 50, Dino Valenti-penned single, “Fresh Air.” Bluhm and Smith carried the tune, with its oft-repeated lyric, “Have another hit.”

Joan Baez then returned to the stage and the self-effacing singer remarked that yes, she was at Woodstock, but that she wasn’t a large attraction. “I was lecturing about nonviolence and ending the <Vietnam> war,” she said, “and they were all, yawn.” She also regaled the crowd with the tale about meeting Joplin, and Baez, a non-drug user, said she was pleased to meet Janis and perhaps they could have tea sometime, to which Janis replied quizzically, “Tea!?!”

Baez went on to lead the crowd to clap and sway along with the Civil Rights spiritual "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” a song that actually has roots that go back to the 1920s. She followed that up with another spiritual favorite, “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.”

Then it was finale time, and Baez led the evening’s participants, all of whom came to the stage, to sing Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer,” with Baez, the T Sisters, Bluhm, and others taking vocal turns on each verse.

The house band included the aforementioned Dillon and Weed, as well as keyboardist Frank Martin, bassist Eric McCann, and drummer Kirk Snedeker.

The concert benefited Bread & Roses, the Bay Area-based nonprofit that, with the help of some 1,400 volunteers, tasks itself with “uplifting the human spirit by providing free, live, quality entertainment to people who live in institutions or are otherwise isolated from society.” Bread & Roses was founded by singer-songwriter Mimi Fariña in 1974, and more than coincidentally, Fariña, who died in 2001 was Baez’s sister and Liberatore’s partner when she passed away.

The Nourse Theatre, which opened in 1926 and was generally idle since 1952, was brought back to life largely through the efforts of Sydney Goldstein, founder of City Arts & Lectures, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Goldstein, upon learning that the city’s Herbst Theatre, which had hosted City Arts and Lectures events for decades, was undertaking a two-year overhaul, decided to lead the Nourse restoration project, thereby creating a new home for City Arts & Lectures.

Check out more photos from the show.

In its 10^th incarnation the Petaluma Music Festival once again brought together a fine synthesis of bohemian bands including the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Poor Man’s Whiskey, the T Sisters, and Midnight North and their collective aficionados to the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma, California, all to benefit the Keeping Music in the Schools effort, specifically for music programs in Petaluma schools. So far the intimate, boutique festival, which in 2017 offered 10 hours of nonstop music from a pleasing bunch of folk-rock, jam-rock, blues-rock, psychedelic-rock and bluegrass bands, has raised more than $200,000 for the nonprofit.

The intimate and vibrant one-day, noon-to-10 fest drew a couple of thousand people united in merriment, music appreciation, and a good cause. Attendees – and photographers – bounced around from stage to stage, soaking up the delightful vibes and collective audio mosaics. Each act got to perform for at least an hour, and staggered scheduling made it possible to savor at least some of every band. The layout of fairgrounds, once again offered colorful avenues of artisans, food, and drinks, kids activities, a large permanent area of covered/shaded picnic tables, and several fine perches from which the sun-splashed crowd could gather and settle in around the three stages.

As they did in 2016, Moonalice led off the day’s festivities. The band’s “Road Scholar,” Big Steve Parish, he of long-time Grateful Dead crew fame, introduced the band by speaking out for the cause – and the vibe – of the day. “Boy, are we happy to be here to get kids and music together,” Parish said. “Every one of us started that way as a kid, and if you were lucky enough to find music in your life, you had a better kid-hood. When I was a kid, they made me play trumpet, and I said ‘Why?’ I want to play the saxophone because I could fill it with marijuana and smoke it like a pipe.”

The band, as always was led by singer, songwriter, guitarist, and technology-business expert Roger McNamee, and accompanied by premium players Pete Sears (bass, vocals), Barry Sless (lead and pedal steel guitars), and John Molo (drums). Renowned and revered for its free live streams and free poster handouts at virtually every show, Moonalice’s hour-long set opened with The Byrds’ “Hey, Mr. Spaceman,” followed by The Kinks’ “Sunny Afternoon,” After the group’s own “Nick of Time,” Katie Skene (guitar, vocals), who has been performing with the band frequently as of late, joined in for the rest of the set, singing first on a bright and twangy version of The Grateful Dead’s  “Tennessee Jed,” and subsequently a sweet “Can’t Find My Way Home,” a la Derek and the Dominoes. Their set closed with a rollicking, “Summertime Blues” the Eddie Cochran tune covered by Blue Cheer, The Who, and others.

It’d be 30 minutes before the next artist took to the main Festival Stage, so a stroll was in order over to the Lagunitas Stage, a large lawn area surrounded by some hay-bale seating and food/beverage and handicraft vendors. First up, Colonel and the Mermaids, an all-male group, in fact, delivered blues ballads and jam-rock nuggets led Alex Koford, who many had been introduced to as a drummer for Midnight North and the Terrapin Family Band. Here, at front and center, Koford proved worthy on guitar and vocals – and cool sunglasses – leading the five-piece, including Mike Pascale (bass), Craig MacArthur (guitar), and Danny Luering (drums), all with musical pedigrees enhanced at Phil Lesh’s Marin County Terrapin Crossroads club, in original tunes as well as a soulful cover of The Grateful Dead’s “Wharf Rat.”

By then, back over at the Festival stage, Stu Allen, who has gained musical acclaim one of the finest “Jerry Garcia sound” lead guitarists in the business, fronted the next act, dubbed Stu Allen & Friends. Rather than an all-Grateful Dead catalog that Stu Allen and Mars Hotel frequently explores, this “friends” ensemble included two other alternating lead guitarists, Scott Law and Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, both of whom would appear with many acts all day, as well as Jordan Feinstein (keyboards), Murph (bass), and Ezra Lipp (drums). This band’s dynamic, varied set included covers of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Call Me the Breeze,” Johnny Cash’s “Mama You’ve Been on My Mind,” Bob Marley’s “Mellow Mood,” David Bowie’s “Fame,” The Beatles’ “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” and Robert Johnson’s/Cream’s “Crossroads.”

Next up, back over at the Lagunitas stage, Midnight North, who played an Atlantic Ocean beach concert just two days prior in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and whose stock has been steadily rising as of late, drew a considerable crowd. Here, Scott Law guested with the band that includes Elliott Peck (guitar, keys, vocals), Grahame Lesh (guitar, vocals), Alex Jordan (guitar, keys), Connor Croon (bass), and Sean Nelson (drums – for this gig). Harmonious in voices and jams, Midnight North performed a bevy of originals, most of which appear on their new album, “Under the Lights,” such as the title track as well as “One Night Stand,” “Everyday,” and “Greene County. Lively cover versions of old classics included The Grateful Dead’s “Mr. Charlie,” and Crosby, Stills, & Nash’s “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” and the rocked out closer, The Band’s “The Shape I’m In.”

Bluegrass jamsters Poor Man’s Whiskey took the Festival Stage next, getting the crowd to hoot and holler and kick up their feet. Co-frontmen Jason Beard (guitar, mandolin) and Josh Brough (banjo, vocals), along with George Smeltz (drums), David Noble (guitar), Murph (bass), and Turi Hoiseth McCalin (fiddle), performed several originals, including “Whiskey Creek,” “Three Years Gone,” “Carolina Daisy,” and “See You Again,” with Lebo sitting in on pedal steel and acoustic guitars. The set also included an interesting variety of covers that incorporated Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al,” the traditional Appalachian ode “Cripple Creek,” and the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post.”

Keeping the good times rolling back at the Lagunitas stage, the Grateful Bluegrass Boys string band – Aaron Redner (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), David Thom (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Ben Jacobs (accordion), Isaac Cantor (banjo), and Scotty Brown (ukulele) – offered a jammy bluegrass take on The Grateful Dead’s “Eyes of the World,” "Ramble on Rose,” “Brown Eyed Women, as well as “Touch of Grey” featuring guest vocalist Jeannette Ferber. They also performed the following, fusing reverence to the originals with Bluegrass Boys pickin’-and-grinnin’ style: Led Zeppelin’s “Going to California,” Steve Miller’s "Rockin’ Me,” Ralph Stanley’s “Clinch Mountain Backstep,” and Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic.”

The powerful Scott Law & Ross James’ Cosmic Twang were up next at the Festival stage, bolstered by a big band o’ friends including Lebo (essentially a third lead guitarist), Barry Sless (pedal steel), Adam MacDougall of Chris Robinson Brotherhood (keyboards), Alex Koford (drums) and Scott Padden (bass). The good-time collaborative’s combination of hard-driving rockin’ songs and jams for some signaled the climax of the day, beginning with the New Riders of the Purple Sage classic, “Glendale Train,” which segued into the hundred-year-old jug band ditty, “Stealin’.”

The deluxe version of Cosmic Twang went on to spotlight such classics as Waylon Jennings’ “Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line,” and the traditional instrumental, “Texas Gales,” before inviting CMac onstage for a 15-minute “Don’t Let Go” (Jesse Stone / Roy Hamilton / Jerry Garcia Band). Later, after one of the most powerful “New Minglewood Blues” (The Grateful Dead) ever witnessed, the onstage gathering ballooned to 11 with the addition of Norman Greenbaum, Katie Skene, and Bonita Kay Capps, who helped serve up an epic “Spirit in the Sky,” a giant hit for Greenbaum in 1969.

Already sporting an ongoing swell of regional respect and admiration, Oakland, California’s, T Sisters expanded their fan base a little more with a 90-minute show that closed out the proceedings at the Lagunitas Stage. Co-fronted by sparkling, spirited sisters Erika, Chloe and Rachel Tietjen, the group quickly displayed their talent to the ample crowd instrumentally and via superbly harmonic vocals, all wrapped up in impressive and charismatic showmanship. The six-piece also includes the rock-solid lead guitar/mandolin workmanship of Andrew Allen Fahlander, steady bass of Steve Height, and drumming of Marlon Aldana. The sisters, songwriters all, performed several of their originals, including their current album’s lead single, “Come Back Down” (Erika T.), as well as “Fight Song” (Chloe T.), and “Shadoop” (Rachel T.).

And as is their tendency, the band also did an impressive job on a diverse group of covers, including Allen Toussaint’s “Yes We Can Can” (made famous and funky by the Pointer Sisters), Foy Vance’s gospel-tinged “Make it Rain” (Ed Sheeran’s version was featured on TV’s “Sons of Anarchy”), and closed with a slightly satirical-at-the-start but in-the-end awesome version of Gloria Gaynor’s disco hit, “I Will Survive.” If that wasn’t enough, Lebo came over to help deliver The Grateful Dead portion of the show – a harmonious “Bird Song,” and traditional but Dead-adopted “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad.”

Finally, Chris Robinson Brotherhood capped off the fest with a potent potpourri of material, young and old. The band now includes Chris Robinson (guitar and lead vocals), longtime compatriot Neal Casal (lead guitar, vocals), and Adam MacDougall (keyboards), as well as the new guys – drummer Tony Leone and bass player Jeff Hill. Their set included several pieces of music from their new project, “Barefoot in the Head,” including “High is Not the Top,” “Behold the Seer,” “Blue Star Woman,” and “If You Had a Heart to Break.”

Other CRB catalog material included epic rocker “Rosalee,” the psychedelic-infused “Narcissus Soaking Wet,” the funky “California Hymn,” shuffling folk-rocker “Beggar’s Moon,” and set-ending “Shore Power.” Cool covers included the opener, Nat Stuckey’s old country ditty “Sweet Thang and Cisco,” Smokey Robinson & the Miracles’ Motown classic, “I Second That Emotion,” a Black Crowes “cover” of the ballad, “Tornado,” and the encore and festival close-out number, Jerry Garcia’s "They Love Each Other.”

The Petaluma Stage provided an outlet for several not-yet big-time rock bands to let loose live. The performance included hour-long sets by Royal Jelly Jive, The Incubators, The Pulsators, The Bootleg Honeys, and Miss Moonshine. In addition, an acoustic indoor stage hosted low-key acoustic sets by some of the day’s musicians.

The Petaluma Music Festival is the brainchild of Cliff Eveland, the event’s executive director, who also happens to be the instrumental director at Petaluma High School, at which he has taught for more than 20 years. The event provides music program support in the town’s elementary and secondary public schools.  “The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation's purpose...and is a test of the quality of a nation's civilization,” reads a President John Kennedy statement, as inscribed at the Kennedy Center for the performing Arts.

A few thousand music-loving adventure-seekers on September 9 received quite the idyllic sun-splashed reward when they witnessed this year’s Sound Summit, headlined by Phil Lesh and some extra special “friends.” The eight-hour festival-like show, chock full of five performers plus an avant-garde dance ensemble, took place at a perch high above Marin County, California’s Mill Valley, at a hundred-year-old stone amphitheater near the top of the area’s famed Mt. Tamalpais. Sound Summit’s core focus is to benefit the Roots & Branches Conservancy, which dedicates itself to the conservation of physical and cultural natural resources. Another compelling ingredient of the day’s significance was that the concert site was the setting 50 years ago for the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival, a two-day Summer of Love event widely considered to be the first-ever outdoor rock festival.

The narrow roads to the sublime venue were kept nicely light of traffic thanks to shuttle buses of attendees that tiptoed their way up the nine-mile journey from Mill Valley, navigating winding byways up to about the 2,000-foot elevation level from two park ‘n’ rides. After arriving at the Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre aka Mountain Theatre, attendees strolled uphill along forest walkways that were for the day lined with craft and food vendors until the trail ended at the top of the stone-seated theater bowl, which is surrounded by big trees and overlooked Angel Island and a big chunk of the San Francisco Bay. In an interesting circumstance of weather, concertgoers were treated to brilliant blue skies and the sun’s direct warmth, while the areas below remained cool and shrouded in marine layer fog.

The headlining act here, a unique, one-time Phil & Friends blend, included Lesh’s 50-plus-year Grateful Dead partner in music Bob Weir, as well as Holly Bowling and Lesh-band mainstays Ross James and Alex Koford. Jim James, a solo act here and well-known as My Morning Jacket’s front man, would also join the band for a time. While Weir is most active these days with Dead & Company, and Lesh often performs with many musicians at his nearby Terrapin Crossroads, the two Grateful Dead titans rarely appear together these days.

In a dreamlike sequence for any Dead Head, Lesh and Weir took the stage at just after 5 p.m. and as a duo quietly commenced with an unprecedented version of the most sacred of all Grateful Dead songs, “Dark Star.” Made all the more intimate and special by Weir’s use of an acoustic guitar at the start, the tender musical interlude was not lost on the crowd, many of who have matured and held dear decades of their own personal Grateful Dead experiences.

There they were, Lesh, now 77 and still an incredible virtuoso on the bass, providing rhythmic and melodic bass passages, smiling throughout and sharing the center of the stage with Weir, who at 69 is still a fine purveyor of rhythm guitar and vocals. After Weir sang the first ethereal verse, keyboardist Bowling, schooled in classical piano and who has recorded and performed interpretive arrangements of many Phish and Grateful Dead classics, joined the duo, followed by Ross James and his hard-driving lead-guitar twang, as well as Koford, a proficient Dead music (and more) drummer.

The 21-minute “Dark Star” was followed by a profound, complete version of “Playin’ in the Band” that concluded with a jovial Weir-Lesh fist bump. The two-hour performance moved on with “Viola Lee Blues,” a jammy bluesy musical piece that dates back exactly 50 years to The Grateful Dead’s first record. Moving from cosmic jams to the Dead’s self-proclaimed polka, the dance-inducing “Mexicali Blues” was presented in fine style. Next up, Jim James came to the stage to provide co-vocals on “Tennessee Jed,” with a segment of “Down on the Bottom,” a recently unearthed Bob Dylan song penned in the mid-1960s, sandwiched into the song.

The group then conferred on how to proceed the rest of the way, with Weir saying, “We’re sorting things out here. We figure we better come up with a plan.” And the plan played out before us in powerful and passionate style, beginning with Lesh’s “Box of Rain,” followed by “Jack Straw” with Ross James taking Jerry Garcia’s old lyric passages, a dreamy “Bird Song,” and a set-ender of “Not Fade Away.” Following an organ-donor oration by Lesh, the band encored with an obligatory “One More Saturday Night” as the sun began to set over the assemblage. The band fired on all cylinders throughout.

Jim James performed a set immediately prior to Phil & Friends. His 15-song, mostly solo set, defined by soaring emotional vocals over acoustic guitar passages, covered a lot of ground including solo material as well as My Morning Jacket’s “I’m Amazed,” “Bermuda Highway,” and “Wonderful.” His set also included a wide range of covers including a whimsical “Rainbow Connection” opener, from “The Muppets Movie.” Other offerings included Simon and Garfunkel’s “America” and The Fruit Bats’ “Wild Honey,” with the Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson on backup vocals (Johnson accompanied James on several songs). Bob Weir moseyed onstage and accompanied James on the set’s final three songs: Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker,” The Grateful Dead’s “Brokedown Palace,” and the still relevant mid-‘60s Buffalo Springfield protest song, “For What It’s Worth.” For a good chunk of the second half of his set, James performed with a dark towel over his head, presumably to help shield himself from the stunning sunshine, which made the 75-degree temperatures seem much higher. For a moment of solidarity, Weir donned a white towel over his head, but he removed it quickly.

New Orleans’ legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band, whose roots go back more than 50 years, preceded James’ set. The six-piece version of the renowned brass-heavy jazz, blues, and Dixieland ensemble brought the party to the mountain, generating about an hour’s worth of smiles and dance steps. The band included mainstays Ronell Johnson (trombone), Branden Lewis (trumpet), Ben Jaffe (bass), Clint Maedgen (saxophone), Kyle Roussel (keyboards), and Walter Harris (drums). The 85-year-old Charlie Gabriel was not with the band, which a couple of days after this show would support Arcade Fire at major East Coast arenas.

Between sets and back up in the arboretum-like setting above the concert bowl, the Bay Area-based Printz Dance Project performed innovative and inspiring contemporary theatrical dance pieces. The musically driven performances included dance elements of modern, jazz, hip-hop, and ballet, all performed inside large, pod-like “bubble rooms.”

The Stone Foxes were the second Sound Summit band to perform. The high-octane San Francisco-based blues/rock outfit brought to bear an exciting stage presence with a triple-pronged lead vocal approach. Shannon Koeler and a backup vocalist added to the dynamic set when they jumped down from stage to sing with the crowd.

Led by singer-songwriter, Andy Cabic, jammy, groovy pop-rock outfit Vetiver opened the proceedings with a fine set of tunes.

Check out more photos from Sound Summit 2017.

Until 1995, back when The Grateful Dead roamed the Earth, Bob Weir developed some engaging onstage phrases that he’d utter from time to time, including “tuned just like a Swiss watch” when he muffed a lyric, or introduce “the family fun game, Take A Step Back,” when urging fans to back away from the stage. He also sometimes stated, “We’re trying to get everything Just Exactly Perfect,” when fans got a little antsy during particularly long between-song tune-ups.

Segue to September 22-24 2017, and Teie One On Productions presented the inaugural Just Exactly Perfect Festival, a sold-out gathering near the town of Placerville, Calif., which featured regionally renowned musicians including Stu Allen, Achilles Wheel, Grateful Bluegrass Boys, Jennifer Mydland, Shakey Zimmerman, and Red Dirt Ruckus.  Set in a Gold Rush-area campground called Nugget, alongside the South Fork of a river they call The American, the intimate boutique fest hit all the right places for those who appreciate such Bohemian music gatherings. All performers packed their own unique music punch, while several bands found common ground touching on songs and improvisational folk and blues stylings of The Grateful Dead and the indelible mark they made as an important player in the shaping of American music during the second half of the 20th century.

“The overall vision is to bring our tribe together to experience live music while giving back and supporting our communities,” said festival producer Jennifer Teie. “We aim to keep the Just Exactly Perfect Fest intimate (under 500 attendees) in order to provide our best hospitality guests and artists.” A portion of proceeds were to go to the El Dorado County (Calif.) Habitat for Humanity.

A glorious locale in foothills of the Sierra Nevada, the festy site was surrounded by steep canyon walls cut by the aforementioned river. Warm days and cool nights, flickering tree shadows, glistening burbling water, and general pastoral splendor helped define the non-musical essence of the festival.

Scheduled jammy rock, blues, and bluegrass performances were supplemented by yoga, meditation, a learning-embracing kid’s zone, craft tents (Good Earth Movement), healthy food and beverage offerings (i.e. Totem Coffee, Rise & Shine Bagels, Big Sexy Brewing Company), as well as showers and fully operating bathrooms added to the festival’s vitality. A unique drive-through drop-off process of camping equipment that allowed for easy setup for the colorful campsites that dotted the riverside landscape was a sweet feature. And a campfire ring surrounded by straw-bale seating proved to be a fine place for late-night performances and singalongs.

Grateful Web attended Sunday’s proceedings, which culminated in a full two-set sunset performance by A Band Beyond Description, a conglomerate of fine players from Achilles Wheel (guitarist/vocalist Jonny “Mojo” Flores and drummer Mark McCartney), Saints of Circumstance (guitarist/vocalist Todd Gardner and bassist Mike Meagher) and friends, which on this night included Jordan Feinstein (keyboards), Neil Campisano (drums), and Jeannette Ferber (vocals), the latter of whom also performed over the weekend with Achilles Wheel/Stu Allen and the Grateful Bluegrass Boys.

After A Band Beyond Description’s masterful and epic first set of “China Cat” -> “I Know You Rider,” “Estimated Prophet” -> “Eyes of the World,” “Black Peter,” “Throwin’ Stones,” and “Deal,” the band returned for a second set that embodied all of The Dead’s “Live Dead” LP, plus a couple of numbers: “Dark Star” -> “St. Stephen” -> “The Eleven” -> “Turn on Your Lovelight” -> “Death Don’t Have No Mercy” -> “Feedback” -> “Not Fade Away” -> “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad” -> “We Bid You Goodnight.”

Earlier in the day, Jennifer Mydland (daughter of The Grateful Dead’s Brent Mydland) continued to prove herself as a performer, delivering a short but sweet set singing and strumming an acoustic guitar backed only by Bay Area stalwart guitarist Pat Nevins. Mydland’s set included Ingrid Michaelson’s “You and I,”  Mumford & Son’s “Little Island Man,” Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie,” and Nathaniel Ratliff’s “I’ve Been Falling.”

Nevis stayed on stage for a set by Shakey Zimmerman, a Neil Young/Bob Dylan cover band extraordinaire (Shakey has been a Young pseudonym, and Zimmerman, of course, is Dylan’s real last name). The band’s impressive appeal is a righteous combination of guitarist/vocalist Nevins’ uncanny ability to channel Young’s and Dylan’s vocals, lead guitar passages from expertly schooled Jody Salino, along with right-on-time bottom end offerings from bass player Jen Rund and drummer Mike Eaves.

Dylan songs included “Lay Lady Lay,” “Just Like a Woman,” “Slow Train Coming,” “One More Cup of Coffee,” and set-closing number, “Tangled up in Blue.” Young tunes included raucous opener “Powderfinger,” as well as “On the Beach,” “Throw Your Hatred Down,” and “Love to Burn.”

Island of Black and White preceded Band Beyond Description with a super set of originals and covers. The charismatic veteran local band was led by multitalented and bigger-than-life personality and unicyclist Chris Haislet (Hammond keyboards, guitar, accordion, vocals), drummer Nawal Al Wareeth, and brothers Timmy Picchi (lead guitar) & Patrick Picchi (percussion), who have also been stalwart members of Walking Spanish.

In addition their own tunes, “Weather” and “Como Sofia,” their set included captivating powerful versions of  Booker T. & the M.G.’s “Green Onion,” Spencer Davis’ “Gimme Some Lovin’,” Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,” as well as a double shot of surf songs, the Surfari’s “Wipeout” and The Shadows’ “Apache.”

The day also featured a set by power trio Knuf, with Matt Tzolkeen Gillies leading jams that included medleys such as their own “The Peak” -> David Bowie’s “Fame” -> “The Grateful Dead’s “Slipknot.”

The day’s musical offerings began with Second Time Around’s set of Allman Brothers Band tributes, including “Jessica,” “One Way Out,” “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” and “Whipping Post.”

Other acts over the weekend included Achilles Wheel (improvisational “rockadelia”), Matt Rainey and Dippin’ Sauce (blues-rocking jam band), No Simple Highway, Saints of Circumstance (performing a Jerry Garcia Band tribute) Grateful Bluegrass Boys (traditional bluegrass versions of classic rock songs), Red Dirt Ruckus (“Foothill Rudegrass” featuring high-energy string arrangements, harmonies, and an eclectic mix of originals and familiar favorites, Late for Dinner (“high vibe” fusion of Caribbean Pop, and Reggae rhythm, rock, and blues), Loose With The Truth (Bay Area Band performing in the spirit of The Grateful Dead, and The Vintage Find.

Teie One On Productions, Jennifer Teie said, “is actively pursuing the opportunity to continue producing live music events and festivals. We intend to purchase and develop a larger property on the river to be a premier live music stay-and-play destination.”

Check out more photos from Just Exactly Perfect Festival.

On the weekend preceding Halloween, a tie-dye-colored witches’ brew of imaginative seasonal costumes worn by attendees and musicians, vibrant autumn hues, and a couple of dozen improvisational bands of psychedelic rock, progressive bluegrass, funk, and more defined the 2017 version of the Hangtown Music Festival in Placerville, California.

Performances were offered on two stages, rather than three as in previous years, which created a nice scheduling format that enabled music fans to catch every act. Main, El Dorado Stage performances that ranged from 75 minutes to three hours, were separated by 35-40-minute performances at the intimate Gallows Stage, which offered a nicely sloped grassy spectator (and dancing) area. Late night shows took place indoors in a large fairgrounds building dubbed Hangtown Hall, with shows between midnight and 4 a.m. (a little earlier on Sunday night), that included bands that also played during conventional hours.

Freaky, friendly art installations dotted the fairgrounds creating a vivid Halloween-spirit vibe throughout, and high-quality food and artisan/craft vendors outlined several fairground areas. Other activities included morning yoga, creation of a giant mandala made of natural materials under a large gazebo, and pumpkin carving, which took place while the Achilles Wheel Trio – and friends - regaled the kids and their accompanying grown-ups with classic folk songs.

As they have since the beginning, Railroad Earth played the role of “house band,” at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds, with the rootsy, folky, bluegrass outfit’s three headlining performances on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday weaving songs, jigs, and jams that prompted ubiquitous head-nodding and waves of freeform dance.

From “Chasing a Rainbow” on Thursday, through a soulful encore of Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers” on Sunday night, Railroad Earth – Todd Sheaffer, Tim Carbone, John Skehan, Andy Goessling, Carey Harmon, and Andrew Altman – did not repeat a song. On Saturday, the band delivered “Hangtown Ball,” a location-fitting ode to lawbreakers whose fates ended with their heads in a noose. On Sunday, the band dedicated its performance to California fire victims, partnering with Hearts 2 Hands, which is responding to those impacted by the fires, as well as the Same Team apparel company, which is also providing grassroots relief to fire victims. Band members all wore Same Team T-shirts on Sunday.

While it occurred well before the headliners’ sets, it was a Sunday afternoon performance of Lukas Nelson and his band Promise of the Real that created perhaps the fest’s biggest buzz. While not yet 30, Nelson, an excellent songwriter and lead guitarist, long ago established himself a compelling performer unchained to the fame and country music of his father, Willie. Although, while leaning on material on his latest project, titled simply, “Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real,” Nelson introduced the song, “Forget About Georgia,” which he said he wrote after performing “Georgia on My Mind” so many times with his dad, that he joked he sometimes wanted to forget about Georgia. Nelson also performed several covers. After a sweet rendering of Neil Young’s “I am a Child,” Nelson honored the recently departed Tom Petty Nelson, delivering a poignant, solo acoustic version of “Breakdown,” and later, a rousing “American Girl” set-ender, making each tune his own in the process. Nelson at the POTR also performed, with three percussionists, Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes.”

A short time later, Nelson further thrilled the audience when he joined Leftover Salmon to lead epic versions of Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” as well as Neil Young’s “Down By the River and “Alabama.”

One of the original post-Grateful Dead “jam bands” that have been at it for almost 30 years, Boulder, Colorado-based Leftover Salmon delivered a mighty set of bluegrass and bohemian jam fusion. Led as they always have been by Vince Herman on acoustic guitar and vocals as well as Drew Emmitt on mandolin, guitar, and vocals, and Andy Thorn (whose birthday coincided with their set), Herman declared, “that this feels absolutely perfect up here,” after which the band treated the crowd to its enduring foot-stomping romp, “I’m Gonna Live High Till I Die.”

MarchFourth Marching Band, a kaleidoscope of musical and visual revelry, kind of like your high school band on psychedelics, commanded the main, El Dorado stage earlier on Sunday. Though many of the individual players have changed over the years, the bawdy band of Burlesque-ish, Steampunky dancers, and players out of Portland, Oregon, were, as always, a stimulating, circus of joyfulness.

Second-stage bands on Sunday included Afrolicious, Polyrhythmics, Brothers Gow, Low Flying Birds, and The Connor Party.

Festival emcee Joe Craven, whose musical pedigree includes a stint with Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, as well as decades of performing on the fiddle, mandolin, and any percussion instrument one can think of, was again a consummate ringleader, offering elements of hilarity, words of wisdom, and respectful, informative descriptions during his band introductions. Before Railroad Earth’s closing set on Sunday, Craven said, regarding America’s splintered political turmoil as it related to the unified oneness of the festival audience “I wanted to lasso everyone in Congress to see what I see.”

Craven, as he is wont to do at any festival in which he is present, performed on Sunday morning with one of his current bands, The Sometimes, and teamed up with Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone for a fiddle workshop on Saturday, and guested on Achilles Wheel’s festival-opening set on Thursday.

As the penultimate main-stage band on Saturday, Greensky Bluegrass, the pride of Kalamazoo, Michigan, delivered their nationally renowned brand of improvisational newgrass that, while venturing in the same general genre defined by amplified strings (dobro, mandolin, banjo, guitar, acoustic bass), was more rock-driven than headliner Railroad Earth’s music model. Led by mandolin player/vocalist Paul Hoffman, with a supporting cast of Dave Bruzza (guitar), Anders Beck (dobro), Michael Arlen Bont (banjo), and Mike Devol (upright bass) their two-set performance was grand, with mind-blowing extended jams, like on “Living Over,” that entranced the crowd over lengthy periods of time. Greensky Bluegrass also gets big kudos for flying in and performing after a show the night before in Florida at the Suwannee Hulaween festival.

Turkuaz, a five-year-old colorful party band of contemporary powerfunk, soul, and grooves from Brooklyn, New York, which has been receiving increased national acclaim over the past two years, preceded Greensky Bluegrass on the main stage on Saturday. The horn-filled ensemble, fronted by Dave Brandenwein, with vocalists Sammi Grant (in pink) and Shira Elias (in yellow) adding to the pizzazz, dazzled the assemblage.

Preceding Turkuaz was Dustbowl Revival, which joyfully confirmed its reputation as a unique party-orchestra blend of vintage American swing and more. The Los Angeles-based eight-piece was led by the music and happy antics of front man Zach Lupetin (guitar, vocals, chief songwriting), who performed the first song as a headless horseman, and Liz Beebe (vocals), along with horn players to the right and string players to the left. While new, less showy but more soulful songs have broadened the band’s sound of late, the undeniable merriment emanating from main stage turned many new heads while leaving fans already on the bandwagon with nods and proclamations of, “See, I told you this group was special.”

Todd Snider’s engaging comedic slacker persona was on full display early Sunday, with astute between-song societal observations almost as clever as his live renderings of the witticisms contained within his self-penned folk ballads.

Second-stage bands on Saturday the Scott Pemberton Band, March Fourth, Ideateam, Moondog Matinee, and the City of Trees Brass Band.

On Friday, the only Railroad Earth-less day, headliner Dark Star Orchestra, the renowned Grateful Dead tribute band that has been touring for almost 20 years, recreated a Grateful Dead show from October 29, 1977, almost 40 years to the day. That show, which took place at Northern Illinois University, contained many Dead staples and favorites, including “Jack Straw,” “Bertha,” “Estimated Prophet” -> “Eyes of the World,” “St. Stephen,” and “Sugar Magnolia.” The soundtrack of Dark Star Orchestra’s recreation was spot-on and had many attendees of all ages singing and dancing along. While Jeff Mattson (in the role of Jerry Garcia), Rob Eaton (as Bob Weir), Rob Baccarro (keyboards, in this case, Keith), the theatrics of duplicating another band’s concert does limit the band members to predefined roles.

Chris Robinson Brotherhood presented his fine blend of psychedelic rock jams and grooves during a twilight set on Friday. In addition to covers of songs by such varied artists as Waylon Jennings, Nat Stuckey, and the hundred-year-old gospel song, “Bye and Bye” by Charles Albert Tindley, CRB’s set included several pieces of music from their new project, “Barefoot in the Head.” The set ended with their staple, “Rosalee.”

The Contribution, an intriguing band led by Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone (fiddle, guitar, and vocals), and New Monsoon front man Jeff Miller (guitar and vocals), also played on Friday delivering two sets, before and after the Chris Robinson Band. The band, which originally got out of the box in 2010, is back with renewed vigor in late 2017. The band also includes New Monsoon’s Phil Ferlino (keyboards) and Sheryl Renee (vocals), who displayed standout choral treatments on “Gimme Shelter.” On this day, The Contribution’s bottom end was filled by Steve Adams on bass and Ezra Lipp on drums. In addition, Railroad Earth’s Andy Goessling played saxophone on a couple of songs.

Led by three songwriting front men and women, Fruition contributed a mid-afternoon El Dorado Stage set on Saturday. The versatile Portland, Oregon-based rising-star rockers delivered a pleasing set that ended with a rousing version of Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”

Monophoncs and the Shook Twins performed early in the day on the El Dorado Stage, while Gallows Stage performers included the aforementioned The Contribution, Mojo Green, and Ancestree.

The festival began Thursday night inside Hangtown Hall, with sets by Railroad Earth, Fruition, and Achilles Wheel. Based in Nevada City, California, Achilles Wheel has been ascending up the ranks of Northern California’s most popular rock ‘n’ jam bands, expanding their reach and relevance at festivals and other music venues, and earning unanimous praise as they go.

Big Fun Circus’s stilt walkers added another festival dimension throughout the festival. Led by the group’s circus artist “Avatar of JOY,” Meghan O’Brien, the group hosted an imaginative, supervised Kids Zone of arts and crafts, a Kiddie Parade, a Stilt-Walking Peter Pan Battle, limbo, and a colorful parachute games.

The festival’s name, which was formerly the Hangtown Halloween Ball, comes from the small Sierra Nevada foothill community’s original name, “Hangtown,” which it held during the wild and wooly Gold Rush years of the mid-1800s to warn the citizenry of the form of justice the city handed out to the worst of the evildoers. Some 5,000 to 6,000 revelers were on the scene during the course of the fest, the most in its seven-year run, according to a festival official. Most took advantage of the onsite camping areas to enjoy clear weather that ran warm, at about 80-degrees, by day, and remained mild overnight.

Check out more photos from Hangtown Music Festival 2017.

The stars aligned just right in San Francisco on November 3rd at Midnight North’s 3½-hour show at the venerable Great American Music Hall, as an epic two-set show transpired that included fine contributions from Grateful Dead co-founders Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, two core members of Vermont reggae-rock jamsters Twiddle, the Northbound Horns, and good old Bay Area guitar gunslinger Ross James. For the week leading up to the show, Midnight North on social media teased some special guest hints, up to and including the day of the show when Weir was announced.

Praise must be bestowed on the set list writers for this one, who put together all the elements into a flowing, sensible package. Even with all of the guests coming and going to the stage of the hundred-year-old, 600-capacity, ornately decorated two-tiered concert hall, which was the site of a famous Grateful Dead concert in the summer of 1975, Midnight North remained the focus of the activities and got to feature seven of the 11 tracks from the band’s current project, “Under the Lights.”

Midnight North is a talented band has been gaining steady momentum over the last three years, and rightfully so, with albums of finely crafted songs in the varietals of rock, alt-pop, alt-country, and more. Way past the notion of “Phil’s son’s band” Midnight North’s unique strengths include the collective skills of its excellent players, including Grahame Lesh (lead guitarist, vocals, songwriter), Elliott Peck (guitar, keyboards, vocals, songwriter), Conner Croon (bass, mandolin), Alex Jordan (keyboards, guitars, vocals), and Sean Nelson (drummer for West Coast shows). Songs are strong, with excellent lyrical portions as well as the meaningful jams that come out of those stanzas. And the players themselves are all poised, professional, affable, and easy-going, with no airs of inflated egos.

Five Midnight North songs opened the show – good, varied rockers that featured alternating solo and harmonic vocals of Elliott Peck and Grahame Lesh, four of which were from the new record. Next up, Twiddle’s Mihali Savoulidis and Ryan Dempsey were invited onstage for an excellent rendering of “Lost in the Cold,” a reggae-esque Twiddle song that featured Savoulidis on vocals and lead guitar and Dempsey seated at a keyboard bench along with Jordan.

Five Midnight North songs opened the show – good, varied rockers that featured alternating solo and harmonic vocals of Elliott Peck and Grahame Lesh, four of which were from the new record. Next up, Twiddle’s Mihali Savoulidis and Ryan Dempsey were invited onstage for an excellent rendering of “Lost in the Cold,” a reggae- esque Twiddle song that featured Savoulidis on vocals and lead guitar and Dempsey seated at a keyboard bench along with Jordan.

But the undeniable highlights of the evening came during the closing sequence of the first set, when Bob Weir was introduced and first regaled onlookers with a sweet Midnight North-backed version of “Only a River,” a sensitive cowboy ballad from Weir’s recent “Blue Mountain” project. Next, Weir switched from a blue D’Angelico guitar to a brown Fender while Grahame Lesh introduced Phil Lesh, who quickly plugged in and was raring to go in a minute. And then it happened, 30 minutes of high- falootin ’ unbridled Grateful Dead-ness, with high-octane, soul shaking versions of The Grateful Dead’s “The Music Never Stopped,” a complete “Playin’ in the Band,” and “Franklin’s Tower.”

Weir’s seminal “The Music Never Stopped” featured Midnight North’s Peck taking the vocal parts that Donna Godchaux assumed in the 1970s, with the “There’s a band out on the highway; they're high- steppin ’ into town…” thrilling the audience. Weir’s guitar and Phil Lesh’s heavy bass lines  -- and nods of non-verbal communication – gelled immediately as Midnight North’s Grahame Lesh wailed properly and purposefully on the guitar during the song’s jam portion.

After Elliott asked the spectators, “Are you guys having any fun yet?,” and Weir piggybacked, “Of course you are!” the familiar countdown of “3…5…7, 8, 9, 10” signaled the start of one of Weir’s most enduring tunes, “Playin’ in the Band.” The cohesiveness onstage was solid, with Phil visibly enjoying himself while booming on the bass and sharing a mic with Grahame on the refrains of “Playin’, playin’ in the band; daybreak, daybreak on the land.” Peck again conjured up the ‘70s version of the song singing Donna Godchaux’s vocal harmony spots. The inclusion of horns (Michael Bello, Liz Larson, and Jay Jordan) brought forth recollections of the version of “Playin’ in the Band” that was on Weir’s debut record, “Ace,” all those years ago. And as Phil dominated on the bass, Midnight North bass player Connor Croon offered mandolin instrumentation on the 10-minute piece.

Then, with 10 people already on the smallish stage, Grahame invited two more, Twiddle’s Mihali Savoulidis (guitar and vocals) and Ryan Dempsey (keyboards) for the first set closer, “Franklin’s Tower.” With Grahame Lesh, Weir, Peck, and Phil Lesh taking vocal turns on the song’s many verses, “Franklin’s Tower’s” 11-minute romp turned into an epic spectacular, and affirmed the show’s grand status. Handshakes, hugs, and collective smiles followed as everyone on and off-stage collected themselves and got tuned for a second set.

The second set begun again with a couple of newer Midnight North songs, “Roamin’” and “Miss M,” followed by Peck’s first-ever performance of John Prine’s classic, “Angel From Montgomery.” Peck’s vocals were sublime and the backing players’ full-band approach to the ballad worked well. Next, Savouldis again fronted the band, on Twiddle’s “When It Rains It Pours,” followed by Peck’s “The Highway Song.”

Ross James, a local favorite and important cog in the Terrapin Family Band and Cosmic Twang jumped into the mix to lead a party-hearty version of The Band’s “The Shape I’m In,” before Grahame again invited his dad onto the stage. James and the elder Lesh played with the band on Grahame Lesh’s “San Francisco Rain,” and then Phil stayed out there till the end, on The Grateful Dead’s “Mr. Charlie” and sweet Midnight North ballad, “Greene Country.”  Savouldis and Dempsey returned, with Phil still onstage for the encore of the new album’s title track, “Under the Lights.” Peck said after the show, “The whole evening was amazing and felt like a big family both on and off the stage!”

Check out more photos from the show.

All in the name of Music Heals International’s core mission to expand residents’ ability to make music in Haiti, Lukas Nelson headlined a humdinger of a benefit inside the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California on November 21. All of the musicians – including Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Nicki Bluhm, DJ Logic, Steve Kimock, Jay Lane, and Robin Sylvester (the latter three of whom played in the band RatDog), donated their time and all of the revenue proceeds from the event are to go directly to the program.

The solidarity in support for “the cause,” and the fine interplay between a bunch of renowned players who have long entertained Bay Area crowds both alone and with many other bands and projects, gelled together in a way that made the evening’s resulting amalgamation greater than the sum of its parts.

“Lukas has supported MHI since we began over four years ago along with other friends and family members,” said Music Heals International Executive Director and Founder Sara Wasserman after the show. “We have been friends for a long time, and he was with me during my first trip to Haiti over five years ago.”

The show, which exuded a casual vibe of friends playing for friends at the 300-capacity club, began with a trio of Lebo, who served as the evening’s music director, along with Kimock and Bluhm, performing Bluhm’s “Love Always Wins,” a tender new ballad that reflects on America’s current political status. This was followed by “Hummingbird,” a Les Paul and Mary Ford country-tinged ditty from the mid-1950s.

The trio, who would maintain a presence as a core ingredient of the entire show, featured Bluhm’s strong and clear voice, along with the scintillating, multifaceted guitar styles of Kimock and Lebo. Kimock provided efficient, finger-picking lead guitar runs of melody and meaningful improvisations, while Lebo’s contribution included rhythm and leads that ranged from soft strumming to body-twisting lead–guitar jams.

As “Hummingbird” trailed off, Lebo maintained a soft strum while Lane and Sylvester entered. Immediately the familiar melody of The Grateful Dead’s “Bird Song” blossomed, with Lebo on vocals and Kimock, now seated, as he would off and on all evening, offering accompanying lap-steel guitar licks of Middle Eastern-influenced beauty. As the song’s pace picked up, Lebo chimed in and coaxed his acoustic guitar into its own brilliant jams. The 16-minute version of the song ebbed and flowed into the sonic stratosphere (something that would happen on many occasions) to achieve what a couple of voices in the audience called the best version they had ever heard.

DJ Logic joined the band at this point, contributing frequent turntable scratches that were always perceptible but never overpowering. Bluhm then vocally fronted one of her songs of affirmation, “To Rise You Gotta Fall,” before the band rocked out The Beatles’ “Come Together,” which included Lebo and Bluhm delivering co-lead vocals, along with some splendid DJ Logic input.

Next, the band visibly had an enjoyable time recreating Fleetwood Mac’s “You Make Loving Fun,” with Bluhm channeling Christine McVie’s vocals and Kimock invoking Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar licks albeit with some additional flair. That song’s album, “Rumours,” was recorded about 40 years ago at the nearby Record Plant in Sausalito, Calif. At the song’s conclusion, Kimock, who did not sing during the entire performance came up to one of the mics and declared his praise and respect for that old record.

“I look out at a sea of smiling, friendly, beautiful old motherfuckers. You guys are almost as old as me at this point,” Kimock said to approving laughs and claps. “I was on the street in San Anselmo when that record dropped, and I heard it on the radio. I knew that they did <the album> right there in Sausalito and I always thought that record was such an achievement. That was formative listening for me in a huge way, and there are great swaths of stuff that I did that were modeled after Lindsey Buckingham’s playing.”

The first set then closed with Lebo’s “Try,” a bouncy, upbeat number that is a live staple for his band, ALO, with it words of encouragement including, “We got to try just a little bit harder. And let it shine just a little bit brighter. We got to walk just a little bit taller.”

After a short break, the audience was treated to a Music Heals International promotional video.

Then, after a live auction, Lukas Nelson walked out onstage, as modest and non-rock-starry as could be. “Thank you for having me,” he started. “This is something special what they’re doing for these kids out there. I went out with Sara on one of the first missions, and I was there when the whole thing was started. It was maybe 20 kids, and now it’s like seven schools and 350 kids, and it’s pretty special.”

Special is what the audience received next as Nelson delivered a couple of songs in solo-acoustic fashion. First was one of his recent numbers, “Forget About Georgia,” the notion of which, he jokes, came from having to play “Georgia on My Mind,” every night with his father, Willie Nelson. The ballad, which is actually quite poignant, was followed by an enthralling, slow-tempo version of Tom Petty’s “Breakdown.”

The band then returned, and Nelson went electric as the musical amalgamation performed fun-and-pleasing versions of J.J. Cale’s “The Breeze” and The Band’s “Up On Cripple Creek.” Next, Nelson, whose band Promise of the Real served as Neil Young’s backing band for a couple of recent tours, picked the familiar opening notes to Young’s “Down by the River,” which turned into a superb 14-minute production of joy.

Next, Nelson and Bluhm together sang a reverentially tender and perfect version of Willie Nelson’s “Crazy,” which Patsy Cline recorded and made her signature tune in 1962. This was delivered even as some of the pretty people in the back of the room continued to prattle on about their clothes, or what they were drinking, or something that they considered extremely important, even at that moment. Luckily the din of chatter could not be heard up front, as the band, without Bluhm from this point on, then produced an excellent version of The Grateful Dead’s Althea,” with Nelson singing from memory, and conviction, the several verses that Jerry Garcia once recited. The show concluded with a passionate rendering of Neil Young’s protest anthem, “Ohio.”

The concert was the latest in a four-year string of Music Heals International benefits at the Sweetwater, which has included Nelson, Bob Weir, Michael Franti, and a plethora of other top Bay Area musicians. In addition to proceeds from ticket sales, live and silent auctions took place. While many items such as art, music, and experiences were available for bid all night on the Sweetwater’s outdoor plaza, a between-set live auction between sets raised thousands with items including two musician-signed guitars that sold for $2,500 each.

A grand celebratory sendoff to the 50th anniversary of San Francisco’s psychedelic music scene of 1967 took place at one of its once and forever epicenters, The Fillmore, on December 9. Featuring about 30 prominent Bay Area performers of today and yesterday, the commemorative event righteously celebrated that important stretch of time through which poetry, rock ‘n’ roll, cross-cultural awareness, and an anti-establishment penchant to question authority challenged traditional America’s consciousness. The music and ideals therein, helped push the conformity and “norms” illustrated in TV’s “Ozzie & Harriet” and the “Donna Reed Show” far in the rear-view mirror.

The event was a benefit for the venerable Rex Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit environmental, arts, and social services advocacy organization. Led by Executive Director and former Grateful Dead tour manager and later President/CEO Cameron Sears, the Rex Foundation, founded in 1983 and named for late Grateful Dead crew member Rex Jackson, includes such luminaries as Bob Weir and Mickey Hart on its Board of Directors.

The three-set show was orchestrated, literally, by bandleader Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, a core member of ALO with monster songwriting and lead guitar skills, and a passionate musical scholar of the era. “For this show, the starting point was definitely with the original 1967 musicians we had on the show,” Lebo said. “Those being Lester Chambers (The Chambers Brothers), Dave Getz and Peter Albin (Big Brother and the Holding Co.), David Freiberg (Quicksilver Messenger Service), and David and Linda LaFlamme (It’s a Beautiful Day). That part of the lineup gave us a solid foundation to build the show around.  From there, it was a matter of bringing in musicians from the newer generations to honor as much of the great music from the era as we could. With so many great songs to choose from, and with all of the amazing musicians we had on board, I found it very inspiring to work on."

Throughout the evening, San Francisco’s Brotherhood of Light provided live, big screen, multimedia projections as they have since the late 1960s.

The big, ensemble production of the opening song, the Buffalo Springfield’s iconic “For What It’s Worth,” was a harbinger of how every song on this night was to be executed, with a breadth and depth that spotlighted a lead vocalist (in this case Lebo) of each familiar song, augmented by a rich band of supporting players. In addition to Lebo, who performed on every song, except the T Sisters enrapturing a capella rendering of The Grateful Dead’s “Attics of My Life,” the most ubiquitous players of the night were David Nelson Band/Moonalice members Roger McNamee, Mookie Siegel, Pete Sears, Barry Sless and John Molo, as well as Steve Adams (ALO, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers) and Jay Lane (RatDog, Primus, more).

For the second song, Mother Hips’ Greg Loiacono took the mic for the quintessential song associated with the Summer of Love, Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair),” with Adams and Siegel, as well as Pete Lavezzoli (Melvin Seals & JGB, many others) on drums.

Next, the brothers of Brothers Comatose, Ben and Alex Morrison, as well as Oakland’s T Sisters sister trio led the production of the Mama’s and the Papas’ “California Dreaming.” Loiacono remained onstage as a guitarist for this number, along with the aforementioned Lebo (guitar), Adams (bass), Siegel (keys), and Molo and Lane (drums).

It’s a Beautiful Day, a darling of the San Francisco music scene back in the day, sidled out next, performing their trademark violin-spotlighted, “White Bird.” Before the tune, band co-founder David LaFlamme said the crowd, to plenty of applause for his play on words, “You know what’s wrong in the world today? There’s too much violence and not enough violins.” The epic song, which contained swirling fiddle and guitar jams on the record, was brilliantly delivered, with bigger, more soaring jams than the original. The band, which is still active, includes David (fiddle and vocals) and Linda LaFlamme (vocals), Rob Cunningham (guitar), Gary Thomas (keys), and Val Fuentes (drums), all of whom were on-hand.

David Freiberg, an original member of Quicksilver Messenger Service that provided an integral voice of the San Francisco music scene of the late 1960s and early ‘70s, and a core member of the 1970s Jefferson Starship, revisited two of QMS’s biggest songs, “Fresh Air” and “Pride of Man.” His wife, Linda Imperial, who is part of Freiberg’s modern-day version of the band, sang co-vocals on both songs as Lebo, McNamee, Sears, Siegel, Molo, and Lane brought the temperature up with searing accompaniments and jams.

Next, Bo Carper (New Monsoon) led Lebo in an acoustic duo performance of “Embryonic Journey,” an enduring Jefferson Airplane instrumental that songwriter Jorma Kaukonen has kept active for more than 50 years.

The first set concluded with two blues rockers, “Summertime” and a powerful “Piece of My Heart,” from the Big Brother and the Holding Company catalog. Original band members Peter Albin (bass) and Dave Getz (drums) provided a more-than-ample bottom end, and Darby Gould (formerly of Jefferson Starship), and lead vocalist of the band’s current incarnation assumed Janis Joplin’s famous lead vocals. The T Sisters’ backup vocals and a small horn section featuring Michael Bello added to “Piece of My Heart’s” already substantial energy.

Lebo commented on pulling off performances that feature so many diverse musicians. “We are never all together until the day of the show,” Lebo said, describing how he creates arrangements for so many different groups. “I always try to look at the group on hand, suss out what I think are the ‘special powers’ of the players, and then find ways to let those special powers shine. Not a hard task at all when you have so many amazing musicians on hand!”

The iconic songs and performances continued in the second set, which began with Lester Chambers of the original Chambers Brothers, along with his son, Dylan, fronting first the gospel-tinged “People Get Ready,” the Curtis Mayfield-penned tune that the Chambers Brothers used to cover, as well as a triumphant version of the band’s defining song, “Time Has Come Today.”

Next, Lebo and his guitar delivered channeled Jimi Hendrix with an impassioned and adventurously sonic version of “Bold As Love.”

Ziek McCarter, front man of Con Brio, and at 25 likely the youngest performer of the night, made his presence indelibly known on the next two numbers, on which local favorite Bobby Vega also appeared, on bass. First was “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” the 1967 classic by Procol Harum, a group that produced a progressive sound that some have referred to a “Baroque rock.”  The audience audibly “oohed and aahed” as Siegel delivered Matthew Fisher’s regal opening keyboard passage and remained spellbound as McCarter and his commanding stage presence voiced the Brit-pop hit’s lyrics.

“I know Ziek because ALO has been on some festivals with his band, Con Brio,” Lebo said. “I love his singing, and when I was mulling over songs from '67 for this show, I imagined that Ziek could really soar on this song. I asked him if he'd be interested in coming down and singing it. We ran it at sound check, and everyone's jaw just dropped. Clearly, he has the skill to nail a song like this, but what's so cool, is that since it's not really his bag, he was able to bring something new to it, which in my mind, is a much higher form of art than simply re-creating something.”

Next, McCarter returned to his own musical wheelhouse, leading what may have been the evening’s climax, Sly & the Family Stone’s “Sing a Simple Song.” The psychedelic-colored funk ‘n’ soul tune, originally the B-side of Sly’s huge hit, “Everyday People,” drew many who were seated in round tables around the room to rise and move their hips – more than any other song. With Lesley Grant (Katdelic) on backup vocals, and horns accompanying Lebo, Vega, and Sless (and others), McCarter was a definitive showman, striding along the front of the stage, picking up and tossing handfuls of rose petals, and showing off his own big-energy dance moves.

Norman Greenbaum led a festive version of his big hit, “Spirit in the Sky.” Bonita Capps and several others helped with backup vocals as a plethora of others turned the song into a celebratory happening.

The Jefferson Airplane was celebrated at the end of the second set, with singer-songwriter Paula Frazer (Tarnation) assuming Grace Slick’s clear and haunting vocals on “White Rabbit.” Darby Gould returned to sing “Somebody to Love,” with Freiberg and Loiacano coming back to add to the band-at-the-moment of Lebo, Sless, McNamee, Sears, Siegel, Molo, and Lane.

After a short break, and in keeping with the Rex Foundation’s historic Grateful Dead connection, the theme of the evening, and the makeup of the crowd, the festivities closed out with a set of songs from The Grateful Dead’s live catalog. The tribute to the archetypal San Francisco band began with the T Sisters’ you-could-hear-a-pin-drop performance of the beloved ballad, Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter’s “Attics of My Life.”

Next, the band, now featuring Lebo, Frazer, and Adams on vocals, and David Gans making an appearance on guitar took on “Viola Lee Blues,” one of the Dead’s earliest and untamed blues-rock pieces of music. “Cold Rain and Snow,” which, like “Viola Lee Blues,” was featured on The Dead’s eponymous debut record, which was released in 1967.

“Dancing in the Streets,” the namesake of the event and that Martha and the Vandellas’ ‘60s classic that The Dead adopted and performed during most of their career, came next. And finally, to close out the set, and with Brothers Comatose’s Ben and Alex Morrison leading the vocals, the big band performed Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” another song that was a Grateful Dead standard seemingly forever.

With McNamee sporting a “Sergeant Pepper”-styled coat, everyone took the stage for a quite apropos encore, The Beatles’ “All You Need is Love.”

Healed up and ready to propel their unique rock ‘n’ jamming “California Soul” sound into the future, The Mother Hips launched a two-night stand at Harlow’s in Sacramento in high fashion on December 29. With some new band personnel added to the mix, founding members Tim Bluhm, Greg Loiacono, and long-time drummer John Hofer fired on all cylinders over 20 songs to the appreciation of the enthusiastic 400-plus folks in the sold-out club, many of them self-professed loyal, long-time Mother Hips fans.

While the show itself stood on its own merits as a shining example of the band’s latest incarnation of rip-snortin’ rock, overarching all other ingredients on The Mother Hips’ current batch of shows is Bluhm’s return to comfortably ambulatory form after crashing and breaking a bunch of bones a little more than two years ago in a devastating speed flying (paragliding) accident. While on the long road to recovery, which included several surgeries, bone fusions, infections, foot casts, crutches, and pain, Mother Hips shows have been very few and far between.

That’s not to say that Bluhm has been performance-free. Fans have been able to catch Bluhm perform solo, and as a duo with people like Grahame Lesh, Scott Law, and Jason Crosby. In May 2016, shortly after the passing of Merle Haggard, Bluhm led a tribute to the country music icon along with Loiacono and a host of prominent Bay Area players.  But all such performances had Bluhm in a chair. Loiacono has himself remained active with his own band, and guest spots at many benefits and other performances.

Now rejuvenated and nicely mobile, Bluhm, who from about 2011 to 2015 spent time co-leading Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers and Brokedown in Bakersfield, was visibly pleased in his healed body, delivering songs and jams with his main, most accomplished band. The Mother Hips started back in 1991 in dorms and small clubs in Chico, California, in which Bluhm and Loiacono attended college. The feral, thrash and crash of those early gigs have long since been replaced with higher fidelity and much larger rooms, but the basic premise—dynamic roadhouse rock delivered with clever lyrics highlighted by tight vocal harmonies and the occasional extended jams — remains for the now Bay Area-based group. Hard to precisely categorize, other than declaring their genre as their own unique Mother Hips sound, one could hear during the evening segments of music that were reminiscent of such varied artists as Wilco, the James Gang, and Jackie Greene.

And now, the band sports a whole new facet, with Scheila Gonzalez (Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa, Colin Hay Band, DREAMCAR, DIVA Jazz Orchestera) on saxophone, tambourine, and backing vocals, and Gabe Nelson (Cake, Bellygunner), on bass. Nelson was solid, blending well with Hofer’s drums and Bluhm’s guitar.

But Gonzalez’s input, on backing vocals, tambourine, and especially jazzified saxophone on songs such as “Esmerelda,” mark a major, compelling addition to the band. The new dimension was never more in play than during the epic, 13-minute version of “Magazine,” in which Gonzalez followed massive jams by Bluhm and Loiacono with lengthy, spirited sax passages of her own.

The Hips offered rockers such as “White Falcon Fuzz,” opener “Time Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear,” “Third Floor Story,” and the new “Hit Me There,” as well as twangy ballads including “Del Mar Station” and “Clean Me Up,” and “It’ll be Gone.” Overall, the set, which Bluhm took lead vocals on all except one song, “Confirmation of Love,” included selections from throughout their career, as well as a sampling of new tunes from the band’s upcoming album, due out on June 8, according to Bluhm. “Stoned up the Road” and the aforementioned “Magazine” date back to their 1995 album, “Part-Timer Goes Full,” and “Honeydew” was from their 1996 album, “Shootout.” The Hips’ 1998 album, “Later Days,” was well represented with fine versions of the title track as well as “Esmerelda,” “Do It on the Strings," and the cowboy-soul/Bakersfield-sound rendering of “Gold Plated.” The band’s post-2000 projects, “Green Hills of Earth” (2001), “Kiss the Crystal Flake” (2007), “Pacific Dust,” and “Behind Beyond” (2013) were also dutifully represented.

Opening for the Mother Hips were the Golden Cadillacs, a high-quality Sacramento-based band featuring former Jackie Greene Band standouts Jeremy Plog (lead guitar), and Zack Bowden (drums), as well as Jillian Secor (co-lead vocals), Adam Wade (acoustic guitar and co-lead vocals), Aaron Shively on pedal steel, and David Garrity on bass. Performing several tunes from their “Indian Summer” project, the band’s 45-minute set of crafty country-twinged rock was a fine warm-up for The Mother Hips. Without an opening act, The Hips played two sets the following night at Harlow’s, repeating less than half the songs from the 29th.

The Mother Hips' Setlist: Time-Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear, Third Floor Story, Esmerelda, Honeydew, Do it on the Strings, It’ll Be Gone, White Falcon Fuzz, Hit Me There, End of the Chorus, Toughie, High Note Hitters, Confirmation of Love, Clean Me Up, Later Days, Magazine, Del Mar Station, Life in the City, Encores: Gold Plated, Cinnamon Girl, Stoned up the Road

Just a couple of weeks into 2018, Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California, hosted its first House Party of the year with legendary proprietor Phil Lesh and his Terrapin Family Band performing three sets, each with its own guest guitarist, in the intimate bar/restaurant. For the ageless Lesh, who will celebrate his 78th birthday in March, this was the fifth show his bands have already headlined in the first half of January at the venue that some frequent attendees have deemed because of its intimate nature, “The Clubhouse.”

Along with the band’s core guitarists, Ross James and Grahame Lesh, Scott Law (Brokedown in Bakersfield, Cosmic Twang, Darol Anger, Phil & Friends, more) played in the band during the first set, Cass McCombs (Skiffle Players, eight solo albums), was featured during the second set, and Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (ALO, Rock Collection, Brokedown in Bakersfield), added pizzazz to the third set. Having three top-notch guitarists, all with strong pedigrees in rhythm and lead and Grateful Dead catalog knowledge, made for an exceptional night that struck all the right chords. And all through the night Holly Bowling worked the keyboards, a skilled and gifted alternative to Jason Crosby, who often assumes the band’s keyboard duties.

Rather than using Terrapin Crossroads’ Grate Room concert hall, House Parties utilize the other, more relaxed side of the property, with its open-concept layout that includes 1) the full-service taproom; 2) large comfortable restaurant; 3) small Family Room section with sofas, coffee tables, and tiny bar; and 4) the roomy waterfront patio along the San Rafael Canal, outfitted with string lights, remote stage sound system, patio heaters, and another bar.  While the restaurant was closed to traditional service for the evening, the House Party featured a commendable, high-quality menu of ready-to-go items such as ribs, salads, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and cookies.

The Terrapin Family Band, organically grown from some of the best performers who regularly play at the six-year-old venue, continues to mature and grow stronger. Their repertoire also continues to expand while its core material gravitates to the music that Lesh, a founding member of The Grateful Dead, brings to the table through more than 50 years of culture and bass excellence. Not demanding or trying to be the band’s center of attention, Lesh’s powerful-while-melodic bass passages continue to be magical and provide a key band foundation. Grahame Lesh, an accomplished roots/rock/Americana guitarist and singer/songwriter for his own band Midnight North, and the fiercely talented swamp/blues rocking James, also a singer who anchors his own group, Cosmic Twang, co-front the band. Alex Koford is the Terrapin Family Band drummer; Koford also leads the band Colonel and the Mermaids, appears at many Terrapin Crossroads nights of jamming, and spent an extended stint as drummer for Phil Lesh & Friends and Midnight North. Keyboardist Bowling, schooled in classical piano and who has recorded and performed exploratory arrangements of many Phish and Grateful Dead classics, bought a fresh, nimble-fingered component to the group.

The first set began with the tried and true “Jack Straw,” a Grateful Dead staple and favorite that included vocals by Law, James, and Grahame Lesh while also unleashing several spirited jam bursts that set the level of excellence for the entire performance. “Candyman” followed, and then James, Law, and Grahame came out of a brief discussion on the next tune. The trio told drummer Koford, who nodded, the informed Phil Lesh, who also nodded. But when Grahame sidled over to Bowling and checked with her, she replied by shaking her head while smiling, conveying the she was not familiar. Seconds later the band launched into the New Riders of the Purple Sage’s legendary reefer-smuggling tribute, “Henry,” and to no surprise, Bowling picked it up quickly and brought excellent, purposeful keyboard passages to the twangy song’s mix. The set carried on with Phil Lesh taking lead vocals on “Friend of the Devil,” followed by an epic “Mississippi Half Step,” in which Law sang lead and Phil Lesh added the backup “Hello baby, I’m gone good-bye; half a cup of rock and rye” lyrics.

The song list got quite creative in the second set, in which McCombs replaced Law in the middle. McCombs took vocals on “Yes We Can Can,” the socially conscious Allen Toussaint tune made famous in the mid ‘70s by the Pointer Sisters. The band easily handled the song’s unusual syncopation and was a real crowd pleaser, with some of the jamming reminiscent of that incorporated into “Hard to Handle.” From there, the band pulled of an almost-unfathomable change in content but not energy by launching into a fierce “Alligator,” which Phil Lesh and The Dead performed in feral fashion 50 years ago. James took command of the lyrics, while Grahame and Phil Lesh seemed to have fun with the backing vocals created in a bygone era, “Hung up waiting for a windy day, Tear down the Fillmore, Gas the Avalon.” A long, soul-soothing “Bird Song” followed, with Phil Lesh at the mic, which was followed by a moving rendering of “Dreadful Wind and Wind and Rain,” a hundreds-year old ballad, sung by McCombs and known by many names, with many in the room most familiar with a version recorded on the Jerry Garcia / David Grisman “Shady Grove” album in the mid-1990s.  The set concluded with a James-led version “Baby Let Me Follow You Down,” a Bob Dylan song that dated back to the early 1960s, which segued into a pleasing and comfortable Grahame Lesh-vocalized “Bertha.”

Back for the final set with Lebo joining the ensemble, the band opened with Lebo singing lead on both a big, bold “Deal” and the Dylan ballad, “Don’t Think Twice Its Alright.” The players then tackled “Terrapin Station,” with Phil Lesh taking lead vocals followed by “New Minglewood Blues,” a song that James leads and brings to the highest rocking heights the song can go. The show concluded with Lebo’s own “I Wanna Feel It,” and one of Phil Lesh’s most beloved signature songs, “Box of Rain.”

Earlier in the day, starting at 4 p.m., Ross James and Scott Law’s Cosmic Twang opened the proceedings with a lineup of James, Law, Koford, McCombs, and bassist Scott Padden, meaning the first three fellows wound up playing four sets on this day. The excellent band ran through several numbers off James’ new debut project, “Freak Farm,” including “Bullfrog’s Pipedream,” “Poison,” “Texas Gale,” and “Henry Hill,” along with the timeless “Sitting on Top of the World” and The Grateful Dead’s “Operator.”

The ever-active Chris Robinson, amid plenty of Chris Robinson Brotherhood concert dates in early 2018, has brought together a new amalgamation of renowned players including Robinson, Greg Loiacono, Pete Sears, Barry Sless, and John Molo, who together call themselves the Green Leaf Rustlers. A stop at The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley, Calif., on January 21, found a packed house soaking up and dancing to a two-set show that had the band kicking out masterful, jam-heavy versions of twangy, country-roots material that featured cover tunes from such luminaries as Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Everly Brothers, and Gram Parsons.

The vibe in the room, despite the musicians’ individual and collective star power, was casual, friendly, and ego-free. From the opening number, “Odds and Ends” by Bob Dylan and The Band, it was evident that the players were there to have their own fun as they shared their aural visions of a couple dozen legendary songs. Robinson, who sang with a voice that was fit for leading both a hootenanny and a spiritual revival gathering, played rhythm guitar and a little lead, while Loiacono, who co-fronts the Mother Hips, was on fire all night offering classic country and blues lead-guitar passages. At stage right was Barry Sless (Phil Lesh & Friends, Moonalice, David Nelson Band), an extraordinary guitarist who with this band played awesome, perfectly placed instrumental movements on the pedal steel about 95% of the time.

The bottom end was marvelously maintained by bassist Pete Sears (Rod Stewart, Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Moonalice, David Nelson Band) and drummer John Molo (Bruce Hornsby, Phil & Friends, Moonalice, David Nelson Band). All together the five-piece, who indirectly travel in the same music circles, played with a oneness that greatly belied the fact that this was only their fourth show together.

The players were technically proficient, but more than that, the Green Leaf Rustlers delivered the heritage-heavy material with just-right quantities of strength, reverence, grace, and sophistication.

These shows, and three more scheduled for Marin County, California’s Sweetwater Music Hall in late March, come during a time when the Chris Robinson Brotherhood band ready themselves for big tour swings through the Mountain West and then Europe. And moreover, Robinson has a monthlong nationwide tour booked later this spring with As the Crowe Flies, a band that promises set lists full of Black Crowes songs.

Green Leaf Rustlers Set one: “Odds and Ends” (which opens Bob Dylan & The Band’s “The Basement Tapes,” 1975), “The Bottle Let Me Down” (Merle Haggard, 1966), “Honky Tonk Song” (George Jones, 1996), “Standin’” (Townes Van Zandt, 1971), “Brand New Heartache”(Everly Brothers, 1958, also released by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, 1976), “Old Man from the Mountain” (Merle Haggard, 1974), “Waymore’s Blues” (Waylon Jennings, 1975), “Rock Salt, & Nails” (U. Utah Phillips, recorded by Rosalie Sorrels, 1961, and others), “Groupie” (New Riders of the Purple Sage, 1971).

Set two: “Hippie from Olema No. 5” (The Youngbloods, 1971, a hippie perspective revamping of Haggard’s "Okie From Muskogee"), “Big Mouth Blues” (Gram Parsons, 1973), “Miller’s Cave” (Hank Snow, 1960), “Just Groove Me” (Doug Sham, 1974), “Sing Me Back Home” (Merle Haggard, 1967), “Dynamite Woman” (Sir Douglas Quintet featuring Doug Sahm, 1969), ”Folsom Prison Blues” (Johnny Cash, 1955) > “That’s Alright Mama” (Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, recorded by Elvis Presley, 1954, and many others), “I’m a Ramblin’ Man” (Ray Pennington, 1967, Waylon Jennings, 1974), Ride Me High” (J.J. Cale, 1976) “Bertha” (Grateful Dead, 1971); encore: “Last Lonely Eagle” (New Riders of the Purple Sage, 1971).

The harmonic sisters of Sweden’s First Aid Kit started their early 2018 American tour in impressive fashion at the ornate Fox Theater in Oakland, California, on January 24. In front of a plethora of varying video backdrops, the show was filled with lush layers of dreampop mixed with elements of alt-country/folk/rock.

Touring in support of their brand-new release, “Ruins,” their fourth full-length project, the band proved that it was way more multidimensional than the casual listener might think judging from a couple of hits such as “My Silver Lining” and the famous video of them singing “Emmylou” with country-music queen Emmylou Harris in the audience. Rightfully so, the women and their supporting players received a heartfelt, unified – and sometimes giddy – reaction to each song during their 90-minute performance. Unbeknownst to most, they also performed a four-song midday set at midday for a lucky few at KFOG-FM’s Levi’s Lounge in San Francisco.

The Stockholm-area born and raised duo, and who now have logged more than 10 years in the business, is led by Klara Söderberg, 25, who provided lead vocals and acoustic guitar on most songs, and Johanna Söderberg, who held down her duties on the bass in awesome fashion, sang supporting vocals to most songs, and provided lead vocals on a few other numbers.

The band performed five of the ten tracks from “Ruins,” and tore the roof off with a screaming, rocked-out version of Heart’s “Crazy on You.” The sisters also spoke in support of the “Me Too” movement, before launching into “You Are the Problem Here,” with its biting lyrics,

“I am so sick and tired of this world;
All these women with their dreams shattered;
From some man's sweaty, desperate touch;
God damn it, I've had enough.
When did you come to think refusal was sexy?
Can't you see the tears in her eyes?
How did you ever think you had the right to
Put your entitled hands up her thighs?”

The band’s standout supporting musicians provided awesome deep and wide accompaniments, enhancing the band’s overall dynamics and vitality. Drummer Scott Simpson was spot on, while Steve Moore played the unusual combo of trombone and keyboards, and Melvin Duffy alternated between traditional lead guitar and pedal steel.

Up and coming singer-songwriter/guitarist Van William opened the show with a pleasing set of tunes and then joined First Aid Kit on part of their encore. One such song was William’s “Revolution,” a song in which First Aid Kit appear in the song’s music video.

Setlist: Postcard, Stay Gold, The Lion's Roar, You Are the Problem Here, To Live a Life, Ruins, Wolf, Crazy on You, Fireworks, Emmylou, Nothing Has to Be True. Encore: Hem of Her Dress, Revolution, Master Pretender, My Silver Lining

Midnight North on February 10 delivered a powerful and endearing three-hour show, dubbed “Experience CSN&Y,” that included a long and powerful set of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young material. Phil Lesh and Eric Krasno guested on big chunks of the proceedings, which took place at Phil’s venerable Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California.

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young material, an enduring collection of cherished songs of hope, love, and activism, many in three-part harmony, provided a perfect musical catalog for Midnight North. And they brought it on with skill and aplomb on this night. Whether it was a harmonizing ballad such as “Helplessly Hoping,” a happy pop-rocker like “Love the One You’re With,” or an epic, multifaceted piece of music such as “Carry On” > “Questions,” the band produced deep and profound reverential versions of many of old favorites. “Carry On” and its follow-up jam was particularly epic with two bass players, Phil Lesh and Connor O’Sullivan, and two lead guitarists, Grahame Lesh and Eric Krasno.

Phil Lesh came out to help conclude the first set on the Midnight North ballad, “Greene Country.” He and guitarist Eric Krasno, who was finishing up a several-day residency at the club, and who is well known for his work with Lettuce and Soulive as well as Grammy Award-winning session and production work with Tedeschi Trucks Band and Robert Randolph, played in the band on the second set’s first few numbers. Krasno returned for the latter half of the second set and encores. “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” which the band often performs, was a fitting and awesome final number.

Alex Jordan turned out a furious array of sounds on the Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers, and other keyboards while handling lead vocals on a spirited “Almost Cut My Hair.” Elliott Peck was strong in her rhythm guitar and keyboards duties as well as plenty of stronger-than-ever vocals, including lead on “Love the One You’re With” as well as a refreshing inclusion of Joni Mitchell’s “Free Man in Paris” and second-set-ender, “Woodstock.” O’Sullivan and Sean Nelson provided vigorous bottom-end work, with O’Sullivan's animated bass-playing style adding extra spice to the cauldron of energy. But it was Grahame Lesh, whose affinity for this material was obviously close to his heart, who left the most indelible stamp on the performance. Crazy good, extended lead guitar passages supplemented his passionate vocals all night long.

The first set included a fun take on The Band’s “Don’t Do It,” and otherwise was filled with Midnight North fine originals, including six from the band’s current “Under the Lights,” as well as two from their debut record, “End of the Night.”

In its six years of bringing its original jam-filled folk-rock and alt-country songs and jams to the people, Midnight North has steadily built its following through extensive touring, album production, and old-fashioned word-of-mouth. Having the Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh as a dad to Midnight North’s Grahame Lesh, and Phil’s Terrapin Crossroads venue in San Rafael as an ongoing venue from which to perform, have certainly been a boost to Midnight North’s distinction.

But Midnight North has excelled and grown with original, broad-based and high-quality musical compositions, affable band members, and extensive national touring that has long since vaulted them on their own merits. For the balance of February and into March, Midnight North will be performing shows in New England and the Mountain West.

Jordan said to the audience after a fine performance of “Teach Your Children,” “Take the words to that last one to heart. Teach your children. There’s a lot of love in this room and there’s a lot of love in our greater community. We can pass that on.”

Set 1: The Highway Song, One Night Stand, Everyday, Long Road, Headline from Kentucky, Back to California, End of the Night, Don’t Do It, Greene County.

Set 2: Find the Cost of Freedom, Carry On/Questions, Love the One You’re With, Wooden Ships, Teach Your Children, Free Man in Paris, Helplessly Hoping, Almost Cut My Hair, Ohio, Long Time Gone (with a Krasno touch of Oye Como Va), Woodstock.

E: Helpless, Suite Judy Blue Eyes

ALO on February 23 delivered a wondrous two-set performance in Sacramento that was an excellent representation of how the jammy, jazzy, funky, poppy, electronica four-piece displays its lively endeavors of excellence. Such musical escapades, in turn, visibly pleased the audience, many of whom were “on the bus” for many gigs the band’s 12th annual Tour d’Amour, which always runs before and after Valentine’s Day. Singer-songwriter John Craigie opened the show.

Led by the band’s two remarkably dynamic and multitalented front men, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz and Zach Gill, ALO further strengthened its music’s unique danceability and fascinating originality, even from the high bar they had set in previous shows and tours. In addition to the exploratory places that the music takes them, especially at a live show, ALO music is steeped in well-crafted, and surprisingly accessible songs. Steady Steve Adams offered perfect bass passages for every piece of music, and Bay Area drummer Ezra Lipp, filling in for Dave Brogan, who missed the tour due to family obligations, did a yeoman’s job on the drum kit.

“ALO is love and this is the ‘love’ tour,” said Leah Taylor, an East Bay Area resident who was perched in front of the stage. “What a great experience to have, to feel loved for three hours and be able to connect with some of my favorite people! All of us need that, and to dance. They are the Animal Liberation Orchestra and their name is all about liberating your inner animal.”

Gill, despite his national renown as keyboard player and core member of Jack Johnson's band, as well as a solo touring artist, was surprisingly non-rock-starrish. Instead, with the help of storytelling, a perpetual smile, and trademark large faux fur hat, he made the crowd feel included, appreciated, and part of the band’s family. That, along with lead vocals on the majority of numbers, and wondrous instrumental offerings, especially on spritely and nimble keyboard passages, as well as accordion and ukulele, were splendid.

Lebo, as always, did a Gold Medal job on traditional and pedal steel guitars, twisting, stooping, jumping, and otherwise contorting in time and spirit with the ever-changing, never-ending array of sound he thrusts at the audience – and the universe. Though Lebo is always a guitar master whenever he plays – he’s a busy, in-demand player – he seemed most at home and comfortable in the middle of ALO’s cauldron of sound.

In the past couple of months alone, Lebo has performed as a member of the Rock Collection (Melvin Seals, Stu Allen, Greg Anton, J.P. McLean); acted as musical director/bandleader at “Dancing in the Street," a big benefit show and grand celebratory sendoff to the 50th anniversary of San Francisco’s psychedelic music scene of 1967; and guested with several other bands. And on February 20, a night off for ALO, Lebo was part of a small acoustic group, including Phil Lesh, who played a set in remembrance of the victims of the recent mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.

The show got under way with “Wasting Time (Isla Vista Song),” followed by a fierce “Blew out the Walls.” “Wasting Time” aka “I.V.,” includes tales of friendship and adventures that trace back to the band’s days twenty-something years ago at UC Santa Barbara. The first set also included the breezy “Sugar on Your Tongue,” spirited “Dead Still Dance,” and massive version of “Lady Loop,” a Brogan song.

Set two included the Adams-sung “Country Electro,” lounge-jazz piece, “Girl I Wanna Lay You Down,” which dates back to the 1990s , and a 20-minute “Shapeshifter” with some instrumental passages of the old show tune, “My Funny Valentine,” worked in. ALO also further showed its versatility by offering fun versions of New Order’s 1986 hit, “Bizarre Love Triangle,” and Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” from 1978. The encore was the jazz-funk piece, “Roses and Clover.”

“I started listening to them in 2005 and my first show was Vegoose <in Las Vegas> in 2005 and I’ve been head over heels ever since,” said Aimee Perlstein of Riverside, California, who also watched the show from down front. “It’s their energy; every set is different. They could do the same song a billion times and you just feel something different each time. And the guys in the band are so mellow and nice.”

Craigie, an irresistible solo troubadour, opened the show. His engaging comedic persona drew praise from the crowd, many of whom had seen him four or five times over the past couple of weeks. He poked fun at the unusual situation, “a folk singer trying to win over jam band fans.” He certainly earned crowd approval with ample guitar and harmonica accompaniment to whimsical songs such as “(Don’t Go Lookin’ at) Pictures on My Phone” and “Let's Talk This Over When We're Sober (And We're Not at Burning Man).

Set 1: Wasting Time (Isla Vista Song), Blew out the Walls, Sugar on Your Tongue, Dead Still Dance, Leaving This Bar (w/Craigie), I Wanna Feel It, Lady Loop.

Set 2: I Love Music, The Country Electro, Heart of Glass, Shapeshifter / My Funny Valentine, Girl I Wanna Lay You Down, Bizarre Love Triangle. E: Roses and Clover

Spafford, the improvisational musical wizards from down Phoenix way, swept through Marin County, California, on their latest tour, touching down for a weekend of songs and jamming at Terrapin Crossroads. Impress and conquer they did on night two, Sunday, March 4, with two powerful sets of instrumental ruminations and progressions that within five minutes ignited images of Phish, Pink Floyd, classic Herbie Hancock electro-funk, tender jazz interludes to well, contemporary Spafford music.

A 30-minute sequence of “Electric Taco Stand” -> “Alternate Ending” -> “Electric Taco Stand” was particularly brilliant. The band delivered more crescendos than a symphony orchestra. Time and again, songs and verses quickly elevated and into bohemian jams that had all four bandmates furiously exercising their instruments, coercing and extracting from them all possible aural antics. Which is not to say that the pieces of music were chaotic. The furious array of tones and modulations were always melodic, always interesting, and delivered with precision. And utterly danceable.

Over and over, bathed in bright lights and always in unique and different ways, Jordan Fairless thundered on the bass, Brian Moss exuded grimaces of joy that matched each lead guitar passage he unleashed, as Red Johnson commandeered a whole big chunk of the Spafford essence with endless styles and passages on a whole range keyboards. Not to be minimized, Cameron Laforest’s drum work was equally interesting and on point with the rest of the players, despite his still new tenure with the band.

Though Spafford’s repertoire includes several Grateful Dead songs, the band decided to forego pulling them out at the venue that The Dead’s Phil Lesh runs, with Johnson, indicating nothing but respect and pride for the venue and Mr. Lesh, saying that he figures people hear enough Dead at the venue. They did play one cover, Tears for Fear’s 1983 tune “Mad World,” turning the four-minute pop single into a 14-minute epic piece.

To paraphrase an old Moody Blues lyric that was meant for Dr. Timothy Leary, but is apropos to a Spafford show: They’ll fly their astral plane; take you trips around the bay; brings you back the same day.

Grateful Web recently spoke with Spafford keyboardist Red Johnson between soundcheck and dinner at Terrapin Crossroads on March 4th, 2017 (review).  Red offered plenty of Spafford insights and motivations.

Grateful Web: Have you played the Bay Area before?

Red Johnson: We played the Independent in San Francisco last fall, a great little spot. Not quite the history or vibe that Terrapin Crossroads has, though. This is a legendary spot. We’re honored to play here.

GW: You sold out the place. What do you think of the venue?

Red: I went into the restaurant, and a band was onstage and was killing it, just for the lunchtime crowd. The outdoor venue is great, and I understand that occasionally Phil will go back there read stories to kids on weekends and stuff. That’s great!

GW: For people who come tonight that aren’t that familiar with Spafford, but know there’s live music here at Terrapin Crossroads, what do you try to offer them? What should they expect?

Red: We are now and will always be unapologetically Spafford. We kind of just do our thing. We played festivals that were specifically designed more about the DJ and electronic thing, and we do have some of the electronic vibe to us. We don’t try to change our sound or our set to match anything. We love it when people show up that have maybe heard one show or a track or two of us, they don’t know necessarily what to expect, or they expect to hear something similar to the track they listed to on YouTube, or a show on Nugs or whatever.

GW: And then they get a variety.

Red: We all come from such different backgrounds of music and preferences, and it shows in our music, and one song to the next can vary so much. You’ll hear bluegrass then funk then electronic and then you’ll hear a real-deal rock ‘n’ roll song.

GW: You were all born in the mid-‘80s. So, none of you saw The Grateful Dead, but you carry it with you.

Red: I’m the old man in the group I was born in 1980. I grew up listening to The Dead. My dad was into The Dead, Allman Brothers, Little Feat, bluegrass, and Old and In the Way and all that stuff. And both my brothers saw The Dead a couple of times. We all appreciate it for sure. I’m a big fan. If I’m home for a couple of weeks, there are a couple of Dead bands in the valley that will hit me up and say, “Hey, I saw you’re in town. Come over and hang out and sit in.” So, I love it, absolutely love it.

GW: So, while you are “Unapologetically Spafford,” you have that as part of your DNA.

Red: Absolutely. There’s parts of The Grateful Dead that show in every note that I play. There’s parts of Phish, that I absolutely love, in everything that I play. There’s part of all kinds of music. <Little Feat keyboardist> Billy Payne is one of my biggest heroes, and I’m still every day striving to be the player that he is. He can do anything honky tonk, funk, R&B; he can do blues, rock. He was bringing out crazy synthesizers at a time when no one was except for Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. And killing it on them.

On the other hand, there are parts of ska/punk that I absolutely love. I find it fascinating ska goes way back in the old dancehall and stuff like that. I’ve been to 100 heavy metal shows and loved almost every single one of them. Back when I was young it was still called techno, now its EDM, but I’ve been to a million different rave/techno/ EDM shows, and I absolutely love it. I grew up in rural Illinois, so there are parts of Country I absolutely love.

GW: How many songs tonight will overlap with what you performed last night?

Red: We do our best to keep it fresh. Not just the set list but we want to keep the music itself fresh. So even if we did play the same setlist night after night after night, everyone would be satisfied. We can play “Electric Taco Stand” three nights in a row, and it’s gonna be completely different every night. And that’s our goal.

GW: What was the song you just played at the end of sound check? It’s a real rocker.

Red: The song was “Eternity,” and it’s a great one. Jordan wrote that. He’s a great songwriter and extremely talented lyricist. Everybody in the band brings something incredible to the table. (Note: the show opened with “Eternity.”)

GW: You work hard, and it shows, and you improvise at very high levels.

Red: We work really hard at our craft. When we are not on the road, we are in the studio and rehearsing and writing every single day. When Cameron joined the band, the newer drummer, we did our best to stay in the studio, working on old stuff, learning how to play together. Jordan, Brian, and I have been playing together for seven years, and we all have a really good idea that If I do “this,” Jordan and Brian will respond this way and vice-versa. However, Cameron’s coming into this fresh off the street, so we’re still trying to hammer things out and learning how to play together; not just the songs, but improv.

So, the song “Abaculus” – we had burnt ourselves out a little bit. We went into the studio for rehearsal. Jordan just hit “record,” and we ended up going for an hour and six minutes, of completely improvised music. We knew that we had something special when we finished playing and hit “stop” on the recorder. We took that piece, one track, and pressed it and released it to our fans. And the response we got was great. We were fearless regardless of what everyone else thought of it. We absolutely loved it. To us, it was something brand new and fun and a break from the normal. I think it was a real turning point in the band. We’ve done it 100 times before and 100 times after. As far as the improvisation goes, it comes down to trusting your bandmates. I trust Brian, Cameron, and Jordan implicitly and I like to think they trust me. We’re having a lot of fun doing it and were learning a lot about not just music or being a musician were learning a lot about each other and ourselves in the process, and it's really a lot of fun.

GW: Tell us about the group of keyboards up on stage.

Red: I’m touring with five keyboards. For piano, I use a Roland RD-800. For organ, I have a Nord C2D run through a Leslie 760. There’s nothing that can ever come close to moving air. I’m using Nord Electro 3 for clavinet tones.  My third board is a Roland Giana synthesizer, and I use that for some pads and some sweeping ambient sounds, and I have an Axis Virus TI that I use for synths.

Backed by a varying procession of Bay Area players, Paige Clem led an epic CD-release party for her outstanding new album, “Firefly,” at Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, California, on March 9. Clem, an engaging and talented San Francisco-based songwriter, singer, and guitar player, had plenty of prominent Bay Area musicians on hand to make this a special two-set show. And like the “Firefly” studio project, the live show provided a dynamic collection of varied moods, textures, and featured instruments.

The impressive and cohesive house band for the night included James Nash (of The Waybacks – guitar); Joe Craven (Painted Mandolin, Garcia & Grisman – mandolin, fiddle, percussion); Jordan Feinstein (Mars Hotel, The Ritual, in-demand session player – keyboards/vocals); Robin Sylvester (RatDog – bass); and Ben Lauffer (America Nomad – drums).

Also on hand to lend their musical support were Bo Carper (New Monsoon – guitar), Mark Karan (RatDog – guitar), Nat Keefe (Hot Buttered Rum – guitar/vocals; opening solo set); Jeff Berkley (“Firefly” producer – guitar/vocals; opening solo set), David Simon-Baker (producer/engineer – guitar), and Michael Myers (saxophone). In addition, Pamela Parker, Essence Goldman, Jeanette Ferber, Michael McNevin, and Debra Crooks offered their appreciable backup vocal talents to the mix. Though limited by an injured arm, Ed McClary did offer some hand percussion accompaniment.

Sylvester, though seated, was a powerful presence on bass throughout and Lauffer was more than up for the task on drums. Nash, Craven, and Feinstein offered plenty of tremendous solo flourishes and rocking, cohesive jams, made even more dynamic and interesting when folks like Carper, Karan, Simon-Baker, Myers, Berkley, and Keefe took their turns with the band.

With her acumen as a singer/guitarist/songwriter, there is no doubt that Clem could have done a fine job presenting the show as a solo performer or backed by just a couple of instrumental accompaniments.  As a musician, Clem often appears as a solo performer, coordinates and participates in a monthly music variety series in Albany, CA, “Songs About Something: Old, New Borrowed & Blue,” and has been a fronting member of such bands as Clem & Them, Paige & the Rage, The Eleven, and Paige & The Clementines. Clem is a strong, versatile vocalist, and her clear and melodic vocals were one of the evening’s top components, relatively reminiscent of Natalie Imbruglia with a little Martha Davis (Motels) tossed in.

Clem has a heckuva personal contacts list that includes many-a-musician. She is also a music industry vet, including current roles to oversee and manage marketing, promotions and social media efforts for three major music festivals — High Sierra Music Festival (Quincy, CA), DelFest (Cumberland, MD), and Hangtown Music Festival (Placerville, CA). In addition, she ’s been a music-maker herself since her high school days in Alabama.

After two short warm-up sets from Nat Keefe and Jeff Berkley, the show commenced. Clem’s 10-song first set included four songs from “Firefly”: 1) “I’d Make it So,” a relationship-themed soft rocker, 2) “Distraction,” a soft ballad, 3) “Sugar,” a sexy, old-timey ballad that closes the album; and 4) “I Don’t Want to be Without You,” a sultry road house rocker. The set also several older Clem-penned tunes, and a rollicking version of Tom Petty’s “Don’t Do Me Like That.”

The second set and encore offered five “Firefly” tracks: 1) “Hummingbird,” a folk tale; 2) “I’ve Had Enough,” a mid-tempo number about relationships; 3) “Buttercup,” evocative of an old-time show tune; 4)  the mid-tempo title track, “Firefly,” which acted as the second set closer; and 5) “Long Time Coming,” a bluesy anthemic ballad, which was the encore. The second set also featured other Clem originals, including Joe Cocker’s old “Space Captain,” and a song inspired by Steve Poltz, “Kombucha and Condoms.”

Check out more photos from the show.

Delivering a compelling foot-stomping performance that was equal parts hootenanny and joyful revival, The Avett Brothers again conquered Sacramento on March 30. The sold-out crowd of 2,400 at the downtown Community Center Theatre was on its feet most of the night, reveling in the experience, singing along with myriad lyric phrases that resonated personally with fans.

"You can’t sit still at an Avett show,” said Stephanie Jones Sobka from San Diego County, who attended the previous night’s show in Fresno. “I never sit down. I’m moving the whole time.”

Led by Scott (banjo, piano, and vocals) and Seth Avett (guitar, piano, and vocals), with substantial supporting roles by long-time core members Bob Crawford (electric and double bass, and vocals) and Joe Kwon (cello and vocals), The Avett Brothers breezed seamlessly through 26 original musical tales of life, love, triumph, and tenderness, of varying tempos, cadences, and moods.  Mike Marsh (drums) and Scott and Seth’s older sister, Bonnie Avett Rini (keyboards, vocals) rounded out the live ensemble. Tanya Elizabeth, who has played fiddle with the band for much of the past four years, was not with the band.

Songwriting partners Scott, now 41, and Seth, 37, bare their souls through music.  Their instrumental acumen, indefatigable passion, charming Southern drawl, and impressive upper vocal range, visibly thrilled the crowd throughout the show. A half-dozen selections came from their most recent project, “True Sadness,” including alt-rocker “Satan Pull the Strings,” the coolest bass-driven song ever, “Ain’t No Man,” and the stirring “I Wish I Was.” The show also included a few songs performed with a lone spotlight on center stage, such as Scott’s solo rendering of “Murder in the City,” and Seth and Scott performing as a duo, sharing a mic during “Fisher Road to Hollywood.”

A few newer, post-“True Sadness” songs, rocker “Orion’s Belt,” strummy mid-tempo “Roses & Sacrifice,” and "Old Joe Clark," a bluegrass instrumental played at a breakneck pace, added to the broad array of material.

“What drew me into them to begin with has to do with their lyrics, the way they write their songs, and how I’m touched by every single song,” Jones Sobka said.

The band, now about 20 years old – more or less depending on when one puts a date to the end of Nemo and the beginning of the Avett Brothers – also performed some of their most enduring older pieces of music, including  the anthemic “Head Full of Doubt,” the endearing “Live and Die,” the audience-air-drum-participation “Kick Drum Heart,” and poignant, set-ending, “I and Love and You.”

One typically impressive moment came during “Live and Die,” which was a virtual sing-along (luckily, the band was plenty louder than the audience). With Marsh and Rini stoking the fire, the core four performed energetically with Kwon moving about and almost dancing with his cello, Crawford standing motionless while booming bass tones, Seth strumming guitar and singing his heart out, and banjo-picking Scott, stamping around the stage – and into the audience.

“They are really reminiscent of some of the jam bands of days gone past, such as The Grateful Dead,” said David Skonezny, also of San Diego County. “Kind of like a Jerry Garcia tune where despite yourself you find your toe tapping and your leg moving and pretty soon you’ve got to stand up.”

The eloquent ballad of self-reflection, “No Hard Feelings” served as the final encore, offering at the close, “For life and its loveliness / And all of its ugliness / Good as it's been to me / I have no enemies / I have no enemies / I have no enemies.” That notion, "I have no enemies,” was on display via a poster festooned to the piano.

Set list: Shame, Will You Return?, Satan Pulls the Strings, Morning Song, Ain't No Man, Roses & Sacrifice, Orion's Belt, You Are Mine, November Blue, Distraction #74, Head Full of Doubt, I Wish I Was, I Would Be Sad, Live and Die, Laundry Room, Old Joe Clark, Salina, Murder in the City, Fisher Road to Hollywood, Vanity, Kick Drum Heart, Geraldine, I and Love and You. Encore: The D Bag Rag, Talk on Indolence, No Hard Feelings

Highlighted by spirited headlining performances by The Devil Makes Three (Saturday), The Infamous Stringdusters (Friday), and Railroad Earth (Sunday), there was a profound additional component to this year’s WinterWonderGrass Tahoe. The weather. Before turning all sunny on Sunday, Friday and Saturday’s proceedings included periodic showers of snow, graupel (look it up), and a little rain. Of course, weather is always a bit of a factor at this first outdoor fest of the year, as spring comes late at 6,200 feet in California’s Sierra Nevada. But Lake Tahoe folks are gnarly, resilient, and used to playing hard. So, the wonky weather was more of a festival factor to be embraced and conquered, to take a guzzle of beer and toast the sky to, to dance with another similarly layered friend while peering out from below the brims and bills of winter caps.

Once again, the event grew a distinctive convergence of mountaintop adventure-seekers, about 3,500 suitably layered music aficionados per day for a sweet amalgamation of jam-happy roots and bluegrass music, tasty craft brews, and mountain views. The glorious festival setting is situated just across the Squaw Creek walking bridge from Olympic Village, a high-end cluster of shops and eateries at the base of the slopes of Squaw Valley, the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. About 100 trails were open and many fest attendees skied and boarded during the weekend. The fest now in its fourth year near Lake Tahoe, is similar in mountainous aweseomness to its sister event, which recently completed its sixth annual incarnation in a similarly awesome winter setting at Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

"We have the utmost respect for our fans, artists, staff, and family for not only showing up in all the elements but embracing them only like mountain folk can,” said Festival Founder Scotty Stoughton.” The artists were especially touched and inspired by the spirited and passionate WinterWonderGrass family that danced harder as Mother Nature unleashed her magic. We all bond in these moments, brought together by the music and camaraderie that is WinterWonderGrass!"

While bluegrass was the theme, the musical output was certainly not specifically limited to the original bluegrass pioneer sounds of Bill Monroe or Flatt & Scruggs, though almost all festival bands included some combination of the classic bluegrass instruments: banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar fiddle, dobro, and double bass. Bluegrass WonderGrass-style was more aptly a potpourri of acoustic/electric contemporary roots, folk, and Americana, in addition to bluegrass. Each band gave at least a nod to bluegrass and some delivered sounds closer to the traditional genre than others. But each band’s jammy take on progressive bluegrass, circa 2018, was compelling to behold.  And the sound, on all stages, throughout the weekend, was powerful and clear, yet not overamplified.

The Devil Makes Three, performing as a quintet, delivered a hot set on a cold night. Their engaging brand of twangy rock and alt-bluegrass confirmed that their choice as Saturday headliner was well deserved.

The Infamous Stringdusters, who recently captured a Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album and whose sound is akin to the old bluegrass masters, with a discernable modern-day jam band essence, thrilled the crowd as Friday’s headliner, and Railroad Earth’s performance on Sunday night was a nice capstone to the weekend.

Additional inspired main stage performances were delivered by other phenoms deeply entrenched in the rootsy/jammy/Americana circuit, including Fruition, The Lil' Smokies, Shook Twins, Steep Canyon Rangers, Brothers Comatose, and the Jon Stickley Trio.

The California Honeydrops, playing in support of their brand-new double album, “Call It Home,” laid down a horn-driven party set of their aptly self-described fusion of Street Corner Soul, Roots, Delta Blues, and Bay Area R&B. Railroad Earth’s Andy Goessling joined the band for several numbers.

Elephant Revival, the brilliant six-piece Celtic-flavored, psychedelic-lite-tinged folk ensemble twice delivered their sublime aural tapestry. Their intimate Friday late-night show was particularly interesting with about a dozen extras, including members of Fruition and The Shook Sisters, joining Elephant Revival for a rousing version of the band’s “When I Fall.” The band, which announced it will be taking a hiatus after their Red Rocks, Colorado, show in May, cancelled 18 gigs in early 2018 but kept a few festival dates, including WinterWonderGrass-Tahoe.

The weekend was full of sit-ins, led by Leftover Salmon’s adept guitar picker, Vince Herman, and fiddler Bridget Law of Elephant Revival fame, both dubbed as artists-at-large who showed up picking and grinning all over the place, with no ego-driven fanfare or need to lead. Many players followed suit. Guest appearances ubiquitously sprung up, giving thrills to both the audiences and the players. Herman even helped marry a couple on the Pickin’ Perch stage on Friday.

Away from the main stage, the festival provided three heat-generated, monster-sized tents that simultaneously hosted 30-minute ‘tweener sets for many weekend acts, some of who also played the main stage, and many of which were of headliner quality for many a concert.

The three massive tents, in addition to their respective music stages, offered myriad beer choices while one also served up hot beverages. Local gourmet food and coffee vendors provided fine onsite provisions. A Kids Zone was active, inside its little tent and out, as bundled-up, rosy-cheeked tykes seemed impervious to the changeable weather.

A VIP section, which featured outdoor standing heaters and campfire-style firepits with tree-stump seating, also offered an additional heated tent, and daily meals for those who ponied up the premium price tag. Speaking of extras, as a premium the festival also hosted a couple of tram-related music events, one on Thursday night to kick of the festival and one on Sunday morning.

Following each night’s main stage closing performance, the energy continued with two-act, late-night shows, dubbed “Grass After Dark,” at Squaw’s Olympic Valley Lodge and the Plaza Bar, as well as at Hacienda del Lago, on the lake in nearby Tahoe City, and Alibi Ale Works in Truckee, the first time that mountain community hosted WinterWonderGrass-related events. The fest concluded with a Sunday late-night set with Fruition that included fiddling input from both Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth and Jake Simpson of the Lil' Smokies.

Many lasting memory-making music moments came in unexpected places, like when Vince Herman (guitar/vocals) and his son Silas (mandolin) joined the passionate contemporary bluegrass outfit Horseshoes & Hand Grenades for a spell during an early evening set in the Pickin’ Perch tent.

At about midday Saturday, following free opportunities for attendees to jam with WonderGrass musicians at the Olympic Village Base Camp, when the Kitchen Dwellers occupied the adjacent Coffeebar for a two-hour session of acoustic jamgrass. Three “Pickin’ on the Dead” sets on Sunday included a whole host of players, including Tyler Grant, Jon Stickley Trio, and several friends reviving such classic Grateful Dead selections as “St. Stephen,” “Not Fade Away,” and “Help on the Way” > “Slipknot” > “Franklin’s Tower,” and “Scarlet Begonias.”

And then there was the beer. And not just beer for sale. One of the general ticket privileges at WinterWonderGrass-Tahoe was that, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. daily, attendees were privy to free tastings, as many three-ounce cupfuls as desired, from almost 20 California craft-beer brewers including Sierra Nevada, Mad River, Tahoe Mountain, Berryessa, Knee Deep, and Lagunitas. This year, Colorado-based Oskar Blue Brewery joined in on the fun. Samples of all sorts of ales, lagers, IPAs, and more were served in the massive, Pickin’ Perch Stage, Soap Box, and Jamboree Stage tents.

In addition to everything else, Stoughton and company have seen to it that WinterWonderGrass-Tahoe leaves as little an environmental impact as possible. In 2017, the fest reportedly achieved an 85% waste diversion rate, diverting generated waste from landfills to composting and recycling solutions.

Check out more photos from WinterWonderGrass Tahoe.

With Wavy Gravy, Bob Weir, and Steve Kimock as its star personalities on May 6, and Wavy’s Camp Winnarainbow the recipient of the evening’s proceeds, the intimate event at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California, exuded a friends and family vibe. And there was cake!

The evening began with a screening of Wavy and the Ace of Cups’ recently produced song, “Basic Human Needs.” The video blends footage from the Seva Foundation’s sight-healing work around the world, and a powerful human rights message through lyrics such as, “Wouldn’t it be neat; If the people you meet; Had shoes upon their feet; and something to eat?

Billed as “Steve Kimock and Friends,” the musical lineup included Kimock, Weir, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, drummer Jay Lane, and bassist Robin Sylvester, which together represented a full band of RatDog alumni. But absent any RatDog originals, the 90-minute first set wound up including all Grateful Dead music, which thrilled the audience, especially with Weir at the helm.

Wavy’s dubbing of the assembled band, “Aces Wild,” referencing The Grateful Dead star’s long-established nickname, was quite apropos. While the bandmates were indeed RatDog, Weir led the ensemble through an impressive set that began with an opening salvo of “Shakedown Street”; “Bob Dylan’s “Queen Jane Approximately,” which The Grateful Dead often covered in their later years, but the modern Dead & Company has only performed a couple of times; and Weir’s venerable Jack Straw.”

The band, which was well rehearsed and plenty enthusiastic, outputted a sound mix that was excellent, though appropriately less forceful than Weir’s (and Chimenti’s) current big band, Dead & Company. Old friends Sylvester and Lane provided a superb bottom end, with Lane singing some background vocals, including the “I just jumped the watchman…” lyrics in “Jack Straw.”

The trio of Weir, Chimenti, and Kimock, all more than comfortable musical comrades, was sublime in its workmanship. Working in very close quarters on the Sweetwater stage, Chimenti’s typically intuitive and complementary handling of the keyboard duties and Kimock’s spontaneous psychedelic-jazz-tinged lead guitar passages complemented Weir’s Fender Jazzmaster guitar jams in a unique and special way. The set moved on to “Row Jimmy,” with Kimock on slide and Weir drawing a blank on lyrics a couple of times, first grinning about it and then showing a bit of frustration with himself at his momentary lapses.

The rest of the set, which included complex material and took a lot of hard work, included a heavenly sequence of “Dark Star” -> “Crazy Fingers” -> “Dark Star.” The set concluded with a seldom performed “Easy Answers” (a cleverly worded Grateful Dead song that was a RatDog staple) and a fine “Terrapin Station,” which was played at just the right pace and mood for a small club.

As the set ended and the lights came up, Sylvester played a little “Happy Birthday” on bass as Seva’s Tamara Klamner brought onstage a large, festive cake honoring Wavy’s soon-to-be 82nd birthday, that said, “Still Gravy after all these years.” Conducting the crowd with his arms, Weir then led the crowd into a room-filled “Happy Birthday.” With Ace of Cups members’ Denise Kaufman and Diana Vitalich on hand and sliding onstage, they and Wavy then led the crowd in what was the most touching moment of the night, a live rendering of “Basic Human Needs.” Wavy and his wife Jahanara, then moved out to the Sweetwater patio, where, flanked by close friends, cake slices were dished out to anyone who approached.

With Weir’s work done for the night, Kimock took the opportunity to stretch out in the second set, with him, Chimenti, Lane, Sylvester, and for the final few songs, Miles Kimock on guitar. A full set of Kimock-penned psychedelic-jazz-rock instrumentals of varying intensity while always compelling and interesting, took the festivities past midnight.

The set began with a pair of Zero songs that debuted about 30 years ago, “Tangled Hangers” and “Tongue ‘N’ Groove.” The band also presented fine treatments of “Ice Cream Factory,” “One for Brother Mike,” and “5 B4 Funk.” The encore was an instrumental treatment of Jimmy Cliff’s 1969 classic, “Many Rivers to Cross,” another song that Kimock has carried with him for 30 years.

Check out more photos from the show.

Truly one of America’s most influential and astute folk artists of all time, John Prine's prolific songbook is filled with hundreds of clever country-folk tunes both humorous and poignant. He performed about two dozen of those songs on May 23 to the visible delight of the sold-out crowd inside Folsom, California’s, Harris Center for the Arts.

No one has a way with lyrics like Prine, whose musical tales are told with witticisms and phrasings so vibrant that they leave the listener with a full visualization of the characters within each song. All sounding fresh and comforting, many of the songs, written in the early 1970s, touched on topics long gone, like President Eisenhower and the Korean War. But the lessons of his songs remain quite current, including love, hard work, and the evils of hard drugs, Prine’s voice, which has turned gravellier in the past 20-some years following a couple of bouts of cancer, matched the genuineness of his lyrics more than ever.

Prine strummed and sang plenty of old favorites. Leaning generously on selections from his self-titled first album from 1971, Prine and company performed “Six O’Clock News” (the opener), “Angel from Montgomery” (dedicated to Bonnie Raitt), “All the Best,” “Sam Stone,” and the encore, “Paradise.”

Except for a five-song solo set in the middle of the show, Prine was flanked by a band of consummate professionals in sport jackets, who added flawless accompaniments and class to the act. The supporting cast included Jason Wilber (acoustic and electric guitars), Fats Kaplin (pedal steel guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and guitars), and Kenneth Blevins on drums (often using just brushes). Prince complimented the other player, Dave Jacque, who plucked and slapped electric and upright bass, saying,” For my money, he’s the finest bass player in the word.”

Prine’s stop in Folsom came in the midst of a nationwide tour supporting his astute and relevant new project, “The Tree of Forgiveness,” from which he performed all but one selection. It is hard to remember a concert by such a heritage artist in which brand new songs were greeted almost equally as well as the old favorites. But Prine’s new truisms and sarcasms about life are as strong as ever, whether the topic be eternal love – he dedicated the emotional, “Boundless Love,” to his wife, or offering sympathy for Pluto for losing its official planetary status in “The Lonesome Friends of Science.”

Indeed, Prine’s lyrics remain at the center of his popularity and enduring legend, and the 71-year-old delivered them with all the reverence and passion that each song was due. Though he didn’t mention the current U.S. President, the Vietnam War-era “Flag Decal” contained plenty of biting lyrics that touched on the climate surrounding many of the President’s followers:

“But your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore / They're already overcrowded from your dirty little war / Now Jesus don't like killin', no matter what the reason's for / And your flag decal won't get you into Heaven anymore.”

Then there were the whimsical tunes, which included lyrics like,

“Grandpa Was a Carpenter / He built houses, stores and banks / Chain-smoked Camel cigarettes / And hammered nails in planks.”

And perhaps most poignant of all, was “Hello in There,” Prine’s old dirge about loneliness:

“You know old trees just grow stronger / And old rivers grow wilder every day / Old people just grow lonesome / Waiting for someone to say 'Hello in there. Hello.”

Prine’s set closer, “When I Get to Heaven,” from the new album, gave an optimistic view of the afterlife:

“When I get to heaven / I'm gonna shake God's hand / Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand / Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock-n-roll band /Check into a swell hotel; ain't the afterlife grand?”

The audience was treated to a gratifying opening set by balladeer Ramblin’ Jack Elliott,” who at 86 has a legendary career that goes back further than Prine’s. To illustrate that fact, consider that Elliott befriended Dust Bowl-balladeer Woody Guthrie back in 1950. And Johnny Cash, a performer of some renown, introduced Elliott, who was about to sing Cash’s “If I Were a Carpenter” on Cash’s TV variety show in 1969, saying, “nobody I know — and I mean nobody — has covered more ground and made more friends and sung more songs than the fellow you're about to meet right now.  He's got a song and a friend for every mile behind him.  Say hello to my good buddy, Ramblin' Jack Elliott.”

In between engaging stores, such as one about traveling in Europe with banjo player Derroll Adams in the 1950s, Elliott offered Jesse Fuller’s “San Francisco Bay Blues,” Guthrie’s “The Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd,” Butch Hawes’ “Arthritis Blues,” Bessie Smith’s “Mean Old Bed Bug Blues,” and Bob Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.”

Elliott was particularly charming while performing his closing number, Kris Kristofferson’s “Me & Bobby McGee.” Experiencing some hoarseness, and after singing the line, “I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana,” Elliott paused and said, “I’m gonna pull out some water.” He took a few draughts, took his time, and restarted and triumphantly finished the classic to a roar of applause. Elliott also joined Prine and the band on Prine’s old “Paradise, even giving Prine a kiss on the cheek before the song was through.

John Prine set list: Six O'Clock News, Knockin' on Your Screen Door, Bruised Orange, Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore, Caravan of Fools, Egg & Daughter Nite - Lincoln Nebraska 1967 (Crazy Bone), Grandpa Was a Carpenter, Hello in There, Boundless Love, Summer’s End, I Have Met My Love Today, Ain't Hurtin’ Nobody, Angel from Montgomery, All the Best *, Illegal Smile *, Lonesome Friends of Science *, No Ordinary Blue *, Sam Stone *, Crooked Piece of Time, God Only Knows, Lake Marie, When I Get to Heaven; encore: Paradise (* = solo performance)

On a very warm, sun-splashed Memorial Day in San Rafael, California, ALO and some of their musical friends performed outdoors at Terrapin Crossroads back yard area, aka Beach Park. Two full afternoon sets of their unique brand songs and ingenious and technically proficient jamming included extended guest spots by Trey Anastasio Band (and more) horn players Natalie Cressman (trombone) and Jennifer Hartswick (trumpet). Hartswick not only played but sang Blondie’s “Rapture,” as well as fine harmonies on “Shakedown Street.”

Other guests included Steve Adams’ Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers mates Deren Ney and Dave Mulligan, in-demand session player and frequent Terrapin Crossroads performer Jason Crosby (on keyboards), and Jeff Cressman (Carlos Santana, Peter Apfelbaum, and Natalie’s dad).

Check out more photos from the show.

Three bohemian bands and a world-famous clown came together June 2 at the UC Theatre in Berkeley, California, for a benefit for the Seva Foundation, a global health organization with a core vision of “A world free of blindness.” Emceed by Seva co-founder Wavy Gravy, who remains on its board of directors, Rising Appalachia, Dead Winter Carpenters, and The Sam Chase & the Untraditional marked Seva’s 40th anniversary by visibly invigorating the swaying, dancing crowd.

Upon taking the stage, Leah Song, one of the front women for Rising Appalachia, properly adorned with a big red clown nose, praised Wavy Gravy for his involvement in “social peace activism” and being “a righteous clown.” She continued that, “It’s an honor to be on this stage. The Seva organization has cured over 3 million folks from blindness, and it’s a very powerful place to be standing in honor of all the work that’s been done.”

Song (banjo and vocals) and her sister Cloe Smith (fiddle and vocals), along with Biko Casini (percussion) and David Brown (guitar and bass), headlined the evening with a big set of artistic mountain-tinged folk tales and artistic ballads that countered injustices with love and affirmations, essentially placing daisies into the rifles of those who endorse oppressive and tyrannical behaviors.

Tender, evocative, indigenous-American flavored and simultaneously earthly and spiritual, Rising Appalachia provided a soothing elixir of music and energy that was fanciful, beautiful, and satisfying. Smith and Song even partnered in some mid-song rhythmic dancing. This was the final show of their tour. “After this, we disappear into the Northern California woods and start to make a new album,” Song said.

Their set which mostly included enchanting, nicely crafted originals, began with the traditional gospel song, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” and included the delightfully percussive “Sail Away Ladies,” and ended with an encore of the tribal-flavored “Take Me Downtown.”

Much of the set included material that appears on the group’s 2017 live project, “Alive.” Rising Appalachia also performed their new single-release, “Resilient,” which has an anti-Trump tone without naming names. Its lyrics include:

“When the world comes undone / My voice feels tiny / And I'm sure so does yours / Put us all together / We'll make a mighty roar / I am resilient / I trust the movement / I negate the chaos / Uplift the negative.”

Rising Appalachia in 2015 founded the Slow Music Movement, to help maintain an independent and unvarnished musical soul in the face of the hectic and pressured world of the music business. The band is committed to keeping their work personal and accessible as they travel from town to town while at the same time generating audience interest in their music-making model, which includes presiding over production, management, recording, and all forms of guiding their work, and avoiding flying jet airplanes from one soulless, impersonal arena to arena. Their music-delivery model is reminiscent to Woody Guthrie’s a few generations ago. Troubadour Guthrie used to arrive from town to town on slow train or by other means and meet the townspeople and their cultures before a performance.

Immediately preceding Rising Appalachia, Lake Tahoe, California’s, Dead Winter Carpenters delivered a rip-snortin’, fiddle-infused, twangy amalgamation of bluegrass, classic country, and Americana compositions. An established good-timey band, Dead Winter Carpenters, are now in their ninth year of winning over audiences one at a time with their engaging let-it-all-hang-out sets.

The band features charismatic co-founders Jenni Charles on fiddle, vocals, and smiling-good vibes, and Jesse Dunn, the band’s chief songwriter, and fine guitar player, who has a deep, clear countrified voice a la Bob Dylan on “Nashville Skyline.” Lead guitarist Nick Swimley added plenty of depth to the jamming interludes, while drummer Brendan Smith (and guest/former bassist Brian Huston, who manned the drumkit for a few tunes), and new bass player Ryan Lukas ensured that the musical output was cohesive and of one voice.

Led by Sam Chase, a rambunctious, passionate showman, The Sam Chase and the Untraditional opened the night’s proceedings. A compelling ringleader born and raised in San Francisco, front man Chase, on guitars and lead vocals, performed in tandem with a unique and affable band of players, the majority of which were refreshingly women – Chandra Johnson on fiddle, Devon McCLive on cello, Liss Leigh on bass, and Debbie Neigher on the keyboard. Lead guitarist Nikko Rios and drummer Ted Desmarais rounded out the ensemble. With the raucous and raspy-voiced Chase at the helm, the band’s dramatic performance was an enjoyably boisterous carnival of fun.

Seva, which is a Sanskrit word for “service,” or in Seva’s case, “selfless service to others,” was reportedly conceived in 1978 when three heads came together – Dr. Larry Brilliant, an epidemiologist and philanthropist who attended the show; psychologist/academic Ram Dass, and activist/comedian Wavy Gravy, along with a colorful supporting cast of smart and talented innovators put their heads together to deliberate about which public health issue they felt they could tackle. Together they became passionate about eradicating blindness in disadvantaged communities in Nepal, Cambodia, and elsewhere. The Grateful Dead’s affiliation with Seva dates back to its early days, with a Seva benefit concert in 1979 at the Oakland Auditorium. Bob Weir serves as an honorary lifetime Seva board member.

“Eighty percent of all the blindness in the world is preventable or curable,” states Seva Co-founder Larry Brilliant on the organization’s website, seva.org. Ninety percent is in the developing world, and there are 40 million blind people in the world. Surely when we can deliver sight for under $50, those numbers have got to be reduced, eliminated, put to bed.”

Setlists

Rising Appalachia: Just a Closer Walk with Thee, All Fence and No Doors, Pretty Little Foot, Filthy Dirty South, Sail Away Ladies, Wider Circles, Lean In, Resilient, Medicine, Caminando, Across the Blue Ridge Mountains, Cripple Creek (Appalachian traditional, not The Band song), Scale Down. Encore: Take Me Downtown. tribal-flavored

Dead Winter Carpenters: Colorado Wildfire, Roller Coaster, Holy Moses, Tahoe Gal, Detrimental Tendencies, Long arm of the law, Another Brick in the Wall (Pink Floyd), Winning Hand, How to Make a Living 101.

Sam Chase & the Untraditional: End - Or, Sold My Soul, Carry My Bones, There for Me, Mountains, Rage. Little Better, New Eyes, Lucky One, Rock Bottom.

Several Bay Area musicians who were already friends on and off the stage appeared together at The Fillmore in San Francisco on June 9 to spotlight Blue Rose Music’s stable of artists, and of more importance to raise money and awareness for the Blue Rose Foundation, which commits itself to preschool scholarships for impoverished children.

The mighty Mother Hips, one day after the release of their new project, “Chorus,” headlined the gig at the venerable venue, part of the night’s itinerary that included a brand-new incarnation of the Jackie Greene Band, as well as an opening showcase set in which violinist and keyboardist Jason Crosby, also part of the Blue Rose Music collective, performed alone and with such fine label-mates as Elliott Peck, Laura Reed, and Megan Palmer. Legendary San Francisco concert poster artist Stanley Mouse, also part of the Blue Rose Music family, created the event poster.

“The Blue Rose Foundation is at the core of what we do here at Blue Rose Music,” Michelle Garramone, the label’s General Manager said after the show. “It was an honor to work on a sold-out show with The Fillmore, our talented artists, and the fans to put together this amazing show where all proceeds go to support early childhood education for disadvantaged children. We are so proud of our artists for bringing great energy and excitement and of our founder, Joe Poletto, for making this unforgettable experience possible."

Crosby, the famed and much-in-demand live and studio sideman of many a-famous acts, opened the show by himself on guitar and vocals with a nice rendering of “One of Those Places,” a track off his new album, “Cryptologic.” Crosby, who is equally skilled on keyboards as well as violin, and who since moving to the area a few years ago, has become one of the most valuable players at Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads venue in Marin County, California, then went on to accompany come of the Blue Rose music collective’s female musicians.

First, indie-pop/country/folkster Megan Palmer performed her song, “Stetson” with Crosby contributing violin accompaniment. Just two years ago, the singer/songwriter – and nurse – was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, which put her music projects on hold. Now, cancer-free and living in Nashville, Palmer’s music endeavors are full speed ahead, including the anticipated video for the as-yet-unreleased “Stetson.”

Next, San Francisco’s Elliott Peck, she of Midnight North fame, performed “Silver and Gold,” which will be featured on her upcoming album. The classically trained singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist led a four-piece band including Crosby on violin, James DePrato on dobro, and mandolin player Jesse Bardwell, who just the night before played in Steve Forbert’s band in New York.

Finally, Laura Reed juiced up with the crowd with her energetic presence and roadhouse-flavored live performance, on which she contributed soulful harmonica and vocals. Born in South Africa, and now splitting time between North Carolina and Nashville, Reed was flanked by twin cajón players that few knew were going to dazzle us again during the next set.

Roots ‘n’ blues rocker Jackie Greene and his new band took over next, performing in front of a screen of ever-changing colorful images from famed animator Bill Plympton, who provided the backdrops for Greene’s new video, “Modern Lives.”

The brand-new band, all coming to Greene via Nashville, except for long-time righthand man and guitarist/backup vocalist Nathan Dale, included renowned Grammy Award-winning record producer Shannon Sanders on keyboards and Ben Rubin, a veteran player who recorded and toured with The Jonah Smith Band for many years, on bass. In addition, the aforementioned cajón players provided the band’s backbeat, with music producer, instructor, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Jon “Smoke" Lucas on one drumkit and Megan Coleman on drums and assorted percussion. This was just the second or third gig with the new personnel, according to Dale.

Greene, a Sacramento native, who moved to New York City a couple of years ago and is now back in California, showed off his skills on banjo, acoustic and electric guitars, and keyboards, while leading the band through an 11-song set of tunes old and new. The set included four of the six songs contained in the late-2017-released “Modern Lives Vol. 1” EP, including opener “Tupelo,” as well as “Modern Lives,” “Alabama Queen,” and the encore of “Good Advice,” in which Greene effectively barked vocals into a vintage, low-tech mic. Greene, Dale, and company stayed away from The Grateful Dead portion of their repertoire on this night, but visibly pleased the crowd with audience favorites, including “Gone Wanderin’,” “Don’t Let The Devil Take Your Mind,” and set-closer “Like a Ball and Chain.” Fans can look forward to “Modern Lives Vol. 2,” which is due out on Blue Rose Music in October.

Long about 11:30 p.m., The Mother Hips took over the stage with a long set and encores that included almost 20 pieces of rollicking rock. About 2½ years after frontman Tim Bluhm’s devastating speed flying (paragliding) accident, it was good to see him evermore strong and stable on his feet while lashing out on strident guitar and vocal passages. Band co-founder guitarist/vocalist Greg Loiacono, and long-time drummer John Hofer, gelled well with 2017 band-newcomers Gabe Nelson (CAKE) on bass, Scheila Gonzalez (Zappa Plays Zappa) on horns and hand-percussion, as well as guest Jason Crosby on keyboards. The career-spanning set selections leaned quite a bit on the band’s new project, “Chorus.” The Mother Hips opened with “Clean Me Up,” the new album’s first track, and also performed the project’s lead single, “It’s Alright,” one of six songs from “Chorus.” Mother Hips standards included energized versions of such tunes as “Esmerelda,” “Smoke,” Loiacono’s “Del Mar Station,” and set-ender “Stoned Up the Road,” which included Greene on third guitar. In fact, Greene played in the band for several songs, both on guitar as well as on keyboards while seated next to Crosby.

Learn more about Blue Rose Music artists and the Blue Rose Foundation at https://www.bluerosemusic.com.

The Mother Hips set: Clean Me Up, Gold Plated, White Falcon Fuzz, Pay the Bills, Third Floor Story, All in Favor, Time We Had, Smoke, Hit Me There, It’ll Be Gone, Precious Opal, Del Mar Station, End of the Chorus, Magazine, High Note Hitters, Stoned up the Road E: Later Days, It’s Alright, Song in a Can, Esmerelda

Jackie Greene Band set: Tupelo, The Captain’s Daughter, I’m So Gone, Modern Lives, Gone Wanderin’, Don’t Let The Devil Take Your Mind, Shaken, Alabama Queen, Till The Light Comes, Like a Ball & Chain E: Good Advice

Whether layin’ it down with his revered trio, his new five-piece band, accompanying fellow performer Mama Kin as a duet, or mesmerizing the crowd with an epic solo of guitar gymnastics, Australian roots rocker John Butler held the crowd visibly spellbound from start to finish in Sacramento’s ornate Crest Theatre on June 19.

Unabashedly speaking, John Butler is one of the most talented and fascinating musicians out on the jammy band circuit. A key ingredient, in addition to his ongoing rapport with the audience, was the discernible indigenous Australian feel to his work , developed a couple of decades ago as a busking guitarist, and which seeped in at many points throughout the night. And throughout, Butler was very in-the-moment and pleasantly chatty, observing the crowd and the theater around him and telling plenty of stories.

A seasoned exceedingly skilled player, storyteller, and festival staple, Butler on this tour introduced the “John Butler Trio +”, which includes longtime Trio-mates Grant Gerathy on drums and Byron Luiters on bass and keyboards, as well as an additional percussionist, Lozz Benson, and keyboardist, Ben Corbett. Benson and Corbett played on about half of the songs, with the Trio appearing on the rest, except for a couple of Butler solo offerings.

The affable and uber-talented Butler displayed brilliance of different paces, flavors, and textures during a 2½-hour show, in which Butler excelled on the banjo, lap steel, six-string acoustic, and 11-string acoustic (not 12) guitars. He also contributed drumming when the five-piece performed their own drum circle. The long set featured several John Butler Trio standards as well as a fistful of new songs. The new dirges, which won over the crowd almost as much as the old favorites, ae expected to be featured on an upcoming studio album.

For a representative insight into Butler’s talents, one only needs to listen to or watch a performance of “Ocean,” a powerhouse solo instrumental that on this night lasted about 15 minutes. During its many moods, “Ocean” included tender interludes as well as periods of wild abandon, with Butler combining such wizardry with passages of note-picking with his fretboard hand and dynamic percussive rhythms he attained from using the fine wood of the guitar as a hand drum.

John Butler Trio classics on this night included upbeat romps, “Better Than” and “Betterman,” the romantic “I’d Do Anything (Soldier’s Lament),” joyous “Ragged Mile (Spirit Song),” and the twangy set-ender “Livin’ in the City.”

“That’s how it goes, living in the city / Everybody getting down to the nitty gritty / They don't look back, they don't take no pity / Hey ya know I never said it would be pretty."

The three-song encore was a nutshell of the entire concert, with each tune delivering a different temperament. First, Butler performed with Mama Kin, his wife, on a duet performance of the life- and love-affirming “Losing You.” Next, Butler performed a new, personal song that is possibly called, “Coffee, Methadone & Cigarettes,” after telling the crowd the tragic story about how his father still copes with scars and sadness that persist after living through an Australian brushfire in 1958 that claimed his father’s (Butler’s grandfather’s) life. After that, Butler shook off such seriousness and told the crowd he would not leave them on such a depressing message. Closing it all out with one of his most beloved songs, Butler brought the house together and sent them on their way with the call-and-response “Zebra.”

Mama Kin opened the show as part of an unusual, low-fi duo, Mama Kin Spender, that featured Mama Kin (real name Danielle Caruana) on drums and vocals and fellow Australian Tommy Spender on guitar and vocals.  The duo performed a fine set in support of their new record, “The Magician’s Daughter.”

Moe., the crafty, veteran improv-jamming five-piece out of upstate New York, completed a four-day residency at Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads on July 1 with a fine show in the venue’s Beach Park. Phil Lesh & the Terrapin Family Band closed out the show, and then they all joined together for a three-song finale that turned it into a five ½-hour event.

For the first three nights moe. played in the venue’s Grate Room, with Terrapin Crossroads proprietor and legendary Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh playing in the band. That ensemble performed nightly a set of Grateful Dead songs followed by a moe.-songs set. On this final day of the series of shows, a lovely afternoon/early evening with temperatures in the low 70s, moe. began, greeting the sold-out assemblage who had gathered in the intimate park with ground blankets and lawn chairs, with an extended two-hour set.

The band, whose lineup has remained stable for almost 20 years, delivered a bevy of classic moe. tunes, on the sun-splashed crowd, brilliantly blending improvisational layers and textures of smart rock ‘n’ jams consisted of 11 pieces of music, all of which were spirited and impressive.

Based in upstate New York, moe.’s 25-plus year reign of music proliferation rarely takes them out to California, and Marin County fans were lucky that four of the band’s eight California shows on their current tour were in one place, Terrapin Crossroads. The venue, featuring seven-days -a-week of Phil Lesh and/or several purveyors of Grateful Dead music, psychedelic rock music, or other genres, has become a frequent magnet for locals and must-see music destination club for those traveling to the Bay Area.

Moe. bass player/vocalist Rob Derhak voiced his approval of the venue, comparing it to “one of the places we played while coming up in New York called The Wetlands.”

“It was a magical place,” Derhak said. “I think it was the only other place I’ve ever been in that really; I don’t know, there was something about it. This is a lot nicer than The Wetlands was, but it really captures the spirit of the place. It just reminds me of those days. I’m pretty glad The Wetlands did not have an outdoor venue. I don’t know what that would’ve been like in that neighborhood. There would’ve been way too many rats.”

Opening with “Seat of my Pants,” moe. established the tone and pace for the epic set, with Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey firing on all cylinders on guitars and vocals. In between those two stood Derhak, powerfully plucking on the bass (and also providing vocal passages throughout the set). Jim Loughlin improvised and on percussion and vibes, and Vinnie Amico maintained a consistent drum attack all set-long. The energized performance seamlessly moved on with hints of funk, jazz, and flamenco intertwined along the way. Variety was also a theme, as only “Downward Facing Dog,” was a repeat from any of the three previous nights. For the encore, Loughlin appeared front and center, leading moe.  – and the crowd – in a fierce version of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.”

Soon after, Phil Lesh and the Terrapin Family Band appeared onstage for a big set of Grateful music as fine and genuine as the Dead & Company group that was on this very day passing in close proximity, between shows in Eugene, Ore., and Mountain View, Calif. Referring to a collection of musicians who’ve plied their craft and matured together at Terrapin Crossroads since it opened six years ago, the Terrapin Family Band included three ace guitarists: the uniquely awe-inspiring, old-music-soul-in-a-young body Ross James who also co-leads the Cosmic Twang band; dynamic singer/songwriter/player Grahame Lesh, son of Phil who has long since proven his talent independently, apart from his dad, as co-front person of the now national-touring band, Midnight North; and Alex Koford, a young phenom who for this show was out from behind his familiar seat at the drumkit, to deliver fine content on guitar and vocals. Midnight North's drummer, Nathan Graham, played drums and will reportedly hold down that role with the Terrapin Family Band moving forward. National in-demand session and live performance player Jason Crosby, another Terrapin Crossroads MVP, assumed keyboard duties.

At 78, Lesh continues to be visibly enjoying himself onstage while maintaining his power, skill, and grace on the bass. Amazing in material covered, cohesiveness, and in powerful quality of sound that have become synonymous with Terrapin Crossroads, the band came out and immediately dazzled the crowd with a gorgeous “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” followed by “Mississippi Half-Step,” and a feverish “Bertha.” The set also included an epic rendering of “Alligator”; “Wharf Rat,” on which Koford delivered perfect lead vocals; and a peppy “Bertha,” which had everyone in the audience two-stepping about. The set ended with a super-strong sequence of “Cumberland Blues,” an over-the-top dandy with three guitarists; “Liberty,” and “New Speedway Boogie.” At this point, that show had already clocked in at well over four hours. And yet, there was a little more to come.

Soon, led by Phil, all the members of moe. and all the Terrapin Family Band, 11 players in total, climbed back onto the stage for a three-song finale. Now, with guitar work from Schnier, Garvey, James, and Grahame Lesh, Koford joining Crosby on the keyboards, and Derhak playing percussion while leaving the bass work to Phil, the super band delivered a sweet version of Neil Young’s “Down By the River,” followed by Jerry Garcia’s “Deal,” and The Band’s “The Weight.” Hugs and handshakes all around!

moe.: Seat of My Pants > Sensory Deprivation Bank, Defrost. Akimbo, Moth, Brent Black, Tambourine, Happy Hour Hero, Downward Facing Dog, Jazz Wank, Buster, Encore: Immigrant Song

Phil Lesh & the Terrapin Family Band:  Dear Mr. Fantasy Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo, Bertha, West L.A. Fadeaway, Jack Straw, Alligator, Wharf Rat, The Wheel, Cumberland Blues, Liberty, New Speedway Boogie

Finale with both bands: Down by the River, Deal, The Weight

Check out more photos from the show.

Observing the full Dead & Company experience on July 2 at Shoreline Amphitheatre, from early afternoon happenings outside the San Francisco Bay Area venue through the encore’s final exclamation of “We Will Survive!” confirmed that the band’s cultural anthropology, centered around spirited live renderings of Grateful Dead music, still colorfully and cheerfully thrives.

While the concert’s official activities took place onstage, the travel from show to show and the preshow rituals at each venue have for many decades been a part of the overall “scene” for Dead & Company, The Grateful Dead, and all the facsimiles in between. At Shoreline, outside the venue, a pre-show multi-aisled jamboree of artisans of clothing, food, jewelry, and other wares, along with drifting music and free expression was on bountiful display for several hours. It was heartening to observe that this freeform tradition was still being played out 23 years after The Grateful Dead’s final show.

On this, the first of a two-night stint in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dead & Company were powerful and on point throughout, offering beloved song selections that were common among Grateful Dead setlists in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. A 14-minute “Feel Like a Stranger” show opener started out slow-of-tempo like many of this band’s performances tend to do, but soon flourished into the full vigor and jazzy complexities that the song can offer. “Dancing in the Streets,” it too a 14-minute marathon of a song, brought a gently funkified essence to the Martha and the Vandellas’ classic that The Grateful Dead performed through their entire career.

The first set included a couple of select choices that were rarely performed in the past by The Grateful Dead. “Hurts Me Too,” was one such song, a blues standard made famous by Elmore James. The tune, which became forever familiar to Dead Heads from its inclusion on “Europe ’72” and last performed by the original band on May 24, 1972, has emerged on the Dead & Company catalog in 2018. The band’s take on the song, its third such occurrence, was much different than the old Pig Pen-led version, but very well done in a spirit closer to the pure-blues original.

“If I Had the World to Give,” the tender Garcia/Robert Hunter ballad, performed only three times by The Grateful Dead in 1978, was exquisite. The beautiful song was placed in the middle of the first set with bassist Oteil Burbridge’s tenor vocal treatments wafting gently over the vast landscape, and tears of emotion were visible from more than one person in the crowd. Weir next delivered “Corrina,” one of his complex, heretical songs, for just the third time with Dead & Company.

In the department of “strangest of places if you look at it right,” the first set also contained a monumental version of “They Love Each Other.” Though always pleasant in message and reggae-twinged delivery by The Grateful Dead, the song was never a blockbuster. On this night, the 15-minute version of the song was an enormous piece of music with multiple ebbs and flows of rolling, grooving John Mayer lead guitar jams. “They Love Each Other” was followed by a set-concluding “Throwing Stones,” its lyrics ringing true as much today as when it was written some 36 years ago: “Money green or proletarian gray / Selling guns instead of food today / So the kids they dance, and shake their bones / And the politician's throwing stones.”

Bob Weir, as the most crucial member of the band, worked hard throughout the evening on his sprightly guitar play, vocals, and leadership. On this night, the band performed a lot of “Weir songs,” which naturally he sang, all feeling as comfortable as an old flannel shirt. Jeff Chimenti, on keyboards, was the unsung hero of this band, with a knack of knowing when to deliver Pigpen-type, or Keith Godchaux-type, Brent Mydland-type, or even Tom Constanten-type passages, in addition to his own skillful trappings. Burbridge was a pleasure to listen to and watch, a usually smiling presence with wicked skills. He does not copy the bass stylings or personality of The Grateful Dead’s Phil Lesh, instead letting his own strength of skills do the job in a satisfying way.

Though twin drums are not required for many songs, it is always reassuring to see Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart behind the drum kits keeping the rhythms interesting, and in the case of “Drums” and “Space,” otherworldly. What John Mayer contributed as a guitar player was skillful and inventive, contributing a sound and energy that was reminiscent enough of Garcia’s to elicit his certain understanding and appreciativeness of Grateful Dead music but not in copycat fashion. His unique vocal delivery, however, a part of who Mayer is and why he is such a big star away from the Dead & Company stage, continued to be a little uncomfortably incongruent in the way it synced with the rest of the band’s essence.

While the second set was comprised completely of songs commonly performed by Dead & Company, and The Grateful Dead as well, the cohesiveness, dynamics, and consummate musicianship were on display throughout. The 27-minute performance of classic triad “Help on the Way” -> “Slipknot” -> “Franklin’s Tower” was particularly inspired. The post-drums “Other One” -> “Wharf Rat” -> “Not Fade Away,” sequence that could have taken place anytime in the past four decades, was anthemic and keenly and freshly delivered. “Touch of Grey,” the biggest of all Grateful Dead successes as a 45-rpm record, was a fine sendoff. Till the next show.

Setlist: I – Feel Like A Stranger, Dancing In The Streets, Hurts Me Too, If I Had The World To Give, Corrina, They Love Each Other, Throwing Stones. II – Lost Sailor -> Saint Of Circumstance, He’s Gone -> Help On The Way -> Slipknot! -> Franklin’s Tower -> Drums/Space -> The Other One -> Wharf Rat -> Not Fade Away. E – Touch Of Grey

Check out more photos from the show.

Once again, paths to music, wonder, and joyful celebration converged in early July at the four-day High Sierra Music Festival in the small mountain town of Quincy, California, where the elevation is twice the number of the population. Headlined by Sturgill Simpson, The String Cheese Incident, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Grace Potter, George Porter Jr., Melvin Seals and more, this was the 28th High Sierra Fest. and the 20th at the county fairgrounds in Quincy.

One of the biggest, most prominent festivals in Northern California, the goings-on were rousing and dazzling, with its wide array of jam-happy funk, rock, alt-country, roots (and more) acts playing to a particularly colorful, free-spirited audience of several thousand each day. As usual, unscripted side shows and surprise moments containing all sorts of artistic self-expression broke out constantly as the audience is just as big a part of the festivals as the bands themselves.

Another distinct part of the charm in addition to the pleasing landscapes, both mountainous and musical, was the ambiance, as well as production-team proficiency of all festival details. In addition to the three main outdoors stages, the festival utilizes several fairground buildings both large and small for additional themed musical “playshops,” often delivered by one-time combinations of musicians whose paths rarely cross while they are on the road. Fairground buildings were also suitable settings for late-night shows, both acoustic and amplified.

The wide acreage of campgrounds, at which musical performances could be piped in courtesy of Grizzly Radio broadcasts, were again host to lots of colorful home sites, some minimalist, some decorated and stocked to the highest degree. Other interesting accouterments included “the lawn,” always a magnet for fun, which hosted yoga and other movement playshops, slackline balancing, a ZEROdB Silent Disco, hoop dancing, fire dancing, etc. High Sierra also hosted a Shabbat tent, a giant community “Magic Foam” tub, and family village for all things kids-related, and several social justice information tables. Food, artisan booths, and a wide selection of craft beers were plentiful along the outdoor food court, the lawn, and in a ring around the main stage’s meadow.

Grateful Web took in the action on Friday and Saturday. One of the most satisfying sets occurred during mid-afternoon on Friday on the main, Grandstand Stage. There, lead guitarist Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz & Friends’ set was epic as it was funky, with a one-time, all-star band that included Melvin Seals (keyboards, JGB), George Porter Jr. (bass, The Meters, 7 Walkers, Runnin’ Pardners), Jay Lane (drums, RatDog, more), Jennifer Hartswick and Natalie Cressman (horns, Trey Anastasio Band), and Skerik (horns).

Their amazing retro set included fresh, wonderful versions of “What’s Goin’ On” (Lebo and Hartswick on vocals, Marvin Gaye), “Piece of My Heart,” (Hartswick on vocals, Janis Joplin), “They Love Each Other,” (Porter Jr. on vocals, Jerry Garcia), and “Have a Cigar” (Lebo and Hartswick on vocals, Pink Floyd).

After the fest, Lebo posted on social media, summing up nicely what makes High Sierra special. “It's such an honor to be surrounded by so many amazing and inspiring musicians – both players, songwriters, and everything in between!!,” Lebo stated. “Big thanks to all the greats that joined me during my sets, as well as those that had me on theirs! And thanks to the behind the scenes folks that tirelessly work to make everything run so smoothly for all of us!! This year marked my 19th year in a row that I was fortunate enough to be at this magical festival, and I'm just so moved and grateful for this community of music lovers!! Viva High Sierra!!!!”

Outlaw Country/Americana/roots-rocking singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson returned to High Sierra a much bigger star than when he played there in 2014. His four-piece band headlined Saturday night with a powerful performance on the Grandstand Stage. Off the stage, the Kentucky-born Simpson, who won a Grammy Award for Best Country Album in 2017, was in early 2018 named a Kentucky Colonel, which is the highest honor someone can receive from the governor.

The String Cheese Incident, who first performed at High Sierra in 1997, headlined Thursday’s and Friday’s festivities. The still-thriving group, one of the first so-called “jam bands,” carried out two sets each night, offering a meaty performance on Friday that began with an epic sequence of “Birdland,” the jazz instrumental made famous by Weather Report in the ‘70s that segued into Bill Monroe’s bluegrass-turned-jamgrass “Wheel Hoss,” and then back into “Birdland.” The show ended more than three hours later with a riveting version of “Don’t Let Go,” recorded by scores of artists since Roy Hamilton’s 1958 version, most notably for this crowd, the Jerry Garcia Band.

Performing at High Sierra for the first time in more than a decade, the charismatic and powerful Grace Potter and her more than capable band – though no longer The Nocturnals – delivered an exhilarating set of rock and blues in which she dazzled the crowd on guitar, keyboards, and powerful vocals. She first played the festival in 2005.

San Francisco-based rocker Pamela Parker and her Fantastic Machine, along with New Monsoon’s Jeff Miller performed one of the musical sets on Saturday at Camp Bitchin’ Kitchen, an unofficial yet very real facet of the festival. Each year, the large campsite is host to a massive group meal at which prominent festival musicians sing and play for their supper. Four years after the camp’s “Chef Larry” Bressler and his wife were killed, their loving presence was discernably felt.

Another unscheduled bit of fun came when The Rainbow Girls performed a sweet ‘tweener set late Friday afternoon at the Sierra Nevada Brewery beer booth, between Lebo & Friends’ and Turkuaz’s Grandstand Stage sets.

Adept on the drums and vocals as she was on guitar and vocals, up-and-coming alt-country/roadhouse rocker Margo Price and her band held spellbound a packed crowd at the Big Meadow Stage on Saturday.

With support from guitar powerhouse Scott Pemberton and vocalist/dancer Megan Martinez, Portland, Oregon-based The Quick & Easy Boys’ brand of balls-to-the-wall rock ‘n’ roll wowed the Vaudeville Stage audience on Saturday.

Led at center stage by bass player Erick (Jesus) Coomes, veteran jam band Lettuce, who also played the festival in 2012, 2014, and 2016, mesmerized the main stage on Saturday, with an endless instrumental jamboree of crafty funk, rock, and hip-hop grooves. Lettuce is not to be confused with Lotus, another instrumental outfit that also appeared at High Sierra.

Fruition, and which combines an amalgamation of genres into its rock ‘n’ party essence, and played several times over the weekend, performed an exciting set on the Big Meadow stage on Saturday afternoon, with Mimi Naja, Jay Cobb Anderson, and Kellen Asebroek’s animated stage presence helping turn up the heat.

Led by Brad Barr and Andrew Barr, who you may know from The Slip, The Barr Brothers returned to High Sierra for a compelling Saturday afternoon main stage set of eclectic alt-pop/rock. Though they added horns for their Friday night Big Meadow stage performance, the main-stage band setup was an unusually bare-bones four-piece affair, as experimental-harp player Lisa Iwanycki-Moore was unable to perform at High Sierra due to a scheduling conflict.

New Orleans Suspects, who performed three times over the weekend, delivered a powerful, horn-driven set of Cajun-flavored funk and soul on Saturday afternoon on the Big Meadow stage.

Artist-at-large Lebo led a gang of players for a set of important pieces of music from 1968, officially titled, “Lebo’s High Sierra Ramble: 50 in the Rearview.” Including contributions from George Porter Jr., Scott Pemberton, Chris Jacobs, Steve Adams and Ezra Lipp (ALO/Magic in The Other), Johnny Bones (California Honeydrops), Natalie Cressman, Bo Carper (New Monsoon), Ben and Alex Morrison (Brothers Comatose), and Nat Keefe (Hot Buttered Rum). Crowd-pleasing selections included “Suzie Q” (Creedence Clearwater Revival), “Voodoo Child” (Jimi Hendrix), “The Hawaii Five-O Theme” (The Ventures), “Hold Me Tight” (Johnny Nash), and “(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay” (Otis Redding).

A new body-movement concept, the High Sierra Music Fest Stretch Salon, hosted in the intimate Mineral Building, offered folks the opportunity to do yoga – or not, as yoga mats, etc., were offered but with no instructor. But what was offered were acoustic serenades, which on Friday included Alex and Ben Morrison, flanked by John Craigie and Scott Pemberton.

Turkuaz’s main stage show early Friday evening was a musical and fashion kaleidoscope as the whole band donned pastel-colored outfits rather than just two female vocalists as had been their pattern. The colorful, horn-enhanced party band pleased the large main stage crowd with contemporary powerfunk, soul, and seemingly endless grooves.

Spafford’s kinetic jams inspired and united the audience into vigorous dance at the Big Meadow stage Friday afternoon. This was the improvisational musical conjurers’ first High Sierra appearance.

At the same time, over on the Vaudeville Tent Stage, Ghost Light, featuring classically trained and raised-on-Phish keyboardist Holly Bowling and guitarist Tom Hamilton, who also plays guitar and sings with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead made their High Sierra debut.

The always festive California Honeydrops, who performed on the main stage and elsewhere during the weekend, also performed at a playshop dubbed, “Drinking from the Well,” early Friday evening, in which they shared some of the songs and sounds that were harbingers of the band’s sound.

Led by the talented and inimitable guitarist Mihali Savoulidis, Vermont’s Twiddle delivered fine songs and jamming during a Friday afternoon appearance on the Big Meadow stage. Fiddler Zebulon Bowles from Hot Buttered Rum added some excellent musical flourishes in a special guest role.

And finally, Steve Poltz, the clown prince of festival unorthodoxy, was a common site all over the festival. On the Grandstand Stage on Saturday, his set began as a giant chocolate sculpture was released to the audience to devour, moved through a lot of laughs, and included a lovely support song for his sister who has cancer, a unique version of The Grateful Dead’s “Brokedown Palace,” a duet with Bay Area singer-songwriter Paige Clem, and a song in which he invited the several of the stage crew onstage to participate. Which is to say, it was a typically normal Steve Poltz concert.

Thinking of Jerry Garcia today, on what would've been his 76th birthday. His diverse collection of music , mostly with the Grateful Dead, continues to live on via recordings and live re-interpretations by myriad musicians, celebrating a musical library that is an important part of late-20th century contemporary American music.

Returning to the scenic banks of the American River in Northern California on the last week in September, devotees of jam band/Americana music, nature, surprises, and bohemian goings-on – an environment one might call “Just Exactly Perfect” – will reconvene at the second annual gathering, dubbed the Just Exactly Perfect Festival.

The “Just exactly perfect” phrase, Grateful Dead concertgoers will remember, was frequently voiced over the years by Bob Weir, i.e., “We’re trying to get everything just exactly perfect,” during particularly lengthy between-song tunings. With the production team’s attention to detail and comfort, it became an appropriate moniker for the boutique festival.

Presented by the burgeoning Teie One On Productions, the idyllic festival village is set specifically at the Nugget Campground at Chili Bar on the South Fork of the American River, in a place that was once a former settlement and mining camp. These days, outside of festival weekend, Chili Bar is a popular whitewater rafting locale, deep in the Sierra Nevada foothills, a few miles north of Placerville, California.

Once attendees make their way down the dirt road to the riverside and campground, they will share the weekend with renowned exploratory performers such as Stu Allen & Mars Hotel, Katie & the (California) Kind, Achilles Wheel, Stephen Inglis with David Gans, Joe Craven & the Sometimers, Jerry’s Middle Finger, Jessica Malone Band, Red Dirt Ruckus, and more.

All performers will deliver their own unique interpretive musical masterpieces, while several bands will likely share common ground on the repertoire and stylings of The Grateful Dead and the important mark they made in American music history.

The festival team will adorn the tranquil waterside locale with a fine main stage, picturesque riverside campground, a bounty of craft and food vendors (and craft beer and coffee), and kids’ activities area. The festie site also boasts hot showers and full bathrooms, and a very large campfire and surrounding seating area that are perfect for acoustic “campground jams” that take place after 10 p.m., and go late into the night, when the no-amplified-music rule take over. The historical average temperatures for these early autumn calendar dates are a high of 81 and a low of 58, which is to say, just exactly perfect.

For those who haven’t yet had the pleasure, Stu Allen, the festival headliner whose is a top-notch Grateful Dead tribute specialist, is frequently included in discussions about “Who else could Dead & Company have picked for vocalist/lead guitarist?” Allen has toured with Phil & Friends, Melvin Seal’s JGB, and Dark Star Orchestra, also for about 20 years has led weekly live shows in Berkeley, Calif., that are of local legend. Here, he will perform with his band, Mars Hotel, which includes a revolving roster of prominent musicians.

Katie & the Kind, which include singer/songwriter Katie Skene, along with Barry Sless, John Molo and Pete Sears, who are three core players in Moonalice and the David Nelson Band, are sure to dazzle with their improvisational blues-rock jams.

Achilles Wheel, a band of top players whose psychedlicized dance ‘n’ jam-rock essence is led by two extraordinary musicians, Jonny “Mojo” Flores and Paul Kamm. The band, which continues to gain more and more buzz – and headlining gigs – in the West, promises an excellent balance of well-crafted originals as well as awesome odes to some classic pieces of rock, blues, and more. Flores also leads another JEP Fest act, the Band Beyond Description, which also conjures up its own brand of Grateful Dead songbook interpretations. It’s expected that Danny Eisenberg and Murph Murphy will be part of that ensemble.

Joe Craven, a musician, storyteller, teacher, humanitarian, and more, is one of the most engaging performers once can ever hope to see. As comfortable performing solo and with legends such as David Grisman, Jerry Garcia, and Stephane Grappelli, or leading his own bands, Craven will appear with Joe Craven & the Sometimers, which features excellent hand-picked players along with vocalist Hattie Craven. One can expect to groove to live versions of songs from of their new project, “Garcia Songbook.”

Hawaiian slack-key guitar wizard Stephen Inglis will team up with acoustic singer/songwriter and Grateful Dead scholar David Gans. The two, performing as Fragile Thunder, have turned some heads and raised some eyebrows with their engaging performances, which will likely include live selections from Inglis’s recent musical project, “Cut The Dead Some Slack.”

In advance of the fest, Co-Producers Jennifer Teie and Michelle Urban Mahrt are slated to be live on XM/Sirius Satellite Radio’s Grateful Dead Channel (Ch. 23) during David Gans and Gary Lambert’s “Tales of The Golden Road” program on Sept. 16 (the show airs 1-3 p.m. Pacific Time) to discuss being female festival producers and Dead Heads. 

As of this writing, single-day and three-day camping passes are still available. For tickets and more information, check www.jepfest.com.

Looking ahead, Teie One On Productions may be on the verge of something big in the California foothill region between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. “We are excited to share that planning for the development of an indoor music venue and Eco-Resort in El Dorado County is moving forward,” said Jennifer Teie. “Teie One On Productions is in negotiations to secure a river front property in the Coloma-Lotus Valley. We are actively seeking partner investors passionately supportive of cultivating live music experiences. Those interested in learning more may visit www.theriverrocksresort.com.”

Exemplifying more stateliness and grace than ever while still demonstrating the raucousness and instrumental power to bust open a barn door, Hot Tuna with Steve Kimock in tow wonderfully raged for three hours in Sacramento on September 4. The show, presented along with the rest of the current tour as “Electric Hot Tuna,” personified their status as one of the all-time best full-throttle power-blues/rock trios to have ever plugged in.

Hot Tuna mainstays Jorma Kaukonen (guitars/vocals) and Jack Casady (bass) are forever linked with the Jefferson Airplane, the seminal psychedelic San Francisco band for which they were core members from 1965 to 1972. But on its own Hot Tuna has been performing for 50 years. The scholarly website Tunabase lists Hot Tuna’s first live show as taking place on October 13, 1968, at Marx Meadow, Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco. The poster for the show proclaimed, “Everyone must bring 75 cents or a dollar so we can pay expenses.”

Now, as then, Hot Tuna could appear as a blow-your-hair back electric entity and other times as an acoustic group that would more delicately feature Kaukonen’s finger picking prowess. Indeed, Hot Tuna’s first two albums were a live acoustic record in 1970 followed by a live electric disc in 1971. As many of the largely over-40 crowd came in with fond remembrances of electric Hot Tuna marathon shows from the band’s and the audience’s formative years, present-day Hot Tuna ably updated those memories as the current band was arguably as fine a version as ever offered.

While mostly leaning on the “old stuff,” the material did span Hot Tuna’s long tenure, including many of those blues-based power jam offerings that defined them in the 1970s:  opener “I See the Light” as well as “I Can’t Be Satisfied,” “Watch the North Wind Rise,” and the encore of “Rock Me Baby,” as well as rocking, finger-picking versions of  more delicate old songs often played in acoustic fashion, such as “That’ll Never Happen No More” and “Hesitation Blues.” Kaukonen also bestowed on the audience some of his latter-day songs with a seasoned, rear-view mirror on life point of view, including the title track of his 2015 project, “Ain’t In No Hurry.”

Kaukonen, now 77, is most prominently renowned for his dexterous guitar (and vocal) interpretations of classic country blues and gospel musicians such as Rev. Gary Davis, Son House, and Jelly Roll Morton. However, Kaukonen is also a prolific songwriter, owner/operator of the Fur Peace Ranch guitar camp, and occasional Pho Peace Restaurant proprietor. His command of all sorts of blues/rock guitar melodies and instrumental passages were flawless throughout the night, displaying the maturity of an accomplished maestro combined with a guy who still likes to rock out on the guitar.

Casady’s melodic bassline delivery and style was extraordinary and his song-starting solos on “Bowlegged Woman, Knock Kneed Man,” which ended the first set, and “Funky #7,” which ended the second set as a 17-minute monster, were particularly grand. Prominent in the mix, his booming yet warm-toned bass was heard loud and clear throughout. The 74-year-old Casady’s strumming style was as always, an exercise in barely tickling the strings with the tips of his fingers. And yet those delicate finger movements filled the theater, but in a way that didn’t bring fatigue to one’s ears.

Before “Watch the North Wind Rise,” a fan yelled up, “I love you Jack,” to which Jack replied in a Barney Rubble-reminiscent voice, “I love you too, man.” A visibly amused Kaukonen chimed in, “Wait till you get to know him,” which drew lots of laughs, and he followed after a pause, “You’ll love him even more,” which drew a lot of "Awws.”

The show was a two-set affair, with Kimock joining the band on alternative lead and console steel guitars for the second half of both sets. A keen accompanying player who is revered and respected in improv/jam-band circles and with enormous aptitude to adapt to whatever type of music is being played, Kimock added several lead passages of astral splendor. On some occasions, Kimock would deliver sharp, heavy-on-the-high-notes guitar runs while Kaukonen countered with lower-register melodic phrasings. Other times, Kimock and Casady would get close and play off each other as Kaukonen stepped back to observe, nodding and smiling in approval. Clearly respectful of Kimock’s range of guitar capabilities and places he could take the music, Kaukonen seemed pleased to let Kimock take all the time he wanted on each jam.

It would be criminal to leave out mention of drummer Justin Guip, who has the perfect rock ‘n’ rhythm energy and prowess for Hot Tuna and has been playing with Hot Tuna electric for about four years. Guip’s beats were right on all night, prominent and purposeful yet never overpowering the rest of the trio/foursome. Following a long line of Hot Tuna standout drummers, including Joey Covington, Sammy Piazza, Bob Steeler, Harvey Sorgen, Erik Diaz, and Skoota Warner, Guip is arguably the ideal Hot Tuna drummer.

With the release of Kaukonen’s autobiography, “Been So Long: My Life and Music” coming just one week before the show (he performed “Been So Long” to open the second set, in fact), Kaukonen presided over a book signing after the show.

Set One: I See the Light, Ain't in No Hurry, I Wish You Would, Ode to Billy Dean, Second Chances, Trial By Fire, Sea Child, Wolves and Lambs, I Can't Be Satisfied, Bowlegged Woman, and Knocked Kneed Man.

Set Two: Been So Long, That'll Never Happen No More, Roads and Roads, Watch the North Wind Rise, Sleep Song, In the Kingdom, Hesitation Blues, Walkin' Blues, Flying in the Face of Mr. Blue, Funky #7 Encore: Rock Me Baby

It was splendor on the mountain on September 8, when local musician Bob Weir offered a set of his own and appeared for onstage musical cameos with Grace Potter as well as headliner Herbie Hancock at the fourth annual Sound Summit, atop Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County, California. The eight-hour affair at the 4,000-capacity Mountain Theatre included an unusually diverse set of acts, from an acoustic duo to contemporary R&B, alt-country, Grateful Dead music, rock, and open-ended jazz.

Attendees who rolled up the steep, switchback-filled Panoramic Highway and Ridgecrest Boulevard from Mill Valley below were greeted with breathtaking views, brilliant sunshine, and a whole host of musicians who were all there in support of Mt. Tamalpais State Park as coordinated by the Roots & Branches Conservancy. Numbers for this year’s daylong festival are not yet calculated, but the Conservancy raised, via Sound Summit, a total of $175,000 in 2015-2017.

Herbie Hancock, an emissary of experimental jazz-funk keyboardist for the past 50-plus years, was part of Miles Davis’ band in the early 1960s. The 14-time Grammy Award winner “is arguably the most influential practitioner of modern jazz piano since Thelonious Monk,” according to National Public Radio’s “Jazz Profiles” show.

Now 78, Hancock led a powerful four-piece combo in a sequence of sophisticated compositions. Each of the quartet’s players shined bright and were given the room to do so. Hancock commanded on a Fazioli grand piano and Kronos keyboards. Bass player James Genus, he of current “Saturday Night Live” band fame, delivered several funk ‘n’ jazz lead passages. Terrace Martin, who has produced records for countless stars, including Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 project, “Damn,” was significant to the Hancock band sound, on saxophone, keyboards, and vocoder, a kind of a talking synthesizer. And drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, whose stage and studio work has found him working alongside such varied artists as Frank Zappa, Sting, and Joni Mitchell, was a fine backbone to the open-ended melodious proceedings.

Among the brilliant, colorful music that Hancock painted was “Actual Proof” and the opener, “Overture,” the latter of which was an innovative string of mind-altering, haunting yet beautiful passages that could’ve been a soundtrack to a mystery movie. He ended the set with an epic version of the funky “Chameleon.”

Deadheads were buoyed, as halfway through “Chameleon,” Hancock said, “I’m going to bring up a guest; a friend; friendly face; friendly sound; you’ve heard it – for every night is different, every tune that’s done; every time it’s new, Bob Weir!” Weir did a fine job adding prominent and meaningful twangy guitar chops on the frenetic “Chameleon,” which ended the set. With Hancock, by then out front playing his shoulder synth “keytar,” he and Weir made an unlikely featured duo.  Weir took the occasion seriously, delivering serious musical statements as he listened, and then immersed himself in the jazz-band’s sound.

Grace Potter and her band were the penultimate act on this day, and their impressive collective musical output, a compelling mix of rock, blues, and country matched Potter’s exuberance, confidence, and captivating energy. Equally enthralling on voice, guitar and keyboards, Potter began with the sultry “Medicine” – enticing the crowd with the oft-repeated lyric, “I got the medicine that everybody wants.” Her set included “Empty Heart,” “Ah Mary,” “Instigators,” “Nothing But the Water,” “The Lion The Beast The Beat,” “Paris (Ooh La La),” and a powerful piece of Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady.”  At one point, Potter stopped and said, “Everybody told me that when I get here <onstage> to turn around.” She paused to look behind her at the San Francisco Bay and skyline and said, simply, “Holy shit!” She then talked about what a splendor it would be to be at such a precipice in the middle of the night and look at the sky before starting into “Stars.”

In the middle of the set, Potter invited Weir onstage for a duet on The Grateful Dead’s timeless “Friend of the Devil.” While the backing back laid down a fine, country-tinged arrangement, Weir did work on acoustic guitar and voice, while Potter beamed while singing and playing an acoustic guitar. Interestingly, the duo’s 2015 performance of the same song at the Dear Jerry concert in Maryland appears on “The Music Of Jerry Garcia,” project, on which Potter accompanies Weir on a Wurlitzer organ. Goes to show, good musicians are willing to take a chance and try something new. It was a heck of a day for Potter, who posted to Facebook later that night, “Here we are playing ‘Friend of the Devil’ in the glorious sun with Bob Weir; also, my sis delivered her baby boy moments before I hit the stage! Thanks, universe.”

Preceding Potter, Weir, sporting a nice Western hat, laid out a solid set with long-time bass accompanist Robin Sylvester on stand-up bass. The performance was supposed to be a trio, with drummer Jay Lane, as the first (and only?) show by the so-called Bobby & the Chew Toys, a name-play on Weir’s band RatDog, which featured Sylvester and Lane. For the body of Weir’s set, the drum set remained idle, as Weir explained that Lane was caught in traffic.

But Weir did just fine, running through a set of Weir standards. The first three, delivered as a solo artist, were Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” The Grateful Dead’s “Loose Lucy,” and Little Feat’s “Easy to Slip.” To counter the myriad song requests coming from the crowd, Weir then deadpanned, “We’ll get to ‘Free Bird,’ ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic,’ and all your favorites.” Next, Sylvester was added for offerings of the traditional “Peggy O” (feel free to research the song’s origin as “The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie,”) and Weir’s recent “Only a River.” It can be tempting to take for granted Weir’s performances, as Deadheads have heard these songs before, but his guitar prowess has undeniably expanded and improved over the past several years. He was visibly working hard, on several axes, coaxing ever-new tones and intonations from them.

Then, as the duo dug in for “Not Fade Away,” a song The Grateful Dead adopted 50 years ago from Buddy Holly, the crowd in the steeply terraced amphitheater watched Lane appear on the scene, sprinting in from stage left, down the long walkway, climbing the steps to the stage, hopping behind the drums and joining right in to boost the song into its proper rock ‘n’ roll treatment. So, we had about 6 minutes of Bob & the Chew Toys. The friendly local crowd visibly laughed off and enjoyed the whole thing, everyone giving Lane the benefit of the doubt due to his long association with both Weir and the overall Bay Area music scene.

Up and coming alt-country singer/player/songwriter Nikki Lane and her band (lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums) preceded Weir’s set. Wearing a vintage Grateful Dead T-shirt given to her by Sirius/XM Radio’s Rob Bleetsein before the show, and strumming an acoustic guitar, the affable Lane stated more than once her appreciation at being there. Her set included selections from her 2017 release, “Walk of Shame,” including the closer, the crowd-pleasing county-rocker, “Jackpot.”

Led by the charismatic and multitalented Ziek McCarter, San Francisco-based Con Brio appeared onstage at noon. The band of seven, including a fine saxophone/trumpet horn section, made lots of new fans with their energetic mix of soul, funk, and jam-rock. With a little bit of James Brown and a little bit of Sly Stone in his DNA, McCarter turned a lot of heads and seemingly created a lot of new fans.

Opening the proceedings was a pleasant set by Meels, aka Amelia Einhorn, a local female high school senior indie-pop singer/songwriter who strummed acoustic guitar and sang, flanked by a bass player. Before, “Time to Rise,” Meels said, “This next one is dedicated to victims of gun violence. We really need to make a change.”

Sound Summit is Roots & Branches flagship project, Roots & Branches’ mission, according to its website, “is the conservation of natural resources, both physical and cultural. The broad arc of those efforts ranges from our work on Mount Tam and related environmental and educational projects to the preservation and evolution of artistic, cultural traditions – musical, visual, narrative, and beyond. Wherever possible, we aim to create intersections between the environment, education, and the arts to their mutual benefit.” For more information visit https://roots-and-branches.networkforgood.com.

On his birthday, Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir along with the so-called Wolf Brothers set the foundation for what’s in store on their inaugural cross-country tour. And while the songs performed in Reno, Nevada’s, Grand Sierra Resort’s Grand Theatre on Oct. 16 were quite familiar to those with an affinity to Grateful Dead music, the new touring outfit brought together a refreshing new trio that includes longtime collaborator Jay Lane on drums, and acclaimed record executive Don Was on stand-up bass.

Weir deserves big-time kudos for continuing to work hard, improving still on his guitar astuteness, and reinterpreting songs in the Grateful Dead songbook in interesting and high-quality ways – rather than just chucking up the same old stuff done in the same old manner. Well-rehearsed and cohesive throughout the night, the band ran through two sets of mostly mid-tempo offerings along with a few ballads and a few others that broke through to fast-paced psychedelic rockers. Another admirable facet to the new band is that the trio’s second show of the tour, in Los Angeles, offered a completely different setlist, with nary one repeated song.

There were a few little opening-night imperfections along the way, like Weir stopping and restarting “China Cat” after about 30 seconds upon realizing he wasn’t playing the right guitar for the job. In all though, the trio was great, and Weir was the consummate player in terms of effort and wide-ranging output of voice, guitars, and spirit. Weir played all four guitars he had laid out for himself, coaxing fine tones out of one acoustic and three electric guitars. He sometimes even changed from acoustic to electric during the same song. The sound quality was great, though a little less prominent in the upper rows of the 3,000-capacity venue. The theater was about three-quarters full, but Reno is not known as a Deadhead hot spot, and it was a Tuesday night. The audience reacted most robustly to big Grateful Dead Weir-sung staples as “Me & My Uncle,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” and “Music Never Stopped.”

All business onstage, Weir did not react to the dozen or so fans up front and center who wore tall birthday hats at the start of the show, nor did he react to several lusty cries of “Happy birthday,” from all over the room. At the conclusion of the first set though, Weir did smile while taking in the commemoration of his birthday, as his wife, Natasha, brought out a cake that brought a wry smile from the now-71-year-old musical icon as the crowd sang, “Happy birthday, dear Bobby.”

Fronting a trio in which the other two members’ duties are all on the rhythm and bottom end is a big job, and Weir excelled in his role, providing all lead guitar and rhythm guitar work as well as all the vocals. Lane did offer a few backup vocal bits, including “I just jumped the watchman…” and the “Gotta get to Tulsa…” passages on show-opener “Jack Straw.”

Don Was’ presence in this trio is a big deal. Perhaps many Deadheads aren’t aware, but the man is a pillar of accomplishment in the world of record production over the past 30 years, on projects by such artists as Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Rob Wasserman, The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Ringo Starr, B.B, King, Roy Orbison, John Mayer, Elton John, etc. He has been nominated for 11 Grammy Awards, winning four, including Producer of the Year in 1994. All this comes on top of his activities as co-founder of the Detroit-based Was (Not Was) rock/fund band that scored hits with “Walk the Dinosaur” and “Spy in the House of Love,” both Billboard Top 20 pop singles in the late 1980s. Weir and the Wolf Brothers’ show included no such revival of those songs. But Was excelled in delivering intricate, dynamic, but never overpowering funky, jazzy accompaniments on the stand-up bass. There was a voice mic set up for him though he did not use it on this night.

Lane was in-step on drums all night, alternating between delivering soft and bold work, depending on the mood of the song. His and Weir’s synchronicity was not a surprise, as the two have played together for more than 20 years, most notably with Furthur & RatDog.

Check out more photos from the show.

Set I Jack Straw, Cassidy, Me and My Uncle, Only a River, She Belongs To Me, Ashes and Glass -> Don’t Let Go -> Ashes and Glass.

Set II Peggy-O, Me and Bobby McGee, Bird Song >Corrina, The Music Never Stopped > Shakey Ground (The Temptations song) > The Music Never Stopped, A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider. E – Touch Of Grey

The sad passing on October 12 of Andy Goessling, founding member of Railroad Earth, the ongoing host band for the Hangtown Music Festival (Oct. 25-28), was a unifying thread at this year’s fest, prompting outspoken love, respect, and admiration. In the end, the shared loss sparked a like-minded cause for life celebration and a shared process of moving forward amid a backdrop of fabulous music, Halloween costumes, and community.

Railroad Earth frontman Todd Sheaffer on Thursday night preceded the band’s first set of this, the eighth annual festival, by greeting the crowd and acknowledging the band’s loss. “We hope you have a wonderful time. We’re here without our brother Andy Goessling,” he said “It’s gonna be tough but thank you all for being here. Enjoy the music and enjoy the friendships, and have a wonderful Hangtown Ball.”

In addition to Railroad Earth, which performed on three of the festival’s four evenings, headlining performers included The Claypool Lennon Delirium, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Trampled By Turtles, The Infamous Stringdusters, Melvin Seals & JGB, Ghost Light, and Keller Williams.

Outfitted in an autumn splendor of mild Sierra Nevada foothills weather, colorful changing leaves, and decorative Halloween-related embellishments placed all around the campgrounds and performance areas by staff and attendees, the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville, California, provided a beautiful “costumed” location. High-quality food and artisan/craft vendors outlined several fairground areas. Other activities included a Kids Zone, a gazebo-covered memorial space to pay tribute to Goessling, Sunday morning yoga with Tim Carbone, and pumpkin carving that took place in the Zen Garden area, while the Achilles Wheel Trio – and friends - regaled the kids and their accompanying grown-ups with classic folk songs.

Performances were offered in alternating fashion on two stages, which was a nice process that enabled festivalgoers to catch every act if they so chose. The main, El Dorado Stage performances that ranged from 75 minutes to two hours were separated by 45-minute performances at the intimate Gallows Stage, which offered a nicely sloped grassy spectator (and dancing) area. Late-night shows took place indoors in a large fairground building dubbed “Hangin’ Hall,” with shows going till almost 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, by bands that also played during conventional hours.

As they have since the beginning, Railroad Earth played the role of house band, with the rootsy, folky, bluegrass outfit performing three headlining performances (without repeating a song) on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The band sported different costumes nightly and weaved songs, jigs, and jams that prompted ubiquitous head-nodding and waves of freeform dance. On Saturday, the band delivered “Hangtown Ball,” their location-fitting ode to lawbreakers whose fates ended with their heads in a noose. The small town of Placerville was once named Hangtown during the Gold Rush era.

An emotional moment, easily the weekend’s most poignant came before Railroad Earth’s headlining set on Saturday. Joe Craven, whose musical pedigree includes a stint with Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, as well as decades of performing on the fiddle, mandolin, and any percussion instrument one can think of, and a former Hangtown weekend emcee, appeared unannounced onstage to read a lovely self-written tribute to Goessling that also served as a band introduction. The six-minute statement included the following:

“As Tabitha Clancy put it, ‘One of our own has traded his ticket for a seat on the locomotive ghost.’ These are some words dedicated to Andy Goessling. Inside of Andy’s cupboard holds pieces of wondrous sinful pleasure. The old, the odd, the antique <musical instruments> he would seek. … Musical expression at night and a labor of curiosity by day. He was an orphanage for the homeless, often historical, musical instruments. Often deemed obsolete, broken, or unloved. It was fun; for when you could play an instrument like Andy, why only have one? And I can still hear him say that ‘I got on the bus in fourth grade with my clarinet and I never got off.’ All of this music, and Railroad Earth was, and is, Andy. In celebration of all the Hangtown Nation, common ground of peace, dignity, intelligence compassion – and some really great costumes. They are the pirate hosts of the grand order of hobo … This is Railroad Earth!!”

Next, a costumed Railroad Earth performed a compelling set amid the glow from a row of freshly carved jack-o'-lanterns created earlier in the day by festivalgoers and set at the edge of the main stage. Craven returned late in the set to lend service on the fiddle and vocals on “Fisherman’s Blues” as well as the unlikely “What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor.” Other players joining in with the band over the weekend include Hot Buttered Rum’s Erik Yates on banjo and flute, and Lindsay Pruett on violin (Thursday) and Infamous Stringdusters’ Andy Falco on guitar and Chris Pandolfi on banjo (Sunday).

Trampled by Turtles appeared immediately before Railroad Earth on Saturday night, kicking out a stimulating set of fast, sometimes frenetically paced bluegrass material. Led by Dave Simonett (guitar/lead vocals), the veteran Minnesota-based string ensemble leaned heavily on their new album, performing nine of 12 tracks from their current release, “Life is Good on the Open Road.” The six-piece (mandolin, fiddle, two guitars, banjo, double bass) performed 20 songs in all, which unlike many jam bands, clocked in at between three and five minutes each.

Bandleader Karl Denson and his nine-piece Tiny Universe left the audience in awe with an “Eat a Bunch of Peaches” set that consisted of anthemic Allman Brothers Band songs, as epic and fabulous as those originally dished out on the Allman Brothers’ early 1970’s works, “Eat a Peach” and “Live at the Fillmore East.”  DJ Williams and Seth Freeman were fabulous reinterpreting Duane Allman’s and Dickey Betts dual lead guitar parts. The set included a couple of songs from later in the Allman Brothers’ career, but most of the performance was dedicated to the band’s big, old classics, including an astounding closing sequence of “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More,” “One Way Out,” “Whipping Post,” and “Jessica.”

Prior to Denson and company’s performance, The Infamous Stringdusters serenaded the audience with an awesome set of contemporary bluegrass music. Led by Andy Hall’s supreme dobro work, The Stringdusters, who captured the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album for “Laws of Gravity” (which tied with Rhonda Vincent And The Rage’s album for a share of the award), output a sound akin to the old bluegrass masters with a discernable modern-day jam band essence.

The Stringdusters performed “Vertigo,” “Let Me know,” and “This Ol’ Building” from “Laws of Gravity,” and their set also included a pairing of songs that were associated with The Grateful Dead, though neither were actually “Grateful Dead songs.” A sweet version of “The Hobo Song,” a Jack Bonus-penned dirge that appeared on the venerable “Old & In The Way,” on which Jerry Garcia was a feature player, segued into an amazing hootenanny version of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” which was part of The Grateful Dead canon for decades.

Friday night’s much-anticipated headliner, the Claypool-Lennon Delirium, gave most attendees on hand their first glimpse of a live performance by a Lennon. Playing in almost total darkness, fans s. But the duo, accompanied by Mark “Money Mark” Ramos Nishita (Beastie Boys) on keyboards and Paul Baldi (Cake) on drums put forth a fascinating and compelling sequence of music that spotlighted Claypool’s bold and mischievous bass and Lennon’s Beatles-reminiscent voice and guitar. The trio performed several originals and tackled ambitious pieces of music from the way back machine, including a jaw-dropping opener of Pink Floyd’s, Syd Barrett-era “Astronomy Domine,” a full-force version of King Crimson’s classic, “Court of the Crimson King,” and The Who’s amusing, bass-laden “Boris The Spider.” The set ended with a psychedelic-fitting cover of The Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows,” penned mostly by Sean Lennon’s father, John. The band’s second album is due in February.

In the penultimate headlining set on Saturday Lukas Nelson and his band, Promise of the Real, returned to the scene that last year seemed to create the fest’s biggest buzz. This year’s performance of blues, rock, and ballads again visibly thrilled the audience, including first-timers as well as those who’d previously experienced his show. Still not quite 30, Nelson, an excellent songwriter, and lead guitarist, long ago established himself a compelling performer unchained to the fame and country music of his father, Willie. And Nelson’s stock rose sharply higher in 2018 thanks to his work with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga in the remake of “A Star is Born.” Nelson co-wrote several songs on the movie soundtrack and appeared as a musician in the film. At Hangtown, Nelson’s wide-ranging set included popular POTR tunes, “Find Yourself,” and “Fool Me Once,” a solo acoustic version of “Just Outside of Austin” (a video for which he recently recorded with his dad, Willie), rocker “Something Real,” a passionate version of Tom Petty’s “Breakdown,” “Forget About Georgia,” (an alternative to his father’s “Georgia on My Mind”), and Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”

Preceding Lukas and his team were Melvin Seals & JGB. From its beginning in the early 1970s, the Jerry Garcia Band, a definite departure from The Grateful Dead, exhibited multidimensional material, bringing crafty and jam-filled arrangements to a bevy of Motown, reggae, rock, ballads, and other contemporary music classics to the stage. In 1980 Melvin Seals joined the band and meshed perfectly with a heavy, swirling, Hammond B-3 organ that was seamlessly interlaced with Garcia’s improvisational stretches. More than 35 years later, and 23 years after Garcia’s passing, Seals is still at it, relying on the vast catalog of material that Garcia delivered from the stage, keeping the band’s flame burning brightly with a relevance that doesn’t feel like a contrived imitation.

Seals, along with the current lineup of Zach Nugent (guitar and vocals), John-Paul McLean (bass), Peter Lavezzoli (drums),  Sunshine Becker (vocals), and Lady Chi (vocals), presented a crowd-pleasing performance of songs from the original Jerry Garcia Band’s live repertoire, including “Cats Under The Stars,” “The Harder They Come,” “Run For The Roses,” “Tore Up Over You,” “Dear Prudence,” “Sisters & Brothers” and “Throw Out The Lifeline.” The current lineup also includes pieces of music that The Grateful Dead used to perform, including on this night, “Eyes of the World” and “Dancing in the Street.”

Billy Strings, dubbed “one of the Top Ten New Country Artists to Know in 2017” by “Rolling Stone,” dished out a well-received set late afternoon on Friday. The Michigan native and his bluegrass band performed a few originals along with plenty of covers including opener “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy” (New Riders of the Purple Sage), “Along the Road” (Dan Fogelberg), “Train 45” (Ralph Stanley), “China Doll” (The Grateful Dead), “This Old Home Place” and “Ernest T. Grass” (both by The Dillards), and closer “Little Maggie” (Bill Monroe). John Stickley, who performed with his trio earlier in the day, performed with Strings during the latter part of the set.

Popular northern California jammers Achilles Wheel performed early on Friday and then appeared as a trio Saturday afternoon in the Zen Garden area, accompanying pumpkin carvers of all ages. There, Jonny “Mojo” Flores (mandolin/vocals), Paul Kamm (guitar/vocals), and Shelby Snow (bass) played an unplugged and seated set of old-timey numbers, and musical friends joined in as well including Ilan Macadam-Somer (cello), Paige Clem (vocals)  and Dave Welsh (percussion).

Hailing from Lake Tahoe, Calif., Hangtown festival staple Dead Winter Carpenters, fronted by the charismatic duo of Jenni Charles (fiddle, vocals) and Jesse Dunn (guitar/vocals) delivered a humdinger of a joyous, fiddle-infused package of bluegrass, classic country, and Americana offerings on the main stage Saturday afternoon.

Led by Brian Jay (lead vocals/guitar) and Mayteana Morales (percussion/vocals), Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Pimps of Joytime, with a new lineup that also included Davis Bailis (bass),Takuya Nakamura (keyboards), and Anthony Cole (drums), performed a happy-danceable set of funk ‘n’ groove ‘n’ jazz sounds, including “Keep That Music Playin’,” “Freedom Dancer,” and “Body Party.”

Gallows Stage performances through the weekend included fun and varied sets by such impressive acts as Sepiatonic, Roy Artis II and The Truth, Achilles Wheel, Kung Fu (who also played the main stage at midday on Sunday), Midtown Social, Jelly Bread, Five Alarm Funk, and Old Salt Union. Grateful Web was not on site on Sunday, when in addition to Railroad Earth, Ghost Light and Keller Williams “PettyGrass” featuring the Hillbenders, performed reportedly notable main-stage sets.

Big Fun Circus, which did double-duty as Kids Zone staff and stilt-walker performance artists, added another festival dimension. Led by the group’s circus artist “Avatar of JOY,” Meghan O’Brien, the group hosted an imaginative Kids Zone where arts and crafts, giant bubble-making, a giant parachute, and face-painting activities ruled the day, as well as took part in a costumed Stilt-Walking Pirate Battle.

Railroad Earth setlists (Thanks to Stacy Neilson Kalstrom)

Thursday, October 25, Hangin' Hall: Old Dangerfield, Happy Song, Head, RV, Farewell to Isinglass -->
The Hunting Song -->Raven's Child, When the Sun Gets in Your Blood, Bread, and Water, Birds of America (*) --> Like a Buddha (*), Grandfather Mountain, Elko. Encore: Wayfaring Stranger. (w/Erik Yates on banjo and flute throughout, (*) w/Lindsay Pruett on violin.)

Saturday, October 27, El Dorado Stage: Walk Beside Me, Lordy Lordy, Bird in a House, Blazin' a Trail, Potter's Field -->Lone Croft Farewell, Hangtown Ball -->12 Wolves, Captain Nowhere, (*) Drunken Sailor, (*) Fisherman's Blues, The Berkeley Flash -->Mighty River. Encore: All That's Dead May Live Again. ( (*) w/Joe Craven on violin and vocals.)

Sunday, October 28, 2018, El Dorado Stage: Saddle of the Sun --> (*) Seven Story Mountain, (*) Dandelion Wine, Only by the Light -->Addin' My Voice -->Old Man and the Land, Butterfly and the Tree, Mourning Flies, The Jupiter and the 119, (**) Chasin' a Rainbow. Encore: (**) Give That Boy a Hand. ( (*) w/Andy Falco on acoustic guitar; (**) w/Chris Pandolfi on banjo.)

Lukas Nelson, whose career profile continues to broaden and flourish, most recently for his work in the remake of “A Star is Born,” doubled down on his commitment to the Music Heals International (MHI) organization. On November 19, he again headlined a dynamic, diverse, and musically proficient lineup of music in support of MHI’s Haitian music-in-schools program at the intimate Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, Calif. Nelson has for several years been a prime MHI advocate and has performed at several of its benefit events.

The Sweetwater event was hosted by MHI Executive Director Sara Wasserman, who founded the philanthropic organization following an earthquake in January 2010 that severely damaged Delmas, an urban center within the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. After the show, Wasserman gave thanks all around. “The show was brilliant, and the combination of musicians together was amazing! We are so grateful for the ongoing support of everyone!” she said via email.

Following the screening of a short movie that summarized the work and vision of MHI, the duo of Ben and Alex Morrison, the real-life brothers of The Brothers Comatose, opened the proceedings. The acoustic duo, with Ben on guitar, Alex on banjo, and both sharing vocal duties, regaled the crowd with a couple of good-timey Brothers Comatose songs, “Tops of the Trees” and “Angeline.”

Three-quarters of ALO – Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (acoustic, electric, and lap-steel guitars, and vocals), Steve Adams (bass and vocals), and Ezra Lipp (drums), entered to form a very talented rootsy Americana quintet. This ensemble performed a fun array of varied material, including ALO’s “Try,” as well as reverential versions of  “25 Miles“ (Edwin Starr, 1969), “For What It’s Worth” (Buffalo Springfield, 1966), and closed with a rousing “Sitting on Top of the World” (Mississippi Sheiks, 1930 and countless others since), with almost everyone taking a verse.

Paul Beaubrun was up next, and the charismatic Haitian native, who has been a performer since 2006, two years after fleeing the politically volatile Haiti and moving to New York to live with his aunt, appeared as a solo artist without his band, Zing Experience. Performing in the traditional Haitian “mizik rasin” blues-roots style with a hint of reggae, Beaubrun created a lot of new fans while dishing out a compelling set of passionate acoustic selections that conveyed his socially conscious sensibilities.

Pieces of music included “Rise Up” and “Why Don’t You Love Me” from his 2018 release, “Ayibobo,” and he closed his set with a song that included Lebo, Adams, and Lipp. Though he did perform at The Sweetwater in an MHI “From California To Haiti” event in October 2017, Beaubrun, the son of two members of the renowned veteran Haitian band Boukman Eksperyans, was heretofore unknown to many in the house.

Following an auction that brought more than $15,000 from the sale of a Willie Nelson-signed Martin guitar, two Martin guitars signed by all the evening’s performers, and other items, the Lukas Nelson portion of the evening commenced. Performing with only the cajón, tambourine, and drum accompaniment of Tony LoGerfo from Nelson’s Promise of the Real band, Nelson visibly dazzled the crowd in his typical fashion, showcasing his myriad guitar, vocal, and songwriting talents on poignant ballads and captivating blues numbers.

Selections in the approximately 45-minute set included “Entirely Different Stars,” followed by several tunes from the current, self-titled “Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real” – “Die Alone,” “Four Letter Word,” “Fool Me Once,” “Forget About Georgia,” “Carolina,” and “Just Outside of Austin.” Nelson tried to launch into David Bowie’s “Life on Mars” before abandoning after three attempts, saying, “There’s a fuckin’ chord there that I play on piano, and I don’t have a piano here… I can’t not do Bowie justice, so I’m just gonna not do it, you’ll have to see us with the whole band when it’s orchestrated." He and LoGerfo finished up with  “Turn off the News,” “Find Yourself,” “Before You Accuse Me” (Bo Diddley, 1957; Eric Clapton, 1989), and “Set Me Down on a Cloud.”

“Turn Off the News,” particularly resonated with the crowd, with its lyrics, “Turn off the news and raise the kids; Give them somethin' to believe in; Teach them now to be good people; Give them hope that they can see; Turn off the news and build a garden with me.”

The rest of the evening’s musicians plus an unannounced appearance by Norman Greenbaum and partner Bonita Kay Capps, and Loren Rowan (backup vocals) then inhabited the stage for a big, party version of Greenbaum’s enduring hit, “Spirit in the Sky.”

The big-band set, which moved on with Nelson and LoGerfo, and Lebo, Adams, and Lipp covered some classic ground with “Call Me the Breeze” (JJ Cale – 1972; Lynyrd Skynyrd – 1974), and “Dawganova” (David Grisman instrumental – 1995). With Beaubrun and the brothers Morrison summoned back to the stage, the now-eight-piece conquered “Bad Moon Rising" (Creedence Clearwater Revival – 1969), a Beaubrun tune, “Stir It Up” (Bob Marley & the Wailers –1967), and “Down By the River” (Neil Young & Crazy Horse –1969). The finale, with all musicians back onstage, was a beautiful version, in verse and creative grooving jams, of Sting’s “Fragile.”

Operating under a core notion that “We believe music education is a transformative tool that strengthens children and communities,” MHI hosts children’s music programs in Haiti that include Composing Futures, Empowering Children with Disabilities, and Building Leaders and Community. Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per-capita income of $1,880 according to the International Monetary Fund, (compared to $62,500 in the United States).

Fans and friends of the New Riders of the Purple Sage (NRPS) and their extended family of associated music projects gathered at a “A Riders Rockin’ Awards Celebration” in San Rafael, California, on November 28 to help celebrate the lives of venerable musicians David Nelson and Buddy Cage.

And what musical lives they’ve been! Nelson and Cage, both synonymous with many decades of NRPS’ psychedelicized countrified stylings, have entertained concert audiences and home listeners with many, many other bands – Nelson with the David Nelson Band, as well as Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band, The Good Old Boys, Dead Ringers, Al Rapone & the Zydeco Express, The Papermill Creek Rounders, and way back in the early 1960s with the Wildwood Boys bluegrass band alongside Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter. Cage, in addition to his storied career with the NRPS, has delivered his trademark pedal steel guitar articulations with Great Speckled Bird, Stir Fried, Solar Circus, The Brooklyn Cowboys, Terry & the Pirates, and on substantial studio work with Bob Dylan and Anne Murray.

The evening, for which the Terrapin Crossroads Grate Room was the ideal venue, was broken in two sections, one for table seating for those who donated to reserve combined dinner/show tickets, while the rest of the room was fully occupied by traditional general admission ticketholders. At the outset of the evening, following dinner, Nelson (now 75) and Cage (71) each received an attractive plaque with an inlaid New Riders of the Purple Sage logo and gold-color-plated message: “Lifetime Achievement Award: Presented to David Nelson <or> Buddy Cage – In appreciation of your outstanding contributions and performances throughout the years.”

The event was highlighted by a revved-up arrangement of David Nelson & Friends, and Edge of the West, each bulging at the seams with special guests. Nelson’s closing set, which expanded to as many as 11 players at one point, included Mike Falzarano (guitar, vocals, NRPS/Hot Tuna, more), Johnny Markowski (drums, vocals, NRPS/Stir Friend, more), Bill Laymon (bass, vocals, David Nelson Band/NRPS/Edge of the West, more), Pat Campbell (bass/vocals, David Nelson Band/NRPS/Good Old Boys/Big Joe Turner, more), Mark Karan (guitar, vocals, RatDog/The Other Ones, more), Jason Crosby (violin, Phil Lesh/Robert Randolph/Susan Tedeschi, more), Greg Anton (drums, Zero/Rock Collection, more), Scott Guberman (keyboards, Phil Lesh/Vince Welnick Band, more), Jan London (guitar, Stir Fried/Vassar Clements, more), Sikiru Adepoju (talking drum, Baba Olatunji/Mickey Hart, more), Joanne Lediger (vocals, Stir Fried/McMule, more), David Gans (guitar, vocals, Fragile Thunder/Sycamore Slough String Band/Rubber Souldiers, more), Tom Hanway (banjo, Tony Trischka/Sam Bush/Big Apple Bluegrass Society, more), and Chris Kontos (drums). Last, but not least, Pete Grant, who went to junior high school with Nelson, and has played over the years with NRPS, David Nelson Band, many other groups, and appeared on The Grateful Dead’s “Aoxomoxoa” LP, was arguably the event’s most valuable player, playing pedal steel all the way through for both bands. Another familiar face, longtime New Riders Tour Manager Mark “Captain Toast” Topazio, led players on and off the stage in nicely paced fashion all night.

David Nelson & Friends’ set included rockin’ fun and frolicky, and always proficient versions of such favorites as “Rocky Road Blues,” “Garden of Eden,” “Louisiana Lady,” “Where I Come From,” “You Never Can Tell,” “Henry,” “Willie & the Hand Jive,” “Oh Carol,” “Friend of the Devil,” and encore, “Hello Mary Lou.” Nelson supplied lead vocals on about half of the tunes, with several others stepping up for a song or two.  Nelson also had the line of the night. “What’s the best pickup to put on a five-string banjo?” he asked the crowd, between songs. “A Ford F-150,” he retorted, to laughs and applause.

Edge of the West opened the music portion of the evening, again buoyed by special guests. In addition to core members Jim Lewin (guitar, vocals), the above-mentioned Laymon (bass, vocals), Ken Margolis (keyboards, vocals), and Marty Carpenter (drums, vocals), the ensemble included legendary Grateful Dead sound tech Dan Healy (guitar and vocals), Grant (pedal steel), and Anton (drums). Their high-octane honky-tonkin’ set included New Riders’ songs “Glendale Train,” “Contract,” and “Last Lonely Eagle.” Healy led a reverential version of George Jones’ “”She Thinks I Still Care,” and the set ended with a celebratory version of “Midnight Moonlight.”

Funds raised through ticket sales and various other sources helped pay for production costs as well as to help Cage, who has of late been fighting myriad acute health issues (Cage was unable to perform at the event). Funding was also raised for Laymon, who over the years has played bass with the New Riders and the David Nelson Band, and who has had his own recent health issues. The show was organized and presented by Charlene Raco and Charl’s Handijam for the Handicapped, a nonprofit organization that serves mentally, physically, and emotionally challenged individuals as well as the terminally ill.

Since 1969, the New Riders of the Purple Sage have roamed the earth, spewing a unique brand of twangy, psychedelic cowboy music to enlightened ears and hearts. Helped at the outset by personnel from, and lots of concert-opening slots with, The Grateful Dead, the New Riders, founded by Nelson and the late John Dawson, achieved much acclaim on their own in the 1970s thanks to a string of popular LPs on Columbia Records, and touchstone songs such as “I Don’t Know You,” “Henry,” “Glendale Train,” and “Panama Red.” Cage originally joined the NRPS on pedal steel in 1971, following the departure of Garcia, the band’s first pedal steel player. Though Nelson and Cage left the band in 1982, except for a period of “retirement” from 1997 to 2005 the New Riders have endured. They have achieved marked success after a band reformation in 2005 sparked by Nelson and Cage along with a lineup that has remained fixed ever since. Nelson has also led the acclaimed David Nelson Band since 1994.

Note: Band participations listed above do not include studio work that each has done for many, many artists.

“Love Will See You Through: Terrapin Nation for Butte County – A Musical Benefit for Victims of the Camp Fire” brought together Phil Lesh and a whole lot of friends for a stunning performance at a very sold-out Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, Calif., on December 19. The catastrophic Camp Fire in November tore through Butte County in northern California, particularly the town of Paradise, burning to the ground thousands of homes and businesses and killing 85 residents, prompting many to call it the most destructive fire in California history.

In addition to the bass-playing presence of the venue’s proprietor, Lesh, the musical gathering included the evening’s music director, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (acoustic guitar, vocals - ALO, The Rock Collection, more); Melvin Seals (organ, vocals - JGB, The Rock Collection, more); Greg Loiacono (guitar, vocals – Mother Hips, Green Leaf Rustlers, more); Barry Sless (pedal steel – Moonalice, David Nelson Band, Green Leaf Rustlers, more); Grahame Lesh (guitar, vocals – Midnight North, Terrapin Family Band, more); Elliott Peck (vocals, tambourine – Midnight North, Terrapin Family Band, more); Ross James (guitar – Terrapin Family Band, Cosmic Twang, more); Stu Allen (guitar, vocals – Mars Hotel, The Rock Collection, more), Alex Koford (Terrapin Family Band, Colonel & the Mermaids, more); and John Molo (drums, Moonalice, David Nelson Band, Green Leaf Rustlers, more).

The show was streamed live on the internet free of charge, thanks to nugs.tv, which throughout the event put up a message, “Please consider donating United Way of Northern California, North Valley Animal Disaster Group. (Both organizations are still accepting donations via www.norcalunitedway.org and www.nvadg.org.) The love-and-support-themed message was a common thread throughout the show, after which Lebo, who has been called upon several times to orchestrate content for big, special occasion concerts, talked about his motivation.

“Terrapin Crossroads wanted to help raise money for the fire victims, and what better way than through a show,” Lebo said. “They asked if I'd like to be in the band for that night, and built out the lineup. Then they reached out to see if I would be interested in being the musical director. Besides the fact that I wanted to help the cause, I always enjoy the musical director role when there are great musicians present, so of course I said yes!” He added, "Since it was a Phil-based show, I thought it would be best to let the music speak, as all of the songs were about love and resilience.”

The evening’s song selections included many songs performed by The Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia Band over the years, as well as classic covers by several blues and rock luminaries. Those playing in the band, many of whom do not often appear together on the same stage, were all musically related to some degree, and their familiarity with each other and the material created a loose, friendly stage atmosphere and a band greater than the sum of its parts. Molo was as steady and reliable as it comes on drums, Sless’s mastery of the pedal steel, Grahame Lesh’s, Peck’s, and Koford’s past work together for Midnight North and Terrapin Family Band, and the amazing guitar skills of Lebo, Loiacono, Allen, and James, with Seals unique organ work, made for a heck of an all-star band. And Phil Lesh was visibly pleased and in his comfort zone, delivering stalwart bass work throughout.

“They Love Each Other” opened the proceedings. With lead vocals from Grahame Lesh, the Jerry Garcia Band/Grateful Dead staple began at an easygoing, comfortable pace, before several grand jams came from Sless, Seals, and Lebo, turning the tune into a richly composed 13-minute epic. They followed up with “If I Needed You,” a sweet Townes Van Zandt ballad with which Emmylou Harris & Don Williams had a country hit. The number was led here with Loiacono on lead vocals, backed by Peck and Grahame Lesh, with heavy helpings of pedal steel.

“Come Together” was a crowd pleaser with Koford on lead vocals, a big bass line from Phil Lesh, with fine, fortified Beatles-esque jams by Loiacono and Lebo. Phil Lesh took the reins on another Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead staple, “Bird Song,” its enchanting beauty washing over the crowd for 14 minutes.

Next was a dynamic version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Axis: Bold As Love,” with Lebo on vocals and shredding jams, and a fine Molo drum solo in the middle. Then, the band delivered a twangy, honkey-tonk version of The Everly Brothers’ “All We Really Want to Do,“ on which Loiacono, Peck, and Grahame Lesh shared vocals while jamming rocked out in several directions.

James the appeared and took the helm on vocals, joining the band for the scorching first set finale, “Turn on Your Love Light,” the Bobby “Blue” Bland power rock ‘n’ blues number that was first adopted by The Grateful Dead in the late 1960s. The powerful version included robust James and Loiacono twin-lead passages, which led to an activation of call-and-response jamming with Seals.

Stu Allen finally appeared, for the start of the second set, which began with a superb version of Little Milton’s “That’s What Love Will Make You Do,” which was a Jerry Garcia Band fan favorite throughout that band’s tenure and which carries on with Seals’ JGB.  Seals delivered lead vocals on the rocking blues number, which included a couple of three-way guitar jams served up by Allen, Lebo, and James. Phil Lesh then bestowed on the audience his trademark Grateful Dead classic, “Box of Rain,” again with three guitarists, which somehow segued into Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down,” which eventually led back into the final verses of “Box of Rain.”

The lead mic then went to Allen for “Everybody Needs Somebody,” a Solomon Burke pop song made famous by Wilson Pickett, which worked its way into “Good Lovin’,” with Peck taking lead vocals on The Young Rascals hit, also adopted by The Grateful Dead. Lebo then led a sweet rendering of the tender ALO song, “I Wanna to Feel It,” followed by a set-closing “Not Fade Away” with six vocalists, plenty of vigorous jamming, and in the end, Phil Lesh coming to the mic to softly sing “Love is Real, Not Fade Away,” several times before fading out the song.

A sublime double encore of The Dead’s delicate “Attics of My Life,” performed by a trio of Grahame Lesh on guitar and vocals, along with Phil Lesh and Koford on vocals, followed by a commanding performance of the Beatles timeless, Allen-voiced “With a Little Help From My Friends,” done Joe Cocker style, expressed a fine closing message for fire victims and their families/friends.

Love Will See You Through

Set 1: They Love Each Other, If I Needed You, Come Together, Bird Song, Axis: Bold As Love, All We Really Want to DO, Turn on Your Love Light

Set 2: That’s What Love Will Make You Do, Box of Rain > Won’t Back Down > Box of Rain, Everybody Needs Somebody. Good Lovin’, I Wanna Feel It,” Not Fade Away. E: Attics of My Life, With a Little Help From My Friends.

Elliott Peck’s debut solo project, “Further From The Storm,” received No. 1-with-a-bullet ranking from the sold-out audience at her recent CD-release event in San Rafael, Calif. Peck and her guest musicians triumphed, both in the first set, which contained live renderings of 10 of 11 tracks off the new record, and the second set, which as Peck foreshadowed at the show’s outset, “We’ll take a break and have a big ol’ party, Terrapin style!”

Many, many musicians were present and tuned, and the stage was set with ambiance-enhancing rose-adorned mic stands, large candles, and more when Peck took center stage, a position she commanded throughout the night. All that was left was for her to complete her self-created big assignment, which predictably took place at Terrapin Crossroads, her unofficial home base while performing as a core member of Midnight North and other endeavors during the past several years. At the start, an ovation more pointed and passionate than usually heard at Terrapin Crossroads was voiced from fans both local and those who traveled from far-off places. Cries of, “We love You Elliott,” were oft-heard throughout the show.

Poised and on-point throughout, Peck seemed to easily conquer the challenge, with nary a hint of pressure or nervousness at being in the spotlight before a sold-out crowd and a stage-full of renowned musicians. Peck, an experienced singer/songwriter/guitarist, whose solo material can be broadly characterized as alt-country/honky-tonk with reminiscences of Linda Ronstadt, Jenny Lewis, and Margo Price, expertly presented the CD’s material, which included ballads, mid-tempo pieces including a cover of Lucinda Williams’ “I Lost It,” and raucous road-house rockers.

Throughout, Peck was in fine, pitch-perfect voice and her guitar play was melodic and rocking, while never attempting to dominate. Peck sported an acoustic guitar in the first set before going electric in the second. With musicians to her left and musicians to her right, all players’ eyes were on Peck for lyrical and musical prompts. All drawn up on a complex spreadsheet, players came onstage and went offstage all through the night, with an average of eight or nine musicians at any given moment. Peck said early on, “Do I have some talented friends or what? So lucky, so lucky.”

First-set ensemble musicians, some who were not announced beforehand, but all of whom contributed to “Further From The Storm,” included Tim Bluhm (keyboards, vocals), Jason Crosby (keyboards, violin), Greg Loiacono (guitar, vocals), Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (pedal steel and acoustic guitars), James DePrato (guitar), Jesse Bardwell (mandolin, guitar, vocals), and Kevin Hayes (drums). Other first-set players included Peck’s Midnight North partner Grahame Lesh, as well as Holly Bowling (keyboards), Jon Payne (bass), Alex Jordan (keyboards, vocals), Sean Nelson (drums) and Jeannette Ferber (vocals). Notably, Peck, Crosby, Bluhm, and Loiacono are all on the talent roster at the Blue Rose Music artist collective.

The second set began with Gillian Welch’s twangy “Tear My Stillhouse Down,” which included nice jams by both Bowling on piano, and Lebo on pedal steel, as well as a dual guitar jam by DePrato and Grahame Lesh. Next, another friend of Peck’s, guitarist Danny Click, joined the band on lead slide guitar for a reverential version of John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery,” beautifully sung by Peck, with notable keyboard accompaniments by Jordan.

Midnight North’s bluesy “Miss M,” with Bardwell on mandolin and Jordan on keys, and kazoo, followed. Next, on Waylon Jennings’ country-rocker “Good Hearted Woman,” Peck and Bardwell sang as a duo while strumming guitars, with outstanding solo passages by Crosby (keys), Lebo (pedal steel), and Grahame Lesh (lead guitar).

Phil Lesh and Stu Allen got into the act next – Phil giving Peck a sweet kiss on the cheek on the way to his bass post. As they tuned up, Peck addressed the crowd. “Some of you are regulars around here, and some of you may have never been here before,” Peck said. “So, I just wanted to tell you a little bit about Terrapin Crossroads. It’s really one of the coolest places on the Earth. And a big hand for Phil Lesh and his wife, Jill Lesh, for making this place a reality. A lot of times in the music business, it’s kind of like, musicians against musicians, you’re competing. At this place, there’s no competition. It’s all about love and community, and working together, and inspiring each other – and this is the result.”

Once ready to go, Allen delivered tremendous lead vocals (with Peck offering backup vocals) on a poignant version of Merle Haggard’s old prison-life ballad, “Sing Me Back Home,” a tune that Phil and The Grateful Dead used to perform occasionally way back when. As an unannounced guest, Allen’s work for the night was done, but Phil Lesh kept playing in the band till set’s end, including the next one, Midnight North’s ballad “Greene Country.” The Dead’s crowd-pleasing “New Speedway Boogie” came next, with Phil playing a dominant role on bass and contributing backup vocals to Peck’s lead, Grahame and Lebo’s work on guitars, and Bowling and Crosby’s dual keyboards. The second set closed with “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning,” the old spiritual recorded by many, including Blind Willie Johnson in 1928 and Hot Tuna in 1971.

The double encore, which included 11 people onstage including Scott Law, who had just finished up playing a couple of sets over at the Terrapin Crossroads bar/restaurant, consisted of the Midnight North ballad “The Right Time,” followed by Gillian Welch’s “Look at Miss Ohio.”

This musical evening was a long time coming for Peck, and she was more than ready. She deserves whatever increased success comes her way. As a final note, posters were on sale, proceeds of which were to go to victims of northern California’s Camp Fire.

Elton John’s three-year, 300-date world tour, dubbed “Farewell Yellow Brick Road,” which touched town in Sacramento on January 16, is a perfect testament of love and honor toward a man who created and has sustained his own unique pop-rock musical genre for 50 years. A true living legend and global icon, he has brightened the lives of countless millions, including Queen Elizabeth, who designated the performer with knighthood in 1998 for his dedication to music and fundraising for AIDS charities. On this stormy night in Northern California, John was as gracious and humble as a Sir could be while wearing a jewel-festooned jacket with “Gucci Loves Elton” emblazoned on the back (he wore a different glitzy jacket during the second set).

Even presented in the cavernous Golden 1 Center, there was a feeling of intimacy and inclusion for everyone. After all, “You can call it, ‘Your Song,’ Sacramento!” John proclaimed before performing the beloved ballad for an encore. The sound quality was outstanding, such that John’s frequent orations and chats with the audience were clearly audible, as was the iconic instrument in the (giant) room, a nine-foot Yamaha Disklavier concert grand piano on which John seemed to dazzle everyone with his still dexterous and skillful piano chops. At times, the mechanized piano migrated slowly across the stage, which allowed everyone a proper view of Captain Fantastic at work.

It’s hard to overstate the excellence of each facet of the show that all together made for a satisfying, fulfilling event. In addition to the piano’s rich, crisp tones that brought new life to all those instrumental phrasings we know from decades of radio airplay, John was also of very good voice, though not attempting the highest of the high notes, certainly understandable for a 71-year-old on an almost endless tour. A gigantic, high-definition video screen emoted various moods and delivered video montages, from psychedelic swirls, to fun and colorful animations, to sad segments, such as a war-based montage to accompany “Daniel,” a song about a Vietnam soldier returning home. Yellow bricks (get it?) and color-changing footlights outlined and adorned the monstrous, irregularly shaped stage. A guitarist and a bassist were flanked behind John on what was a fairly disencumbered main stage surface. Above and behind the trio on a two-tiered platform, a keyboardist and two percussionists operated on the lower level, and an additional percussionist worked his magic on top.

Material presented in the quick-paced 2 ½-hour, 22-song set, plus a two-song encore, the same sequence of songs that is being presented at all shows at this juncture of the tour, included more big hits than one could wish. The lexicon of songs – their uniquely-Elton-John lyrics, instrumentations, and overall structures on glorious display throughout – was an in-your-face reminder that his musical catalog represents an extraordinary body of work. The show began with a bang via “Bennie and the Jets,” a song that defies any sort of typical pop/rock record. Instantly, John and the band set the mood by delivering bold piano keystrokes riding atop a booming, beat-heavy rhythmic bottom-end that filled the venue. Next up was “All the Girls Love Alice,” one of only two songs that wasn’t a bona fide hit, which related a sad story of “a 16-year-old heterosexual prostitute who sleeps with older women before she ultimately kills herself,” according to Rolling Stone.

Next was a lively version of the Elton John standard, “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” followed by a gorgeous rendition of “Border Song,” a piece of music that goes so far back that when Aretha Franklin recorded it John was not yet a star. He then offered “Tiny Dancer,” followed by a danceable-rocker that what was an oft-heard anthem through America’s Bicentennial in 1976, “Philadelphia Freedom.” That crowd-pleaser preceded the other of the evening’s non-hits, “Indian Sunset,” a 1971-penned tale of an American Indian warrior and the colonization and the plight of their near annihilation by whites in this country.

The set then moved on “Rocket Man,” a soaring single that was always more atmospherically dynamic when performed live. “Rocket Man” is also a stellar example of John’s complete uniqueness in the music world, creating new and unusual pieces of music that resonated with both radio A&R folks and all the listeners at home. The familiar piano flourish of “Take Me To the Pilot,” filled the arena next, with a performance that exhibited the band’s rock ‘n’ roll aptitude. Perhaps the evening’s most emotional moment occurred next, when John told the crowd that in 1990, he said the three words, “I need help,” became clean and sober, and started the Elton John AIDS Foundation, before leading into one of his all-time ballads, “Someone Saved My Life Tonight.”

Next was “Levon,” a song that wasn’t a particular surprise in its inclusion, yet an inspired, extended instrumental component at the end, which is about one minute on the record, lasted an inordinate amount of time. Here, each band member, including John, stoked the fire with layer after layer of inspired jamming that even included a discernable smidge of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper.” The pace slowed up for the next number, though it was no less compelling, as a backdrop of rarely seen Marilyn Monroe footage, all of it portraying happy-and-free moments of the model/actress’s career, accompanied “Candle in the Wind.”

John then exited, not for a set break, but because what followed allowed him a short respite – arena-shaking percussive reverberations, scenery, and fog of a massive thunderstorm, as real as could be artificially produced. Little by little, the crowd realized that the episode was a grand beginning to the dramatic instrumental “Funeral for a Friend,” which was naturally followed up with “Love Lies Bleeding,” as it did on the record, with John again reappearing, seated and ready to sing. The passionate and complex “Burn Down the Mission” was next, followed by “Believe,” a hit ballad from the 1995 album, “Made in England.” Next was the aforementioned “Daniel” followed by another mid-tempo pop piece, “Sad Songs (Say So Much).”

John paused several times to bow to the crowd and accept their accolades. He explained at one point, “I wanted to record; I never set out to be an artist. I thought I was going to be a songwriter. Well, I was a songwriter, and became an artist … When I came from England to America in 1970 <stardom> all happened here first. Because all the great music came from America that I loved, it was just beyond my wildest dreams that I could be a part of it. And there’s been one constant in this remarkable journey and it's you people out there. <Applause> You bought the 45s, the albums, 8 tracks, cassettes, the CDs, the DVDs, the merchandise, and most importantly of all, you bought tickets to the show. I love to write songs. I love to make records. But as a musician, the greatest thrill for me is to play to an audience and get a reaction from a human being. … I want to say thank you because my touring is coming towards an end. I will never forget you guys, you have been so kind, so generous you gave me everything I never thought I’d have, so from the bottom of my heart from this English guy, to you Americans, thank you so much!”

Late in the set, John gave each player considerable praise as he introduced the band, which included several members whose association with him go back more than 45 years: guitarist/bandleader Davey Johnstone, drummer Nigel Olsson, and percussionist Ray Cooper. He then began the final portion of the set with the emotional, inspiring “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” its beautiful lyrics and piano interludes washing over the spellbound crowd.

And then came the closing sequence, 25 minutes or so of rocked-out anthems, presented back to back, like the final cluster of fireworks on the Fourth of July. With the crowd energized, singing, and cheering, the band presented, “The Bitch is Back,” “I’m Still Standing” (quite apropos for the septuagenarian performer), “Crocodile Rock” (with the band letting the crowd sing the “La – La La La La La La Las”), and finally, “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.” The finale was so energized that an encore was not owed to anyone. But, fairly spent, the crowd rose in unison a few minutes later when John came out in a dazzling full-length kimono. He sat down alone and delivered a sweet version of perhaps his most enduring song, “Your Song,” with the band slowly reappearing back onstage to finish out the song and deliver the obligatory “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”

John’s farewell tour started on September 8, 2018, and is slated to continue into 2021. The exhaustive world tour won’t be the end of his career. John said at a media gathering at Gotham Hall in New York City in early 2018, according to Vogue. “I will be making more records, writing more musicals, doing more exhibitions with our photography. But mostly I’ll be taking my kid to soccer academy, which is the most important thing.”

Set list, with songs’ year of release and highest position on the Billboard Hot 100, if applicable: Bennie and the Jets (1974/No. 1); All the Girls Love Alice (1973); I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues (1983/No. 4); Border Song (1970/No. 92); Tiny Dancer (1971/No. 41); Philadelphia Freedom (1975/No. 1); Indian Sunset (1971); Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time) (1972/No. 6); Take Me to the Pilot (1970/B-side to Your Song); Someone Saved My Life Tonight (1975/No. 4); Levon (1972/No. 23); Candle in the Wind (1987/No 6, originally recorded in 1973); Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding (1973); Burn Down the Mission (1970); Believe (1995/No. 13); Daniel (1973/No. 2); Sad Songs (Say So Much) (1984/No. 5); Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (1974/No. 2); The Bitch Is Back (1974/No. 4); I'm Still Standing (1983/No. 12); Crocodile Rock (1972/No. 1); Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting (1973/No. 12). Encore: Your Song (1970/No. 8); Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973/No. 2).

According to Billboard, Elton John recorded 57 Top 40 hits, 27 Top 10 hits, and nine No. 1’s, ranking him as the No. 3 artist in their Hot 100’ chart’s 60-plus-year history, behind only The Beatles and Madonna. Elvis Presley is No. 4.

ALO’s lucky 13th annual Tour d’Amour included a stop in Chico, Calif., in which the band offered an exhilarating illustration of its intelligent, crafty songs, and its extraordinary aptitude toward innovative improvisational instrumentation. “To surround Valentine’s Day, the tour is a celebration of LOVE – musically, communally, and in all of its many forms,” a recent band statement proclaimed. At this tour stop, fortified bluegrass band Horseshoes & Hand Grenades opened the show.

Limited to one set due to a fairly late start of 9:15 p.m. and an apparent 11 p.m. curfew, ALO and its jamming, jazzy, funky, rocky, synthy self nevertheless spread a generous quantity of wondrous performance love to the ardent, sold-out audience. The foursome, including Zach Gill on keyboards, vocals, accordion, ukulele and melodica; Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz on guitar and vocals; Steve Adams on bass and vocals; and Ezra Lipp on drums and vocals, delivered a package that was of one mind and body, clearly playing off each other’s instrumental chops.

The band – seasoned, relaxed, and self-assured – output a pleasing combination of material that showed off a) their engaging and affable demeanor toward each other and the crowd, b) the craftiness of their lyrically imaginative songs, and c) feverishly danceable instrumental escapades that materialized between the verses. For the second year, Lipp handled, and excelled at, drums/percussion duties instead of founding member Dave Brogan. Though the band has made no formal announcement, it seems more and more as if Lipp is ALO's drummer.

In addition to the solid bottom-end put forth by Lipp and Adams, excellent players in their own right, the work of Gill and Lebo was, as now almost expected, extraordinary. Lebo’s twisting, bending, and jumping brand of guitar work showcased his ability to conjure up a never-ending array of the most ingenious, and epic, lead guitar flourishes without ever becoming tiresome. Gill, also the keyboardist for Jack Johnson’s band, supplemented his adeptness at offering perfect, often whimsical instrumental passages with several gracious, light-hearted chats with the crowd. At one point, after asking the audience if everything was OK, not too loud, or not too soft, Gill appreciated the many thumbs ups and not just because of the message that they sent. “It’s nice to see those thumbs,” he said. “These are not virtual thumbs. This is not virtual; it’s happening. Right now!” Such is a profound statement in these days of artificial intelligence.

The set began with the Gill’s love song, “Maria,” which includes the loving lyric, “Well I'm just overflowing with love for you, ‘cause you fill my cup and my body too.” The bouncy, irresistible “Sugar on Your Tongue” followed, with the folks on the large space in front of the tiered tables already moving as a single, joyous unit. A new song by Lebo, with a working title of “Just a Spark,” according to Adams, was next before the band offered “Combat Zone.”

The band then moved onto one it’s most enduring live songs, “Girl I Wanna Lay You Down,” followed by Adams’ soulful, funky “Gardener.” Lebo then led Bob Marley’s “Stop That Train,” a tribute to the reggae icon who would have turned 74 on Feb. 6. This was the band’s first-ever performance of the song, according to Adams’ best recollection. A blazing half-hour or so closing sequence followed, with the audience receiving full-throttle performances of “Plastic Bubble,” “I Love Music” and “Barbecue,” the latter of which included a piece of Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now.”

During the latter part of “I Love Music,” Lesha Schaefer, who, along with her husband  made the 80-mile drive from Redding, Calif., could be seen near the top of the intimate venue enthusiastically jumping up and down with her arms outstretched in the air, requesting, “’Barbecue!’ ‘Barbecue’!” When the band indeed morphed into “Barbecue,” her joy was contagious and a large part of the house cheered as much for her getting her wish as they did for an appearance of the song itself. “’Barbecue’ is one of my favorite songs,” long-time fan Schaeffer said after the show. “It has a great beat, makes me happy, and reminds me to embrace life and keep chasing dreams.”

While ALO did have a three-song encore ready to go, they played only one due to the venue’s curfew, delivering a great, fanciful version of “The Ticket.”

Opening the show was Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, a five-piece string-and-accordion band of bluegrass-schooled party jammers. The band uses the throwback style of sharing one big mic, and the fellows – Adam Greuel (guitar, dobro); David Lynch (accordion, harmonica); Collin Mettelka (fiddle, mandolin); Russell Pedersen (banjo, fiddle); Samual Odin (bass); everybody on vocals – were adept at stepping in and out of the mic’s range to avoid bashing each other in the head with their instruments.

The band’s set included several originals as well as a properly quick-paced version of the old Irish folk tune “Rattlin’ Bog”; an accordion-driven, loving-tribute version of Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place”; and Pink Floyd’s “Time” placed inside the band’s song, “Whiskey.”

Band’s often state their happiness at playing Chico’s most famous venue, which in the case of the self-professed beer-loving band was especially nice being that it is world headquarters for the Sierra Nevada Brewery. But even more than that, judging by the toast and shout-out from the Wisconsin-based band, was that Chico is the town that Aaron Rodgers, their Green Bay Packers’ quarterback hailed.

Almost 25 years after she took the nation by storm with her album, “Relish,” early 2019 finds seven-time Grammy nominee Joan Osborne touring the country performing “Songs of Bob Dylan.” And for one night only at the new Sofia Center for the Arts in Sacramento her show featured Jackie Greene, her former Trigger Hippy partner, fellow Phil Lesh & Friends alumni, and Sacramento-area native.

The dynamic magic that the two possess as a vocal tandem was apparent from the start, with a brilliant version of Dylan’s romantic “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,” a song the two performed in the past with Trigger Hippy. Trading verses, with Greene’s voice reminiscent of Dylan’s uniquely deep vocal style he displayed on his “Nashville Skyline” album, Osborne and Greene seemed rehearsed and ready for this one-off concert performance.

Part of the beauty of the show was Osborne’s reinterpretations of Dylan songs, her beautiful, trademark, slightly raspy voice, as well as acoustic guitar and tambourine work, which all together conjured up new and special expressions of each piece of music. Sprung from a pair of two-week residencies at a small New York City jazz club, Osborne released the album “Songs of Bob Dylan” in late 2017. 

This band’s versions of Dylan songs breathed new life into many iconic tunes. “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” without the horn-heavy fanfare we all know from Dylan’s original, was instead a sensitive, slow-paced piece. Similarly, a slightly slowed down “Highway 61 Revisited,” a reverential version of the 55-year-old ballad, “Spanish Harlem Incident," and an inspiring version of “Buckets of Rain,” all were readapted while simultaneously remaining true to the original. A fine version of “Gotta Serve Somebody,” with both Osborne and Greene trading verses, was a suitable set-ender that, despite its 40-year-old song life, never seemed more real: “You may be a construction worker working on a home; You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome; You might own guns and you might even own tanks; You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks; But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes; You're gonna have to serve somebody.”

Helping her perform a judicious collection of Dylan’s work, Osborne’s dual collaborators on this tour, and on this night, included fine guitarist Jack Petruzzelli, who offered accompaniments varying from quiet acoustic work to rocked-out electric enrichments.

At stage right was keyboardist Keith Cotton, who’s instrumental passages, whether on the piano or on the electric keyboards, were right on time with the mood of the particular Dylan song being presented. Both Cotton and Petruzzelli have performed with Osborne for at least five years.

But clearly the co-star of this show was Greene, who at 38 is a seasoned, veteran player of awesome proportions. Here, he stuck to vocals and guitar licks on his blue Gibson SG, though he is equally comfortable on the piano. Greene’s lengthy resume includes his solo work, countless tours and recordings with his own band, as well as being an alumnus of such bands as the Black Crowes, Gov't Mule, a Bob Weir-Jackie Greene-Chris Robinson acoustic trio, the Skinny Singers that were led by Greene and Mother Hips star Tim Bluhm, as well as the aforementioned Trigger Hippy and Phil and Friends. At this home-town show Greene was relaxed, unpressured, and obviously happy to be there. “I got a baby sitter and everything,” he said.

Osborne was clearly comfortable having Greene play a huge role in this show. Rather than sitting in for two songs and then giving a cap-tipping exit, Greene was integral throughout, flourishing with jams soft and bold as well as numerous vocal duties. The Greene-led version of “Isis,” for example, which stayed pretty close to the pace and triumphant mood of Dylan’s original, was an impressive if not quite ambitious performance of the 12-verse masterpiece. The final encore, a spellbinding version of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” sent the crowd on their way in loving fashion.

Osborne, in introducing the folk standard, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” gave some insight of her respect for Dylan: “Lyrically, he uses biblical references and surrealist poetry and they operate on all different levels at the same time, and he’s been doing it for decades, and you know the cat is really heavy,” she said. “And yet sometimes you look at one of his songs you look at it on a piece of paper and your kinda like, ‘Huh?’ Like it’s not particularly deep or meaningful and it doesn’t really make any sense and maybe he and Robbie Robertson were sitting around and trying to make each other laugh and this is what they came up with.” “Those are my favorite ones,” Greene interjects to widespread laughter. Osborne continued, “And this next song is one of those songs. But there is something very solid and study about it.  ... I’ve sung it myself on a rooftop in Switzerland at four o’clock in the morning with people that I just met. It’s just one of those songs that gets around and gets passed from person to person and gets shared with people and we are going to do it for you now.”

Opening the show, to a rousing response and rightfully so, was Sacramento-area rock/blues/jazz singer/songwriter Katie Knipp. Performing solo on piano as well as dobro (sometimes with simultaneous harmonica and/or harmonica and foot tambourine), Knipp’s bold, impassioned style made everyone take notice. With her musical ferocity fully on display, as an instrumentalist and as a singer, Knipp’s no-holds-barred vocal style conjured audio images of a cross between Ani DiFranco and Koko Taylor.

Beginning with “Ya Make it So Hard (To Sing the Blues),” one of the lead tracks on her current project, “Take it With You,” which reached No. 10 on the Billboard Blues Album Chart, Knipp immediately crushed the notion that she’d be a ho-hum opening act.  Visibly impressing people in the audience who already knew her work – this hit album is her fifth – as well as those who could be whispering, “Katie who? Wow!” She delivered 11 songs, with affable commentary about her life, her family, and her travels in between. The intense and alluring performer offered six tunes from the current CD, several of her older selections, and an emotional version of an old Tom Waits ballad, “Blue Valentine.”

Part nightclub jazz chanteuse, part roadhouse blues rocker, and a whole bunch of gumption Knipp’s songs, instrumental passages, and overall gestalt suggest lots of promise and success to come.

Joan Osborne – reasonably complete set list, though likely not perfect: Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You; High Water (For Charley Patton); Spanish Harlem Incident; Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright; Isis; Rainy Day Women #12 & 35; Highway 61 Revisited, “You Ain’t Going Nowhere; Buckets of Rain, Tangled up in Blue; Gotta Serve Somebody E: Make You Feel My Love, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

Katie Knipp: Ya Make it So Hard, Get in My Life, Quiet Hell, Gone to Town, Metro in Paris, Blue Valentine, Another Round, Get Outta My Dream, Bullet Train, Come Back, Santa Cruz Blues

Esteemed headliners Bob Weir and Wolf Brothers, Willie Nelson & Family, and Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, are among the biggest names to perform at the inaugural BeachLife Festival, set for May 3 to 5 at Seaside Lagoon, Redondo Beach, a city of about 67,000, nestled nicely in the south end of Los Angeles County’s Santa Monica Bay. But just as important to the flavor of the fest, will be the abundance of emerging artists of interest in the undercard, many of whom live, work, and thrive in surrounding beach communities synonymous with sun, sand, and surf.

BeachLife, expected to draw upwards of 12,000 attendees, will be the first undertaking of its kind at the site, though Seaside Lagoon did recently host a Ragin’ Cajun Crawfish Jamboree, and on May 2 will host the World Surf League Big Wave Surf Awards, serving as a kick-off event to the BeachLife Festival.

The fest is the brain-child of investor/producer, bring-ideas-to-life guy Allen Sanford, who is also owner/promoter of the popular Saint Rocke nightclub in Hermosa Beach. From boarding – both skate and surf – to cooking by regional celebrity chef demonstrations, the fest will be uniquely multifaceted. Sanford recently told The Beach Reporter News, a major news/events publication the region, “It's called BeachLife because it's what I know and what I grew up in and what I know I can deliver authentically. It's layered in music, what we would be listening to on the beach with our friends. It's not really genre specific.” Sanford, who as co-founder and CEO of LiveList, a major live streaming music network, has assured that this will be a fully streamed three-day festival.

Nationally under-the-radar but important Los Angeles seaside roots musicians set to entertain and dazzle the multitudes include Best Coast, The Higgs, Tomorrows Bad Seeds, Barley, V Torres, and the Hollow Legs.

Take The Higgs, f’rinstance. The burgeoning Los Angeles-based jam band are slated for one of the fest’s opening spots – 12:15 p.m. Friday on the Riptide Stage. The inventive foursome’s rock/reggae/funk ‘n’ groove fusion is certain to get beach feet moving and ignite the souls of all early-comers. The seven-year-old band’s psychedelia-twinged jammy brand of audio wonderment happens through Jesse Jennings swirly keyboard flourishes and John Lovelo’s spirited guitar, which soar nicely over solid bass (David Barsky) and drums (Garrett Morris). Live performances, categorized by their jam mastery define this band that delivered an hour-long rendering The Grateful Dead’s “Playing in the Band” at the 2019 Skull & Roses Festival on April 5.

“‘Melting faces, blowing minds. Cerebral jams for the masses.’ That’s the currency of this fantastic jam band from SoCal,” band friend and enthusiast Leslie Pitts told Grateful Web. “But they're taking psychedelic jamming into a new dimension that is guaranteed to put perma-grins on everyone's face. Each musician is a virtuoso, but the alchemy that happens when they play is just what their name implies.... the cosmic glue that holds the universe together!”

Calling Hermosa Beach, California home, Tomorrows Bad Seeds are another local band ready to show off their stuff to the BeachLife masses. Now at it for about 15 years, the Vans Warped Tour veterans offer a fusion of reggae pop-rock shaken and stirred with ska punk and hip-hop. The quartet will speak their minds and frolic and jump about onstage during a set that will close out the Riptide Stage proceedings at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. Lyrically, their ode to cannabis, “Tell Me Mary,” flirtatiously offers, “Mary won’t you tell me how garden grows? / Is it the water that you use or the love pouring out of your soul? / The aroma of your sensi is so cultivating.”

And, as a voice of the people vs. the corrupt folks in charge, the title track of Tomorrow's Bad Seeds’ 2012 project, “The Great Escape,” proclaims, “In this world of mass confusion / Corrupt ones with their illusions / It's hard to tell the difference anymore/ ...and you're not alone/ There's a million more, to rise against/ The hems of time, watching as our worlds collide/ What we need now's a revolution Destruction, not resolution.../”

Charismatic local renegades V Torres and Kira Lingman are two other strong local performers set to ply their crafty bad-assery at BeachLife. West Los Angeles native Lingman fronts the post-punk alt-rock outfit Hollow Legs, who are based in Hermosa Beach and who will undoubtedly perform their powerful new single, “Shiver My Bones.” The group will be the first to perform on Sunday, with a set scheduled for 11:20 a.m. on the Riptide Stage. At 2:15 p.m. Saturday, on the Riptide Stage, Lingman and Hollow Legs bass player Hugh DeFrance will also be part of V Torres’ band 

Whether performing acoustic blues or thrashing electrically, Lingman’s in-charge guitar and vocals style is powerful, stunning, and stirring. As the band’s press proclaims, “The Hollow Legs bring a ferocious rock ‘n' roll sound inspired by good old-fashioned American Blues music. Heavy riffs, sweet blues fingerpicking, thumpy bass, and thunderous drums all create the backdrop for the insane vocal talents of Kira Lingman.”

“I'm super stoked for BeachLife!” Lingman told Grateful Web via email. “It'll be like playing in our own backyard in a way. We all grew up in the South Bay, so it means a lot to be included in the festival.  The Hollow Legs and I have been gigging the beach area for years now, so it's really awesome that BeachLife has booked local bands to support these big headliners! I mean, to share a bill with Willie Nelson and Ziggy Marley is just wild! We can't wait to rock the early-bird-special set on Sunday morning on the Riptide Stage! We hope to rock loud enough for the boats in the harbor to hear us!”

Veronica “V” Torres grew up in an L.A. County South Bay neighborhood, and the alt-rock singer/songwriter’s diverse background includes the unusual combination of basketball, corporate accounting, and teaching yoga. Her recent musical work including the 2019 single, “Top of the Road,” and her recent five-song project “Real Life Love,” delivers an excellent package of powerful and melodic rocking material, with V Torres’ commanding vocals being an essential part of the energetic aural landscape.

In addition to her music, V Torres is also the creator of the new female indie artist showcase, Girl Crush, a live female music platform that Torres hopes will bring spark the Los Angeles community music and arts community through the introduction of up-and-coming indie female artists. 

For Barley, a self-described feel-good Americana band with a beach-country vibe, The Standing Room club in Redondo Beach is one of their common venues. A mid-tempo alt-pop eight-piece, with ten years of adventures under their belts, Barley combines well-crafted songs with pleasing jangly, California folk-rock accompaniments.

Having performed at the Hermosa Beach Summer Concerts series, Redondo Beach Lobsterfest, and other local festivals, Barley is pleased at their inclusion at BeachLife. “We’re stoked!” said Barley acoustic guitarist Jason Caver via an email to Grateful Web. “It’s amazing to be a part of a festival with such a huge lineup of musicians we admire and then to have that festival in your own backyard and be one of the acts representing the local South Bay music scene is beyond words. It’s going to be a blast. I plan to be there all weekend!”

Barley paints a BeachLife type of vision on “Neverland,” a 2017 collaboration with local musician Chris Hanna, the video of which was recorded on Hermosa Beach, “Southern California sand across the floor of my old van. … With a couple of friends on the open road, a case of beer, and a burning stove singing songs about tomorrow. And along the way, as we ride on the Pacific Coast Highway line, we find ourselves again.” 

Then there’s Los Angeles band Best Coast, whose sound and attitude have been influential to several other bands during their 10-year tenure. With a higher profile than other artists mentioned in this article, Best Coast will perform at 2:15 p.m., Saturday, on the Low-Tide Stage. At its core a rocking duo, Best Coast is dominated by front-woman-vocalist/songwriter/guitarist Bethany Cosentino‘s ethereal voice, which rides the waves of Bob Bruno’s guitar/multi-instrumental work. As a duo or a five-piece live band, Best Coast exudes grungy, mood-altering indie power-pop, though in evidence that they are a band of many moods, Best Boast’s latest release is the 2018 happy/punky children’s record, “Best Kids.”

Cosentino described the band's approach to the production of “California Nights” in 2015, as “embodying the rich lightness and stinging darkness of a California state of mind,” as the Best Coast website described. “In L.A.,” Cosentino said, “there’s a real darkness that you don’t see unless you know where to look. That’s a theme we very consciously decided to explore and play with when making this record. We related to the idea that things may look or sound fun and upbeat, but they may not actually always BE that way – much like our songs.”  

Other Best Coast notes: Cosentino, who co-led with Liz Phair a benefit show for Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles in 2017, will with Best Coast on June 7, headline a show in support of equal access to arts education for Los Angeles kids and teens. And, in the 4/20 issue of Rolling Stone in 2017, Cosentino was named No. 13 on the list of “50 Most Successful Marijuana Enthusiasts You Should Know.”

For more information, visit https://beachlifefestival.com.

When time and tour schedules allow, members of the Green Leaf Rustlers, an amalgamation of members of several current successful bands, present a stimulating array of classic adaptations of American Country Roots & Blues, including the Bakersfield Sound. Such was the case on March 28 at Sacramento’s enduring rock club, Harlow’s, where the band finished up a tidy 10-date California tour before heading to Alaska for a triad of early April shows.

The large canon of material that the band pulls from causes set lists to vary greatly from show to show, making a night out with this band fun and as well as roots-music-educational. On this night, the band’s two-set delivery included flavorful flourishes of Western swing, blues, psychedelia, train songs, and other jam-happy material on cover tunes from such luminaries as Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Gram Parsons, and Doug Sahm.

The Green Leaf Rustlers familiarity with each other and the material created a loose, friendly stage atmosphere and a band that together was greater than the sum of its parts. There is a tendency to call lead vocalist/guitarist Chris Robinson, he of Black Crowes, Chris Robinson Brotherhood and As the Crow Flies fame the leader or front man. But with lead guitar/vocalist Greg Loiacono  (Mother Hips, solo work) standing right beside him, as well as the exceptional trio of other notable players, made that a hard claim to make. That trio includes the combo of Pete Sears (bass), Barry Sless (pedal steel guitar/electric guitar) and John Molo (drums), who just happen to be the core instrumentalists for Moonalice as well as the David Nelson Band.

Robinson, who harmonized with a voice fit for leading both a hootenanny and a spiritual revival, played rhythm guitar, and harmonica during “Money Honey.” He was visually pleased and gratified all night with the sounds and players around him, often nodding to others to take a solo or a verse.

While the jamming rocked out en masse, Loiacono’s fierce, never-ending variety of lead-guitar runs, a combination of skill, insight, and wisdom coming from 30 years on performances, certainly helped define the Green Leaf Rustlers sound.

At it for almost 50 years, Pete Sears still delivers savage bass passages that would be the envy of most rock ‘n’ roll players half his age. Sears’ pedigree is almost incomparable, sharing stage and studio over time with such artists as Rod Stewart, Stoneground, Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, John Lee Hooker, and more.

Barry Sless’s mastery of the pedal steel, which he stuck to for about 80% of the show, was certainly the band’s exemplifying component, tapping into fresh, heretofore unexplored lead passages as he helped bring fabulous escalating crescendos of sound to the mix.

John Molo (Bruce Hornsby, Phil Lesh & Friends, The Other Ones, more), was masterful on the drums, setting, maintaining, and modifying the beats to coincide seamlessly with whatever song and jam were being conveyed to the most appreciative audience.

The first set included bright, twangy, roadhouse-rockin’ versions of cherished old ditties. Leading off the proceedings was “Six Days on the Road” (first released by Paul Davis in 1961, but recorded by many including George Jones, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Flying Burrito Brothers and Sawyer Brown). Next up were “Still Feeling Blue” (Gram Parsons, 1972); “Close Up the Honky Tonks” (written by Red Simpson, recorded first by Buck Owens, 1964, as well as Dwight Yoakam, Flying Burrito Brothers – featuring Gram Parsons, and Elvis Costello); “Portland Woman” (John Dawson’s enduring ballad for the New Riders of the Purple Sage, 1971); and “Dynamite Woman” (Sir Douglas Quintet featuring Doug Sahm, 1969).

Things were already rocking, but the band elevated their antics with a long double-shot of Johnny Cash’s anthemic “Folsom Prison Blues” (Folsom Prison is precisely 23.5 miles from Harlow’s, according to Google Maps), which launched into a giant five-players-play-as-one jam that eventually led into “That’s All Right” (Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup, 1946, Elvis Presley, 1954, and many others over the years). The first set ended with a beautiful version of “At the Crossroads” (1969, another nod to the Sir Douglas Quintet – not to be confused with “Crossroads” from Robert Johnson and Cream).

As mighty as the first set was, the Green Leaf Rustlers were just getting serious, and with gusto jumped into a second set, equally steeped in bold adaptations of durable honkey-tonk rockers. The opener, “Big Mouth Blues,” was another rollicking, twangy piece of music from the Gram Parsons catalog, circa 1973. Next up was a fine rendering of the old favorite, “In the Jailhouse Now,” a novelty song with uncertain origins but recorded first by Jimmie Rodgers (1928) and thereafter by many others, including Merle Haggard, Webb Pierce, Doc Watson, Soggy Bottom Boys, Johnny Cash, and the pre-Grateful Dead Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions. Subsequently, the band again sampled the work of Doug Sahm, circa 1974, with “Just Groove Me” and followed that with “Standin’” (Townes Van Zandt, 1971), and “Tried So Hard” (The Byrds’ Gene Clark, 1967).

With Sless now standing and playing electric guitar, the band shoveled more coal onto the fire with a furious version of The Byrds’ hit “So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” (1967), a stretched out version of Waylon Jennings’ mid-tempo “Waymore Blues” (1975), and “I’m a Ramblin’ Man” (Ray Pennington, 1967). The set concluded with J.J. Cale’s shuffling “Ride Me High” (1976), followed by an encore of George Jones’ 1956 ballad, “Just One More.”

Check out more photos from the show.

It was a good day. Redondo Beach, California’s, inaugural BeachLife Festival got off to a splendid start on Friday, May 3, with Bob Weir, Chris Robinson, Slightly Stoopid, and Steel Pulse leading the way, and the undercard featuring lots of roots-reggae rock, all of which colorfully defined the SoCal beach vibe. Cool breezes from the adjacent Santa Monica Bay and the Pacific Ocean kept temperatures in the 60s while the early May SoCal sun beamed down on several thousand rosy-faced attendees.

Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir’s latest project, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros closed out the day’s festivities. After joining San Diego’s Slightly Stoopid’s acoustic roots set for spirited versions of The Grateful Dead’s “Franklins Tower” and Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” Weir, flanked by Wolf Brothers Don Was (bass) and Jay Lane (drums), reappeared a short time later on the High Tide (main) stage.

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros’ style is to reproduce Grateful Dead/Bob Weir catalog favorites in new, slow-to-mid-tempo arrangements that has Weir deftly handling both lead and rhythm guitar duties while accompanied by longtime collaborator Lane on drums and Was, a legendary record executive and fine stand-up bass player. Setting the tone for a beachside sunset set, and after a band introduction by long-time Grateful Dead crew Steve "Big Steve" Parish (aka Road Scholar for Moonalice), the trio began with laid-back offerings of The Grateful Dead’s “Jack Straw” and “Cassidy.” “Only a River" followed, one of the standout ballads from Weir’s 2016 “Blue Mountain” project. A perfect-for-a-sunset-at-the-beach version of the traditional (and Grateful Dead oft-performed) “Peggy O” was next and then long-time Dead Heads, many in attendance if one count’s Grateful Dead T-shirts as unofficial proof, nodded to one and other as the trio moved on to “Me & Bobby McGee,” the famed Kris Kristofferson standard The Grateful Dead performed in the early 1970s.

The set moved onto RatDog’s inventive “Two Djinn,” and a spacey/jammy “The Other One,” which has been part of The Grateful Dead consciousness for 52 years. Eventually, the latter half of the set moved on to the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter ballad, “Standing on the Moon,” nicely pleasing after day had turned into night”; Weir’s long-time Grateful Dead staple “Music Never Stopped; and “Easy Answers,” a tune written by the late Rob Wasserman and adopted by The Grateful Dead in the early 1990s.

In an unscheduled moment, Chris Robinson and Jackie Greene then bounded onto the stage and attendees rose to the occasion marked by a beach party version of the standard “Not Fade Away,” which ended many a-Grateful Dead show. After the smoke had cleared, the trio returned for a soulful rendering of the Grateful Dead’s forever-loved lullaby, “Ripple.”

The climax of the day’s events arguably occurred a couple of hours earlier by a raucous, rocking performance by Chris Robinson and his As the Crow Flies outfit, a band that spotlights plenty of material by the Black Crowes. With Robinson and long-time collaborator Jackie Greene guesting on lead guitar and backup vocals, the band rocked out from the start with boisterous versions of The Black Crowes’ “Remedy” and “Sting Me.”

Robinson’s name has been hot on social media in the past week as it was announced concurrently that longtime Chris Robinson Brotherhood (and As the Crow Flies) keyboardist Adam MacDougal has left the Brotherhood and that the CRB was taking a hiatus. And yet, onstage Friday, Robinson never seemed happier, dancing about and twirling his mic as Greene and the rest of the band packed a heckuva punch, with the closing sequence composed of “Hard to Handle,” and “Hush,” recorded most notably by Deep Purple in 1968. The band’s keyboard player Joel Robinow from The Once and Future Band.

Seven-piece Slightly Stoopid closed out Friday’s fun on the Low Tide Stage, which offered a vast beach-sand viewing area (as opposed to the High Tide Stage’s manicured grassy meadow). In a lead-up to their How I Spent My Summer Vacation Tour, Kyle McDonald and Miles Doughty (trading off on guitar and bass) were seated front and center while leading the band in a set of material (before and after Weir made his guest appearance), with a salvo of San Diego-rooted reggae/hip-hop/strumming rock.

Led by band co-founder David Hinds, Steel Pulse dazzled the Low Tide Stage area prior to Slightly Stoopid. With their typical inclusiveness and human unification advocacy, the British band, which has been a force in the reggae music scene for more than 40 years, set forth their musical messages to the beach and seemingly, the world.

Bruce Hornsby’s late-afternoon set was well received. A late-1980s hit machine, and guest keyboardist at more than 100 Grateful Dead concerts, Hornsby has matured with class and style. Smiling and clearly enjoying himself during the performance, he and the band opened with the title track from his new project, “Absolute Zero,” as well as “Castoff,” which Hornsby said he’d be performing on May 8 on “Jimmy Kimmel Live."

The set, which featured Hornsby on piano and on the dulcimer, included “Circus on the Moon,” “Country Doctor,” “White Wheeled Limousine,” and “Little Sadie.” A peculiar component of the performance was a tech person who was stationed within three feet of Hornsby for most of the set, so that when the audience gazed up at Hornsby, the technician was also right there.

Earlier in the day, Roots of Creation opened the proceedings on the Rip Tide Stage. Noting that Bob Weir was set to perform later in the day, the ska/reggae-rock jam band leaned heavily on its new release, “Grateful Dub: a Reggae infused tribute to the Grateful Dead." The performance began with a “Shakedown Street” into “Casey Jones” pairing, and also included “Deal,” “Sugaree,” and a lovely “China Cat Sunflower” into “Fire on the Mountain.”

Donavon Frankenreiter and his band performed early in the day on the Low Tide Stage.

Anuhea’s Hawaiian-influenced songs were perfect for a day at the beach.

The Higgs kicked ass on their set at the Rip Tide Stage.

Check out more photos from day 1 @ BeachLife.

Illustrious musicians from the vanguard to the nostalgic, some of who began plying their craft in the ‘60s, and others who are poised for big recognition in the 2020s, all shared a distinctive Southern California seaside aesthetic at the inaugural BeachLife Festival May 3 to 5. BeachLife, the biggest fest ever to blast its jukebox along the Santa Monica Bay at Redondo Beach, combined sun, sounds, sand, and surf and passed its acid test with flying colors.

The fest began with a pre-noon alt-surf-rock set on Friday by local band Alinea, who noted that theirs was the opening performance at the first-ever BeachLife Fest with the apt observation, “If you're missing this set, you're missing history.” The event, which drew upwards of 10,000 colorful attendees, ended Sunday night with a sunset serenade by Willie Nelson and Family. The weather was splendid throughout, with highs in the upper 60s – for which some folks were outfitted in long sleeves and long pants, and others in shorts and bathing suits.

Music was offered from three stages. Both supporting audiences of several thousand, the High Tide Stage, standing tall in front of a cool, grassy meadow, was officially the main stage, as opposed to the Low Tide Stage, also giant, which offered a vast beach-sand viewing area. The Low Tide Stage, a recipient of direct and brisk ocean breezes, offered its own cooler microclimate. A third, Rip Tide Stage flourished as well, with a steady battery of up-and-coming acts, mostly hailing from the Los Angeles area. The audio was awesome throughout as music co-mingled with ocean breezes and pleasing vantage points. Perks for VIP audience members, who paid extra for a three-day pass, included a pool and access to decks at the large stages with elevated stage views.

There was actually a fourth, so-called “SideStage,” in which select SoCal chefs – David LeFevre, Michael Cimarusti and Tin Vuong – were the stars, presiding over a 50-seat, sit-down, pop-up restaurant. The SideStage gave those who plunked down an additional $150 per person an upscale multi-course dining experience just feet from the main stage.

“We threw a massive, highly curated beach party for thousands of our closest friends all set to a soundtrack of iconic bands and legendary musicians who embody the California beach lifestyle, and it was incredible,” BeachLife co-founder Allen Sanford rightly stated after the event. “From the unforgettable performances to the perfect Southern California weather and the never-before-seen mashup of cuisine and music at our SideStage restaurant, BeachLife exceeded all expectations.”

In addition to music choices, attendees strolled through several mini settings of fun and goodness. A stroll on the beach away from the Low Tide Stage viewing area led to a whole host of choices – available to all attendees – including an arts area, a large and festive outdoor bar, ping-pong tables, gourmet food, upscale shopping, and a separate “Wine Town” with its own wine and fine food offerings, including paella and pizza. Art, to be admired, purchased, or created on the spot adorned the avenue between the Low Tide and High Tide stages. And between the High Tide and Rip Tide stages, separate areas to purchase some 40 types of beer on draft, gourmet food trucks, and other food vendors, as well as a large picnic table area for consumption were popular throughout the weekend.

No one embodies the culture of sun, sand, and surf more than the Beach Boys, and 58 years after they began making hits, Brian Wilson, flanked by Beach Boy co-founder Al Jardine, Blondie Chapman –whose days with the Beach Boys date back to the early 1970s – and more than a dozen accompanying musicians, headlined Saturday’s revelry. Performing two  dozen songs in 75 minutes, the set of quintessential Beach Boys songs included “California Girls,” “I Get Around,” “Little Deuce Coupe,”  “Help Me Rhonda”, “Good Vibrations”, “God Only Knows”, ”Don’t Worry Baby,” Sail on Sailor,” “Good Vibrations,” and “Fun, Fun, Fun.”

In Saturday’s penultimate set, San Diego-based Jason Mraz and his 10-piece Superband, which includes the four-member, all-female Raining Jane, made their mark with a collective blend of reggae/pop/rap that provided perfect cinematics for the BeachLife vibe. A weekend moment to treasure came during Mraz’s set, when he performed the reggae-lite big hit, “I’m Yours,” which he said that he and bandmate Toca Rivera performed for Mraz’s wife at their wedding. His set also included “I Won’t Give Up,” and “Lucky.”

The Violent Femmes also excelled during their anticipated set at the High Tide Stage late in the day Saturday. The folk-punk core trio, including founding members Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie, as well as drummer John Sparrow, performed old favorites, including “Blister on the Sun,” “Gone Daddy Gone,” “Add it Up,” “Kiss Off,” as well as a cover of Patti Smith’s apropos “Redondo Beach.”

Chevy Metal on Saturday turned in one of the most talked-about performances of the weekend. Led by vocalist Taylor Hawkins (drummer for the Foo Fighters), lead guitarist Mick Murphy, and bass player Wiley Hodgden, the classic rock cover band churned out a big beach party mix from L.A.-based Van Halen’s catalog, including “Too Hot for Teacher,” “Runnin’ With the Devil,” “Panama,” “Everybody Wants Some," and “Jamie’s Cryin’.” Weezer co-founder Pat Wilson joined the band for set ender “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love.”

Dawes, who also hails from Los Angeles, delivered a pleasant set of unpretentious mid-tempo-rock at the Low Tide Stage, with vocalist/guitarist Taylor Goldsmith garnering most of the attention. Dawes’ set included “Roll With the Punches,” “When The Tequila Runs Out,”  and concluded with “All Your Favorite Bands.”

Everclear, who performed “I Will Buy You a New Life,” “Father of Mine,” and finished with the geographically appropriate “Santa Monica” and Los Angeles-based post-punk synth/electro-pop band Berlin, opened the High Tide Stage action on Saturday. Berlin’s Terri Nunn, performed several of her classics, including, “Sex, I’m A …” the band’s breakout single, from yikes, 36 years ago. Nunn and company also delighted the noontime crowd with powerful renderings of “The Metro,” as well as “No More Words,” the ballad “Take My Breath Away” (from the film “Top Gun”), and more.

Another Los Angeles act, the grungy indie power-pop band Best Coast, whose sound and attitude have been influential to many during their 10-year tenure, featured the core duo of front-woman-vocalist/songwriter/guitarist Bethany Cosentino‘s ethereal voice, which rode the waves of Bob Bruno’s guitar work. The set featured “The Only Place,” “California Nights,” “Crazy For You,” and a rocking cover of The Muppets “Rainbow Connection” from Best Coast’s “Best Kids” album.

Opening the Low Tide Stage on Saturday was the charismatic Sugar Ray, who regaled the toes-in-sand audience with a set that included ‘90’s faves, “Someday,” “Every Morning,” “When It’s Over,” and even The Ramone’s “Blitzkrieg Bop,” before closing with “Fly.”

Sixty-two years after releasing his first single, “No Place for Me,” American icon Willie Nelson (and Family) commanded full attention during their festival-ending set during sunset on Sunday night. In fine guitar and voice at 86, the Texas country-music legend’s High Tide Stage set included such classics as “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground,” and On the Road Again,” and concluded with The Doors’ Robbie Krieger and Blues Travelers’ John Popper guesting on a medley of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?”, “I'll Fly Away,” and “I Saw the Light.”

Prior to that, Ziggy Marley and his band concluded the festival’s Low Tide Stage proceedings with plenty of heartfelt songs that acted as calls to action for social justice and activism. The band performed several such songs from its current album, “Rebellion Rises,” including the title track, in which Marley’s children got into the act as well, singing backup vocals, as well as “We Are the People,” and “See Dem Fake Leaders.” The large reggae ensemble included a terrific roster of players who also delivered on “Love is My Religion” and “Beach in Hawaii,”  as well as Bob Marley and the Wailers classics, “One Love,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” and “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry).” 

But it was Grace Potter who turned in arguably the most exciting performance on Sunday. Performing on the High Tide Stage, the powerfully talented and charismatic rocker turned the fest on its head with an explosive version of her opening number, “Medicine,” in which she danced, sang, played guitar, and keyboards. The set moved on from there, with Potter and her commanding presence and bass and drum-driven five-piece band delivering “Stars,” “Nothing But the Water,” “Loneliest Soul” (with a section of the Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love”), as well as Jackie DeShannon’s 1960s hit, “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” and the final tune, “Paris (Ohh La La),” that started with a bit of Janis Joplin’s “Try.”

John Popper’s unique blues ‘n’ boogie harmonica flourishes reached all corners of the Seaside Lagoon festival site during Blues Traveler’s satisfying main stage performance on Sunday. Along with co-founding members Chan Kinchla and Brendan Hill, as well as the rest of the lineup that has remained static since 2000, Blues Traveler entertained the crowd with spirited versions of “Run Around,” “Hook,” “Carolina Blues,” “Mountains Win Again,” and a cover of Sublime’s “What I Got.”

Like Blues Traveler, fellow H.O.R.D.E Festival alumni Big Head Todd and the Monsters, have recently celebrated 30 years as a band. Colorado-based “Big Head” Todd Park Mohr and the rest of the “monsters” delivered a fine set of pop-rock material from the Low Tide Stage that included “Bittersweet” and “Broken Hearted Savior.”

Colin Hay, most remembered and revered for his material while fronting Men at Work, has maintained a busy solo career ever since. Hay and his band, which includes his wife, Cecilia Noël, on tambourine and vocals, entertained the Low Tide Stage audience Sunday afternoon with a pleasing set of material that included “Who Can it Be Now,” “It’s a Mistake,” and “Down By the Sea.”

Quick-picking folk/bluegrass/rocker Keller Williams, properly decked out in a suit, opened High Tide Stage activities on Sunday with a “Grateful Gospel” set. Williams’ website states that the purpose of Grateful Gospel is to present “the spiritual side of Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia songs performed in the style of black gospel music, meant to be performed on a festival stage on Sunday mornings.”

The five-piece band, which included renowned Bay Area lead guitarist Stu Allen, also uncharacteristically wearing a suit, along with a three-women backup vocal section, pleased the crowd. Bouncing from one piece of music to the next, Williams and the band delivered inspirational renderings of “Eyes of the World,” “I Need a Miracle,” “Here Come Sunshine,” “Midnight Moonlight,” “I’ll Be With Thee,” “St. Stephen,” “Who Was John,” “Ride Mighty High,” “My Sisters and Brothers,” and “Ripple.”

Venice, a band of two sets of brothers from nearby Venice, California, performed Sunday’s opening set on the Low Tide Stage.

The Rip Tide Stage presented five acts on Saturday that satisfied their current fan bases while gaining exposure to a big-fest audience. Veteran Hermosa Beach, California, reggae rock Tomorrows Bad Seeds closed out the Rip Tide performances on Saturday, with the magnetic Moises Juarez fronting the band on vocals. Their set included “Rolling In,” a song written by Juarez one day as he sat at the Redondo Beach shoreline break wall.

His Eyes Have Fangs – best band name of the weekend – made the most of its Rip Tide Stage set late in the day on Saturday. With Rachel Rainwater front and center delivering dreamy, beguiling vocals atop the local grunge-rock band that includes her brother Matthew and local skateboarding pioneer Tony Alva, the band’s unique, hypnotizing sound turned a lot of heads.

Local singer/songwriter V Torres and her 80%-female band of the same name delivered a fun ‘n’ rocking set, including new single, “Top of the Road,” Saturday on the Rip Tide Stage. Making for an especially powerful quintet, Kira Lingman from The Hollow Legs, who opened Sunday’s festivities on the Rip Tide Stage, took on lead guitar duties with V Torres.

Barley, an inventive eight-piece California-flavored Americana band from Redondo Beach, had an especially robust set of fans in attendance at its Rip Tide Stage set on Saturday. Composed of two lead singers and a bevy of talented players, including Nate LaPointe, who is also a vocalist and guitar player for renowned Grateful Dead cover band, Cubensis, the band demonstrated their ability to bring their fine studio material to the live stage, with songs such as “Sunshine” and “Neverland.” Before their final tune, “California,” Barley’s Jay Constable pointed and said, “the place we played every Sunday was over there, on the rocks. It’s really weird. Now we’re here at this big festival, and we’ve only made it about 30 feet.”

The Rip Tide Stage on Sunday included sets by the following: Matt Costa, Charley Overbey, Lost Beach, Poncho Sanchez, Chris Pierce, and the Hollow Legs.

Check out our review of Friday @ BeachLife Festival here.

The fest’s promo partners, including the big ones – Coors Light, Subaru and Body Glove – each had a distinctive yet tasteful presence. A fine bunch of nonprofit awareness/advocacy partners were also on-hand, including the Surfrider Foundation (“Protecting our playground – the ocean, waves, and beaches”), Walk With Sally (“Mentoring children with loved ones affected by cancer”), 5 Gyres (“Empowering action against the global health crisis of plastic pollution”), Life Rolls On (“Dedicated to improving the quality of life for people living with various disabilities”), the Rob Machado Foundation (“Educating and empowering young people to make sustainable choices”), and the Redondo Beach Police Foundation (“Invested in the public safety of Redondo Beach”).

One of America’s most revered current touring outfits, the Grammy Award-winning Tedeschi Trucks Band with the legendary Los Lobos in tow, delivered a thrilling rock, blues, and soul performance at Sacramento’s venerable Memorial Auditorium on May 21.

Following a splendid hour-long set from Los Lobos, that little old band from East L.A. that “has been doing this shit for 45 years,” co-founding member Cesar Rosas said with a smile, the husband-and-wife team of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks presided over their 12-piece ensemble’s marathon set that was all at once dazzling, exhilarating, intense, and classy. The show spotlighted Trucks’ seemingly effortless scintillating blues and slide-guitar passages alongside Tedeschi’s raw and raspy, emotional vocals and ample guitar licks.

The ensemble’s six-piece horns-and-more section were certainly a strong ingredient to the mix and included at different junctures as called for by different songs, trumpet, trombone, and saxophone, shakers, tambourine, and backup vocals. Though Tedeschi delivered most of the lead vocals, “backup vocalist” Mike Mattison delivered smooth, expressive lead vocals on several tunes. And Trucks let his guitar do his singing, marked by several super flourishes of rock and blues, with plenty of world-class slide passages.

Highlights included a 19-minute poignant-jazz-to-mightily-impassioned “Midnight in Harlem” and a jewel of a blues performance of Elmore James old “The Sky is Crying,” which included peak moments of Trucks’ slide, Tedeschi’s raucous vocals, and extra guitar mastery courtesy of Los Lobos’ Cesar Rosas. Immediately thereafter came a 20-minute “Leaving Trunk” -> “Volunteer Slavery” that included extended jams featuring Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo on guitar and Steve Berlin on baritone sax.

The Tedeschi-Trucks Band displayed the personnel, skills, and muscle to deliver powerful, quintessential versions of any blues, rock, and/or jazz tune of its choosing – as demonstrated by the jammed-out treatments of Derek and the Dominoes throwback “Keep on Growing,” Bob Dylan (and The Band’s) “Down in the Flood,” Willie Nelson’s ballad “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces,” the Tedeschi Trucks’ rock-orchestra version of “The Letter” by the Box Tops, and set closer “Show Me” from the Joe Tex catalog. Another such gem served as the encore: the Ashford and Simpson-penned “Let’s Go Get Stoned,” recorded way before such notions were socially acceptable in the mid-60s by such luminaries as Ray Charles, The Coasters, and Ronnie Milsap.

The band also offered some live pieces of music from their new project, “Signs,” specifically the funky “Signs, High Times,” epic/lengthy and bluesy “Shame,” and the slide-filled “When Will I Begin,” all of which the band performed at a live set recorded on May 15 in Los Angeles for “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Still not yet 40, Derek Trucks (nephew of Allman Brothers Band drummer/co-founder Butch Trucks) first appeared on the radar of many after he first sat in with the Allman Brothers while he was just 13, and then joining the band for 15 years. And some got their first infusion of Susan Tedeschi in the 1990s when she began leading her own band, or when she was part of the Lilith Fair in 1999, B.B. King’s Blues Festival tour in 2000 or with The Other Ones in 2002.

Certainly, the loss of long-time Tedeschi Trucks Band and Derek Trucks band keyboardist and flautist Kofi Burbridge in February 2019 still stings. Moving forward, however, keyboardist Gabe Dixon did a commendable job while putting his own keyboard stamp into the band’s mix. New bass player Brandon Boone also turned in a fine performance.

At 45 years, Los Lobos’ longevity is been matched by few, but even more impressive is the core four members have been static since the early ‘70s: Hidalgo, Rosas, Louie Perez, and Conrad Lozano, along with “latecomer” Steve Berlin, who joined Los Lobos in 1984.

Los Lobos, on stage precisely at 7 p.m., weaved their way through a set that began with several acoustic quick-quick tempo and distinctly Mariachi-flavored numbers, including “Canto a Veracruz,” with Rosas on guitar, Lozano on Mexican guitarron, and Perez and Hidalgo on ukuleles.  Little by little, the band sprinkled in bolder, more rocked out electric Tex-Mex sounds – and instruments – till they morphed into an exuberant hard-rock/rockabilly/blues force, yet never straying far from their conjunto roots. Los Lobos’ set included “Evangeline,” “Chains of Love,” “Chuco’s Cumbia,” and their signature take on The Grateful Dead’s “Bertha,” a crowd-pleasing set closer.

Originally opened in 1927, Sacramento’s 3,850 seat Memorial Auditorium has had many an-illustrious event transpire under its roof and with this particular show, Tedeschi-Trucks Band and Los Lobos re-christened the hall at this, the first pubic event after a year-long a $16.2 million renovation project to improve the acoustics, lighting, seating, stage floor, and dressing rooms.

Posters on one of the promenade walls feature entertainment that appeared way back when, including the October 11, 1955: Louis Jordan and his Orchestra and The Drifters; March 4, 1965: Peter, Paul & Mary; May 2, 1959: The Coasters, Ernie Freeman and his Orchestra; May 22, 1965: Rolling Stones and The Byrds (May 22 poster date; show appears to have taken place on May 23); March 10, 1968: The Grateful Dead and Cream; June 15, 1968: The Doors; and December 22, 1970: The Grateful Dead and New Riders of the Purple Sage.

Tedeschi Trucks Band set: Laugh About It; Don’t Know What It Means; The Letter; When Will I Begin; Part Of Me; Down In The Flood; Keep On Growing; Somebody Pick Up My Pieces; Signs, High Times; The Sky Is Crying (w/ Cesar Rosas); Leavin’ Trunk/Volunteer Slavery (w/ David Hidalgo & Steve Berlin); Shame; Midnight In Harlem; Show Me Encore: Let’s Go Get Stoned

Check out more photos from the show.

Three-and-one-half years into its tenure, Dead & Company launched its summer 2019 tour on May 31 in the spacious Shoreline Amphitheatre, in the South San Francisco Bay region where The Grateful Dead legacy began more than 50 years ago.

On this night, the band came out of the chute with two concert monsters, “Playing in the Band” followed by “Shakedown Street,” epic live experiences both due to their extended jams and iconic lyrics (i.e., “Some folks look for answers, others look for fights” and “Don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart; ya just gotta poke around.”)  During this opening sequence, all cast members, Bob Weir and John Mayer on guitars, Oteil Burbridge on bass, Jeff Chimenti on keyboards, and Grateful Dead icons Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart on drums, nicely threw their dynamisms into the mix and found common ground that re-established their collective, onstage music magic.

As the twin big song set openers shook off any cobwebs within the band, bringing them up to full collaborative nimbleness, the same seemed true for some 20,000 folks assembled in the venue. Some concertgoers came off a leisurely pre-show visit to the unofficial merry, and colorful – in wares and personalities -- parking lot marketplace, while others came directly from a Friday workday, encountering on the way in certain levels of traffic and line-waiting, depending on their arrival time to the scene.

The first set moved on with a comfortable-as-an-old-shoe “Brown-Eyed Women” followed by first-time-ever Dead & Company version of “Mama Tried,” which included Merle Haggard’s opening and final instrumental flourishes absent from The Grateful Dead’s oft-played rendering of the song. While it was the first Dead & Company “Mama Tried,” it certainly wasn’t a remarkable occurrence, considering Weir has performed the song, post-Grateful Dead, with RatDog, during his Campfire Tour, and with Weir & Wolf Brothers as recently as March 2019.

The first set continued with “Peggy-O,” the lovely traditional tale Weir often revisits whether it be with this big band, trio, or as a solo performer. Next was “It Hurts Me Too,” the blues standard performed by many, including The Grateful Dead, most often back in 1972. Mayer’s treatment of the song, on both vocals and lead guitar, did not imitate Pigpen’s version, instead offering his own fine take. On we moved to one of Weir’s signature songs, “Black-Throated Wind,” before a crowd-pleasing “Casey Jones” ended the first set. Different from 2018, Chimenti and Burbridge have swapped places onstage, with the bass player now standing on the right, and Chimenti, now on the left, which led to several instances of Mayer and Chimenti playing off of each other.

Debates, some more vocal than others, about this band, continue, between those who love Dead & Company and its continuation of The Grateful Dead tour experience and those, many quite passionate in their opinion that (pick one or more) 1) this is a cover band that only has such a high profile – and ability to fill large venues due to its inclusion of the very non-Grateful Dead pedigreed pop star John Mayer; 2) they play too slow; and 3) the band, led by Weir, performs too many so-called Jerry Garcia songs, i.e. tunes that Garcia (with Robert Hunter) wrote and poured his soul into before his passing that signaled the official end of The Grateful Dead in 1995.

Supporters of the band easily brush off such criticisms, with judicious statements that 1) the band has always evolved, most notably at the keyboard slot, from Pigpen (and Tom Constanten) to Keith Godchaux, to Brent Mydland, and to Vince Welnick and critics are in essence fuddy-duddies who need to recognize Mayer’s acumen for this catalog of music and get over themselves; 2) a slower-paced song approach that sometimes accents tone over pace doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not as good; and 3) as Weir addressed in a very recent “GQ” exposé, writer Brett Martin wrote, “What is his answer to those people? Weir shrugs and throws open his hands in a gesture of futility: ‘Don't come to my shows.’”

Another, easier answer to all of these concerns or criticisms, rightly founded or not,  may be the most appropriate of all – Just Shut Up and Dance! Indeed, isn’t the love of these Grateful Dead songs reason enough to perpetuate them, especially by a band with three if its core members? The canon of Grateful Dead material occupies its own music genre of American music, selections of which are performed by countless other high-profile performers and more than 300 so-called Grateful Dead tribute bands across the land.

And taking the show opener, for instance, certainly, Weir and the rest of the band would agree that this night’s version of “Playing” was not a full-on bedazzled reminiscence of some grandiose “Europe 72”-era version of the song. But some who might’ve cast it off as a sleepy, uninspired version, wouldn’t (or didn’t) allow themselves to soak up this beautiful, jazzy rendering, nicely suitable for a tour opening tune.

Which brings us back to the show itself. Following a long break, the band returned with a big, bountiful combo of “Scarlet Begonias” -> “Fire on the Mountain,” with Burbridge taking lead vocals on “Fire.” The long-beloved Garcia/Hunter ballad, “Althea” followed, in which Mayer drew some crowd reaction when the famous-for-being-unattached star sang the line, “I was born to be a bachelor.”

The song selection thereafter read like a set list straight out of the 1980s. Again, perspective is important. For some who followed the Grateful Dead carnival in those days and wore out tapes from that time, the song choices could’ve seemed trite. While others, including a big percentage of fans in attendance who judging by their apparent ages, never saw The Grateful Dead – the band last played 24 years ago; you do the math — were thrilled for the opportunity to take in a big ol’ “Estimated Prophet” -> “Eyes of the World.”

Following the obligatory “Drums” and “Space” portion of the show, the set’s closing sequence included “The Wheel,” always emotional ballad, “Wharf Rat,” and a slow-at-the-start but rousing-by-the-end “Sugar Magnolia.” The encore, The Band’s “The Weight,” gave each vocalist (Weir, Mayer, Burbridge, and even Chimenti) a turn at the mic, as it did years ago when The Grateful Dead performed it.

Post-show reflection 1: The band interestingly still shies away from tunes penned or sung by Mydland, The Grateful Dead’s longest-tenured keyboardist.

Post-show reflection 2: While grilled cheese sandwiches and veggie burritos may still flourish along the so-called Shakedown Street parking area scene, the comforts available to show-goers continue to expand. Most of us first got a whiff of the changing Dead Head demographic in 1984 when Don Henley sung in “Boys of Summer, “Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac; A little voice inside my head said ‘Don't look back, you can never look back.’”

Inside Shoreline, in addition to the awesome nonprofit causes promoted along Dead & Company’s Participation Row, Mercedes showroom models that dotted the venue’s promenades also drew interested tie-dyed attendees. Wine was offered by the bottle, and several levels of increasingly expensive VIP and Super VIP  ticket options came with their own perks and privileges. There was even a Fast Lane entry process (think Disney Fast Pass), in which one can prepay a little extra for the privilege of entering the venue in an exclusive, less crowded line.

Set One: Playing in the Band, Shakedown Street, Brown-Eyed Women, Mama Tried, Peggy-O, It Hurts Me Too, Black-Throated Wind, Casey Jones. Set Two: Scarlet Begonias, Fire on the Mountain, Althea, Estimated Prophet, Eyes of the World, Drums/Space, Wheel, Wharf Rat, Sugar Magnolia. E: The Weight

Check out more photos from the show.

Set again for the long Fourth of July weekend in a beauteous, mountainous locale, the 29th annual High Sierra Music Festival is almost upon us. And tickets are still available via highsierramusic.com. Operating out of a fairgrounds in the town of Quincy, California, where the elevation is roughly double the population – except for festival weekend when the local population balloons to about 8,000 like-minded folks – the big jammy-music jamboree will undoubtedly again satisfy the bohemian itch of revelers of all ages. Diverse headliners include Dispatch, Umphrey’s McGee, Greensky Bluegrass, Jim James, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Steel Pulse, and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong.

One of the most prominent music fests in California, above and beyond the big, bold list of musical acts, the Plumas-Sierra County Fairgrounds should be suitably fashioned into a Shangri-la for free-spirits, buoyed by such activities as parades, playshops, and plenty of pleasantries lurking behind the next corner. The many stages and their surrounds, including vast camping areas, are made more colorful by the attendees themselves via their tie-dyes, parasols, sunglasses and other festival fare, including those who match the theme of the day. This year’s costume themes are “Bangle Your Spangle” (Thursday / July 4), “Cowboys & Aliens” (Friday), “Sunshine Sparkle” (Saturday), and “HSMF Cape Crusaders” (Sunday).

Singer/songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Cris Jacobs got properly immersed in the High Sierra scene for the first time in 2018. This year, the 41-year-old Baltimore, Maryland, native who dabbles in a mélange of alt-country, roots, and Americana music, is back, and is set to perform with his band (in support of “Color Where You Are,” released April 2019 on the Blue Rose Music label) and with several other batches of musicians at High Sierra.  That is after he finishes up a week of shows hopscotching the country with Phil Lesh and Friends. Grateful Web recently caught up with Jacobs to discuss High Sierra.

GRATEFUL WEB: Where are you speaking to us from?

CRIS JACOBS: Baltimore. We were actually just rehearsing for a set we’re doing at High Sierra. We’re doing a Credence Clearwater Revival set that’s gonna be awesome!

GW: You are set to perform a prolific five times: with The Cris Jacobs Band (4 p.m. Friday and 12:45 p.m. Saturday), the aforementioned Creedence tribute (2 p.m. Friday), at a Troubadour acoustic session (midnight Friday, with ALO’s Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz and Zac Gill, as well as Reid Genauer), and a set honoring The Rolling Stones “Let it Bleed” LP, (3:30 p.m. Saturday with a varietal of several other fine musicians). You are not listed officially as an “artist at large” but I get the feeling that you meet that definition.

CJ: Yeh, man. It’s all gonna be great! That’s what I love about High Sierra – how involved you get to be as opposed to kind of like rolling in, playing your 45 minutes/hour set, and rolling out. You get to hang for a few days.

GW: Last year was your first High Sierra, right? After all, you are based out of Baltimore, a long way away. What are some of the things that you like most about this fest – up in the northern California mountains? It’s pretty large yet still has a “family” feel. Always a whole lot of collaborations between musicians. You like that stuff, I assume?

CJ: Yeh. I love California. I love the weather, and just the vibe out there. Like I was saying, you get to hang out for a few days with the other musicians and play a bunch of my own sets that are both decent size <in duration> and then also some other stuff. It’s not like a usual festival thing, where you see your buddies in other bands and then have to go. And you can’t watch their set or hang out. It’s like in and out. You get this quick frantic 45-minute set where you have to pack it in and out. It’s like this time you get two nice long sets and other <performance> stuff, and you feel like you got your money’s worth. That’s what I like about it.

GW: Do you have any details about this tribute to “Let it Bleed” set?

CJ: We’re not really leading that, but we were asked to participate. I kind of know songs that I’m in on, and that’s about it. There won’t be any rehearsal really (laughs).

GW: How did you get linked up to High Sierra?

CJ: I have to give credit to <festival co-founder/co-producer> Dave Margulies. He approached us at DelFest last year and introduced himself. We had a really nice hang with him, and he mentioned that he was involved with High Sierra and with some of the same people we’ve been working with. I’m very grateful that he kind of took us in with the family there; it’s really nice.

GW: I guess they liked your participation in 2018, because they asked you back – in a big way.

CJ: Yes. I think we got in the spirit a lot last year so they had us back and we’re game. We talked to Dave and a bunch of people that run the festival, and they were kind of asking us for some ideas for some of the playshops. We threw a bunch of stuff out at ‘em, and one of the things I was looking at was just the fact that it’s 2019. I was looking back at what was happening 50 years ago and in ‘69 Creedence put out three records that year with all those hits. I love that music. We were just kind of saying, “This was fuckin’ awesome.” It fits our band pretty well. We have two guitarists. So we presented that along with some other things. So, we’re psyched; it was so fun to do today.

Dave was definitely the one as the fest was approaching. He called me and encouraged me to get involved with some other stuff and encouraging any ideas that I had for playshops or for letting other musicians know they can hit me up if they wanted me to sit it and stuff. I have to give the credit it to him for recognizing that we were the kind of guys who would be into that. Not everybody is, I’m sure. Some people like to just sit on their bus and do their set and then go sit on their bus again. But we’re not like that. We like to play. We’re there. We’re ready to hang.

GW: Aside from the big sets on the big stages, I’ve enjoyed the Troubadour sessions in the little Mineral Building several times over the years. Just four musicians, four chairs, and each person taking turns on leading songs.

CJ: I’m happy to be in on that Troubadour session. I did one last year as well. It was awesome. It was such a cool vibe. I’m psyched to be there again this year. I love it.

GW: You are officially on the schedule for Friday and Saturday. Might we also see you on Sunday?

CJ: We’ll be still hanging out on Sunday, so you never know. I think a few of the guys in my band are involved in a playshop or two on Sunday. I know there’s a slide guitar workshop that Jonathan Sloane, who plays guitar with me, is in on. But who knows? We’re flying out of there Monday so we’ll probably hang for most of the day on Sunday and see what kind of trouble we can get into.

GW: Let’s talk about your band. Can we expect to hear material from “Color Where You Are.”

CJ: Absolutely, yes. We’ll be doing my stuff. A lot of songs <from the new album> we really enjoy playing. “Under the Big Top,” “Rooster Coop,” “Painted Roads, “Buffalo Girls,” and “Holler and Hum” work real well live. We kind of try to stretch them out a little bit and have some fun with them. We’re not the kind of band that plays the studio versions.

GW: Might we hear any songs from your old band, The Bridge, catalog?

CJ: We do a couple, a handful of songs that make their way into the repertoire. You might see one or two.

GW: I see that you are with the Blue Rose Music label. How did that affiliation come about?

CJ: I met them, and we started talking, and I was just really impressed with the team and just the whole philosophy of the label. I also like what the Blue Rose Foundation is doing. So the more I  learned about what they were all about, I was just really impressed with that. My whole philosophy throughout my whole career is to surround myself with people that feel like family that I can trust. That’s what they’re all about too, nurturing this family atmosphere with all the artists and collaboration between them. I just really like the people that run the label and work the label and the way that they do things. It felt right to me so yes, I’m super happy to be on the team.

GW: I know that you recently performed at a Blue Rose Foundation benefit concert at The Fillmore in San Francisco with Jackie Greene and others. Was Blue Rose artist Jason Crosby at that show?

CJ: Yeh, that was a great show. A lot of fun also with Tim Bluhm and Greg <Loiacono> of the Mother Hips. Jason was not there, but I’m about to play with him next week at some Phil Lesh and Friends shows.

GW: That’s pretty awesome. I heard that you were playing on July 4th at Phil’s Terrapin Crossroads club in Marin County, California.

CJ: We are doing that, but I’m also playing in Phil and Friends next week. So that’s with Jason and some others – Luther Dickinson, John Molo, a couple of others. It’s gonna be a helluva time.

GW: How did your connection with Phil Lesh transpire?

CJ: I opened for Phil and the Terrapin Family band last year at Terrapin Crossroads on July 4th as well, the day before High Sierra. That was the first time I met Phil. I’m good buds with Grahame, his son, and we had done some things together. So they pulled me up on stage for the last tune of the night, and later that night I had a nice little chat with Phil. Nothing too involved, but then a month or two later as I was mowing the lawn I call got a call from his management asking if I wanted to do a show at the Hollywood Bowl with Phil and Friends. I did that, and I got another call to do these shows. So, I’m honored and super…  I don’t even know if there is a word to describe what it feels like because I’m also a huge Dead Head. I grew up on that music as did my parents, and the idea of me playing with Phil and bringing my dad out with me is awesome. He came out to Hollywood, and he’s coming out to all three of these I’m doing. It’s a very full circle kind of thing for me just because that music is what inspired me even to start playing in the first place. And so to be able to play that music with Phil, it's huge. Grahame’s a great guy a great player and Midnight North is a great band. He and Elliott <Peck> and Nathan <Graham> are coming to Baltimore at the end of August to do a little show with me in my hometown. They did that last year too for a couple nights. They’re just great people.

Carlos Santana, to paraphrase a funky expression, “tore the roof off that sucker,” on June 27 at a cool and comfortable evening outing near Sacramento, California. He and the band blasted out of the gate, following a big-screen montage of old Santana Woodstock-era footage, with an exhilarating version of “Soul Sacrifice,” the epic instrumental that made the country sit up and take notice 50 years ago, both on the band’s eponymous first record, as well as the forever indelible version performed at Woodstock. From that initial number, which morphed directly into the equally rhythmic and time-tested “Jin-go-lo-ba,” there was no question that Santana – the name and the band – were not only adequately up to the task of dishing out 50 years’ worth of favorites, but excelling in their ability and passion to do so.

True to his Latin-American roots, Carlos Santana, a Jalisco, Mexico native, led his band in Latino-influenced rock and blues (as well as jazz, salsa, and pop), a trademark of his sound since he established the Santana Blues Band in San Francisco in 1966. The 71-year-old big-band leader, global activist, and iconic lead guitarist dressed in white while sporting a jaunty fedora. He sizzled indefatigably for the entire length of the 2½-hour, all killer-no filler show. There were no gimmicks or tricks to help prop up a star who may have lost a step or two over the years. There was no need to. And his endless lead guitar flourishes, appropriately adapting with perfection based on the mood of each song, never felt self-indulgent. The outstanding musicianship from Santana and the full band’s cohesiveness made for one big songs-and-jam session/performance.

The opening salvo continued with “Evil Ways,” one of the band’s crucial early hits from the “Abraxas” record, which was released in 1970. Here, assuming the roles made famous by Gregg Rolie on the 1969 hit, David K. Mathews excelled on the song’s iconic B3 organ passages, and Ray Greene handled the lead vocal duties well, as he did along with Andy Vargas for much of the night. “Evil Ways” melded into a short segment of “A Love Supreme,” the John Coltrane jazz standard that appeared on Santana and John McLaughlin's 1973 record, “Love Devotion Surrender.” After Santana helped chant the vocals, “A love supreme, a love supreme, a love supreme – supreme, supreme,” the music momentarily stopped. And there on the big screen was the late famed concert promoter Bill Graham, who had a long association with Santana. He “addressed the crowd” with a video message, the audio version of which appears on Santana’s “Milagro” album: “Good evening; thank you for being with us. Welcome to a very, very special occasion. Some years ago, some of us heard and found a very special sound, about the joy of loving, the joy of giving, and thank God it’s with us this evening. Will you welcome from my heart, Santana?”

This led into "(Da Le) Yaleo," the opening track on “Supernatural,” which led into another “Supernatural” track, “Put Your Lights On,” vocalized by guitarist Tommy Anthony. As if on cue, thousands of people held up their lighters – oh, it’s 2019, they held up their phones on flashlight mode – as the lyrics swept over the expansive, sold-out amphitheater: “Hey now / All you sinners / Put your lights on / Put your lights on / Hey now / All you lovers / Put your lights on / Put your lights on.”

With no break in the action, the band returned to “Abraxas” for “Hope You’re Feeling Better,” which fed into a searing version of the instrumental “Blues for Salvador.” Then back into rip-snortin’ versions of heavy-hitting crowd pleasers from “Abraxas” – “Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen,” followed by, just like on the record, “Oye Como Va.”

After all of that, the show rose to an even higher plane with an impassioned version of The Zombies’ “She’s Not There,” which was a hit for Santana from the 1977 “Moonflower” LP. That song flowed into a fervent version of “Marbles,” a deep-into-the-catalog instrumental that appeared on a Carlos Santana / Buddy Miles collaboration from the early ‘70s. And then, Doobie Brothers’ original members, Tom Johnston, and Pat Simmons, sidled onto the stage, guitars in hand, and the now supergroup delivered fun versions of old FM-radio staples "Spill the Wine" (Eric Burdon and War) and "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" (Undisputed Truth, then The Temptations).

“Maria,” also from Supernatural,” followed, with its lyric, “Oh Maria / She fell in love in East L.A. / To the sounds of the guitar, yeah, yeah / Played by Carlos Santana.” Then, finally, a closing sequence came, with “Foo,” from the 2002 album, “Shaman,” followed by “Corazon Espinado,” and a lovely closing version of “Toussaint L’Ouverture” the latter of which was first heard on “Santana III” from 1971. Not a reference to Allen Toussaint, the song instead is a shout-out to Toussaint L'Ouverture, a former Haitian slave who eventually became a general and helped his country get its independence from France in 1804.

Not surprisingly, the band’s 28-minute encore was more than a quick send-off. A short video piece, “Sentient Sphere” quickly led into the jubilant “Are You Ready People,” a recent piece that included an epic Cindy Blackman Santana drum-kit solo. Santana then delivered one of his all-time most beautiful instrumental pieces of music, “Samba Pa Ti,” from “Abraxas.” Next was “Smooth,” a monster hit for Santana and Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas in 1999. The evening closed fittingly with a sweet message in “Love, Peace, and Happiness,” a Chambers Brothers original that Santana and The Isley Brothers recorded in 2017.

By any measure, having The Doobie Brothers as an opening act was a big conquest. With a catalog of hit songs that stretches back almost 50 years, the band was a tremendous warm-up act. Leading the way were aforementioned co-founders Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons, as well as John McFee, whose tenure with the band began in 1979. The group’s other proficient players included Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne, as well as John Cowan, who had a storied career with New Grass Revival and others before starting his second tour of duty with The Doobie Brothers in 2010.

The 2019 touring band hit on all cylinders as it performed hits from the entire span of its history: the early rock ‘n’ roll years led by Johnston’s lead vocals; the so-called “Michael McDonald years” in which the band took a more mellow approach (Cowan and others did a fine job mirroring McDonald’s old lyrics on songs such as “Takin’ it to the Streets”); and the 1993-to present era.

For those attendees who were there – many, many tales of fans voicing their accounts on social media about encountering a lot of trouble getting to the venue due to traffic congestion – enjoyed a steady stream of celebrated hits. Their hour-plus, 11-song set, which started off with “Rockin’ Down the Highway,” also included such favorites as “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While),” “Eyes of Silver,” “Jesus is Just Alright,” “Long Train Runnin’” (with obligatory harmonica jam), and rocking set ender, “China Grove.” A party-atmosphere encore consisted of “Black Water” (with obligatory fiddle jams) and joyful “Listen to the Music.”

The Doobie Brothers: Rockin' Down the Highway, Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While), Ukiah, Dark Eyed Cajun Woman, Clear as the Driven Snow, Eyes of Silver, Takin' It to the Streets, Jesus Is Just Alright, Long Train Runnin', Without You, China Grove. Encore: Black Water, Listen to the Music

Santana: Woodstock Intro (video screen), Soul Sacrifice, Jin-go-lo-ba, Evil Ways / A Love Supreme, (Da Le) Yaleo, Put Your Lights On, Hope You're Feeling Better / Salvador, She's Not There / Marbles, Spill The Wine / Papa Was a Rolling Stone (w/Doobies’ Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons), Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen, Oye Como Va, The Game of Love, Breaking Down the Door, Maria, Foo, Corazón Espinado, Toussaint L'Ouverture. Encore: Sentient Sphere (video screen), Are You Ready, Samba Pa Ti, Smooth, Love, Peace, and Happiness

Check out more photos from the show.

Music-fan tribes of all stripes gathered for the Independence Day weekend to luxuriate in the 29th annual High Sierra Music Festival in tiny Quincy, California, basking in the music, vibes, joy, and friendships old and new. Over the four-day celebration, among the beautiful clear-aired mountainous sky and mountains, fun oozed everywhere, from the scheduled and numerous unscheduled live performances and collaborations to the often luxurious and nicely appointed home bases set up in the campgrounds.

One of the biggest, most recognized music festivals in Northern California, the goings-on were rousing and dazzling, with its wide array of improvisational funk, rock, bluegrass, roots (and more) acts playing to a particularly colorful, free-spirited audience of several thousand each day. As usual, unscripted sideshows and surprise moments containing all sorts of artistic self-expression broke out constantly as the audience is just as big a part of the festivals as the bands themselves.

For the record, headlining acts included Dispatch (Saturday), Umphrey’s McGee (Friday), Greensky Bluegrass (Sunday), and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong (Thursday). Special participation awards should go to the fest’s official “at-large” musicians, who popped up all over the place: Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman, Skerik, and Maxwell Friedman. The MVP though had to be Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz; the ALO co-front man, ace guitarist, songwriter, and bandleader, who by his account performed during 17 sets over the weekend.

Boredom at High Sierra is not an option. In addition to the admirable and diverse musical fare offered up by more than 50 artists on the three main stages, there was, as always, plenty to see and do. “The Lawn” offered an array of activities, including yoga, slackline balancing, Hula Hooping, and the famed 5:30 a.m. kickball battles. The Family Village housed a colorful array of music, storytelling, crafts, and puppetry aimed at the younger humans in attendance. Gourmet food options, high-quality handmade crafts, and consciousness-raising tables also dotted the landscape.

Frenzied merrymakers and their more mellow music aficionado counterparts helped High Sierra confirm its reputation for physically and spiritually satisfying the desires of carefree revelers of all ages, both local and from afar. All in all, music ran until 1:30 am. On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, not counting the separately tickets late-night shows that carried on until about 3 a.m.

Another distinct part of the charm in addition to the pleasing landscapes, both mountainous and musical, was the ambiance, as well as production-team proficiency of all festival details. In addition to the three main outdoors stages, the festival utilizes permanent fairground buildings for additional themed musical “playshops.”  Daytime playshops offered in the big-barn-like High Sierra Music Hall, allowed attendees to see their favorite artists in an offbeat way, in one-of-a-kind collaborations with other musicians as they performed to themes like “By the Time We Got to Woodstock,” “Classic Album Hour: The Rolling Stones ‘Let it Bleed’,” and “Soul Queen Sunday: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin and Other Ladies of Soul.” Fairground buildings were also suitable settings for late-night shows, both acoustic and amplified. Pop-up performances at places like Camp Bitchin’ Kitchen, Camp Happiness, and Camp Zesty.

The wide acreage of campgrounds, at which musical performances could be piped in courtesy of Grizzly Radio broadcasts, were again host to lots of colorful home sites, some minimalist, some decorated and stocked to the highest degree. High Sierra also hosted a Shabbat tent, a giant community “Magic Foam” tub, and Family Village for all things kids-related, and several social justice information tables. Food, artisan booths, and a wide selection of craft beers were plentiful along the outdoor food court, the lawn, and in a ring around the main stage’s meadow.

Grateful Web took in the action on Friday and big chunks of Saturday and Sunday, represented below in photos:

Led by Chad Stokes Saturday night headliner Dispatch, one of the most successful indie bands ever, and who are also known for their humanitarian advocacy, made an indelible rocking impression. A band shout-out to bass player Pete Francis and in general to reduce stigma regarding depression and other mental health difficulties segued into a pleasing acoustic version of “Uncle John’s Band.”

Flamboyant vocalist Paul Janeway on Friday led the large Alabama-based St. Paul & the Broken Bones ensemble in an emotional, horn-enhanced rock ‘n’ soul throwback session on the Grandstand Stage.

The dynamic Rainbow Girls – Erin Chapin, Vanessa May, and Caitlin Gowdy – sang and strummed from their hearts, with plenty of humor mixed in, during several appearances over the weekend.

Dishing out some of the most unusual instrumental sounds, from a trio of baritone saxophone, trumpet, and drums, New York-based Too Many Zooz frontman Leo Pellegrino led the buskers-turned-stars in a couple of High Sierra performances. The band gained plenty of notoriety by backing Beyoncé and The Dixie Chicks at the Country Music Awards in 2016.

Jennifer Hartswick performed several times over the weekend, with Trey Anastasio band team member Natalie Cressman at her side. When she wasn’t playing trumpet,  Hartswick unleashed her bawdy vocal talents on such big numbers as Chaka Khan’s “Ain’t Nobody.”

Alt-country, roots, and Americana music singer/songwriter Cris Jacobs, pictured below during his band’s set on Friday at the Big Meadow Stage, also appeared several times over the weekend, including a raucous Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute set with his band earlier in the afternoon.

Los Angeles-based Dawes performed a fine set of unpretentious mid-tempo-rock on the Grandstand Stage early Friday evening.

Eddie Roberts fronted British funk/soul/jazz outfit New Mastersounds as they delivered a clever, classy, and upbeat set at the Grandstand Stage on Friday.

Star Kitchen, a new funk-soul outfit featuring bassist Marc Brownstein of the Disco Biscuits as well as bandmates from the Eric Krasno Band, Matisyahu, and John Legend, rocked the Big Meadow Stage on Friday.

Soul, funk, jazz, and gospel ensemble The Nth Power, along with guest horns, delivered a bold, reverential New Orleans-flavored tribute to Marvin Gaye late on Friday.

Friday’s midnight Troubadour session, always an intimate event with musicians on folding chairs trading off songs one by one to a small audience, included Reid Genauer, and Cris Jacobs, as well as Lebo and Zach Gill from ALO.

Out on their Wax On, Wax Off Tour, Umphrey’s McGee, one of the preeminent jam-rock bands in the land, immersed the Grandstand stage in spontaneous psychedelic improvisations.

Jim James, he of My Morning Jacket fame, and his band (and members of Amo Amo) dazzled onlookers during their Grandstand Stage performance on Saturday night with soaring emotional vocals over compelling acoustic guitar passages.

In ultimate ALO form, and in the midst of a psychedelic-tinged environment that stretched from the colorful audience to the stage, the jammy, jazzy, funky, poppy, electronica four-piece displayed its lively catalog of distinction in the most excellent of venues – after midnight on the Vaudeville Stage, with guests that included John Clark (Tea Leaf Green) and Maxwell Friedman.

Led by quick-strumming mandolinist/vocalist Ronnie McCoury and with banjo player Rob McCoury in the mix, the traditional bluegrass-pedigreed and Nashville-based Travelin’ McCourys, who won the 2019 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album, kept it simultaneously old-school and innovative on the Big Meadow Stage on Saturday night.

Sliding a bit east from their Bay Area homesteads, and led by Elliott Peck and Grahame Lesh, Midnight North played a couple of sets, including a proper rock-out on the Vaudeville Stage on Saturday night.

With one foot firmly planted in traditional bluegrass and the other taking newgrass jamming to innovative places, Montana’s Lil’ Smokies dished out a mighty set on the Big Meadow Stage on Saturday night.

Former Further and Dark Star Orchestra lead guitarist/vocalist John Kadlecik – along with Jay Lane, (drums), Reed Mathis (bass and vocals), and Todd Stoops (keyboards) – led his Fellowship of the Wing in an inspired set on the Vaudeville Stage on Saturday night.

Saturday night’s midnight Troubadour Session, inside the tiny Mineral Building, featured a round-robin of acoustic songs by Grahame Lesh, John Kadlecik, Elliott Peck, and Matt Reiger.

Led by band co-founder David Hinds, Steel Pulse dazzled at the Grandstand Stage on Sunday afternoon. With their typical inclusiveness and human unification advocacy, the British band, which has been a force in the reggae music scene for more than 40 years, delivered their musical messages to the crowd and seemingly, the world.

Heretofore unknown by many in attendance, New Orleans-based Cha Wa unique sounds and bold attire were one of the festival’s big “new finds.” As their website aptly states, “New Orleans brass band-meets-Mardi Gras Indian outfit Cha Wa radiates the fiery energy of the best features of the city’s street culture.”

Leaning quite a bit on their recent album, “Garcia Songbook,” Joe Craven and the Sometimers dished out a might fine set on Sunday afternoon that included “I Know You Rider,” China Doll,” “Franklin’s Tower,” and “Scarlet Begonias.” During part of Craven’s illustrious career, the multi-instrumentalist played/recorded with Jerry Garcia and David Grisman.

The eclectic folk-poppy Shook Twins – Laurie and Katelyn Shook and their band of five, as well as guests including John Craigie, The Rainbow Girls, and Marty O'Reilly, as well as their signature Golden Egg, weaved a whimsical and beautiful set of songs on the Big Meadow Stage on Sunday afternoon.

During a “Masters of Slide” playshop in High Sierra Music Hall on Sunday that featured several fine performances, ALO’s Lebo, alongside New Monsoon’s Bo Carper, played and talked about a rare, antique Weissenborn lap-slide guitar.

Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars played with the all-female Sisters of the Strawberry Moon, in an impressive performance on Sunday at the Big Meadow Stage.

Los Angeles-based dream-pop band, Amo Amo, members of which performed during Jim James set (James produced the band’s inaugural CD), delivered their own performance on Sunday in the Vaudeville Tent.

Stay “tuned.” Next year will be High Sierra Music Fest’s 30th incarnation.

Check out more photos from High Sierra Music Festival 2019.

Grateful Dead cofounder Bob Weir refuses to stay stagnant, and his latest occasional side project, the Weir & Wolf Bros trio, set up camp for a three-night, hometown residency August 1 to 3 in Marin County’s idyllic Mill Valley. Reports that tickets for these performances at the 300-capacity Sweetwater Music Hall sold out in 30 seconds are probably not exaggerated. Grateful Web was lucky enough to attend the first show of the run.

Bob Weir & Wolf Bros.’ method of music is to reproduce Grateful Dead/Bob Weir catalog standards in new, slow-to-mid-tempo arrangements that has Weir deftly handling both lead and rhythm guitar duties while accompanied by longtime accomplice Jay Lane on drums and Don Was, an acclaimed record executive performing as a fine stand-up bass player. The result is, while not a large band/ensemble sound, a more intimate mix and allows the listener/viewer to watch Weir work and gain new/additional respect for what he can bring to the stage.

Weir & Wolf Bros. represents another in 45-year line of Weir-led Grateful Dead offshoot bands including Kingfish, Bob Weir Band, Bobby & the Midnites, Rob Wasserman and Bob Weir, RatDog, and the Blue Mountain record/Campfire Tour. This was the first Weir & Wolf Bros. concert since a one-set offering at the BeachLife Festival at Redondo Beach., Calif on May 3. 

And with Weir front and center with only bottom-end players behind him, you have to admire Weir’s determination – and guts – at letting himself be a vulnerable figure onstage, in which any mistakes would be more perceptible than if he was among a band of, say six (i.e., Dead & Company). There weren’t many mistakes per se on this night, though he did start, stop, tune, and restart “Cassidy,” and a few times Weir seemed to be thrashing at the guitar in order to wrestle from it all of the sound for which he sought. But in the end, the quality of musical output within the intimate, friendly confines of the Sweetwater ruled the night. Indeed, Lane delivered some crafty drum passages (and some backup vocals) and Was, while never dominating, was consistently strong. 

Steve Parish, the most prominent of all Grateful Dead roadies who these days acts as “Road Scholar” for Moonalice, warmed up the audience with one of his caustic but funny monologues, with subject matter that included some warm sentiments, followed by a stern warning that the audience better stay quiet, as ongoing chatter in the back of the room near the bar is often an issue at the venue, and once prompted Weir to yell “Shut the Fuck Up,” which begat official Sweetwater “STFU” T-shirts.

“This band could be playing in a theater; they could be playing in a bigger place,” Parish said. “This is a real special thing they’re doing tonight. And they’re doing it for each and every one of you with so much love. Don <Was>, what a wonderful guy he is. He seriously gets the whole thing that all of you love so much. He loves it with every sinew of his body. ... Now Bobby’s the same way but Bobby expects that you guys want to listen to him tonight. He doesn’t want to have to say, ‘Shut the fuck up.’ I know that’s very hard to do because I know you have the tendency to talk about stuff. But if you hear your neighbor talking, Parish joked, I want you to take a red flag – this gentleman is going to come out and give everyone a red flag, and you stick it in the top of their head and then we’ll come out to talk to them.” 

To begin the musical portion of the evening, Weir led the trio in a crisp, earnest version of one The Grateful Dead’s all-time standards, “Friend of the Devil,” followed by the beautiful “Only a River" one of the standout ballads from Weir’s 2016 “Blue Mountain” project, which worked well with this trio. Next up was Bob Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece,” which Garcia first adapted for the Jerry Garcia Band before it became a Weir-sung staple in the Grateful Dead live catalog. The trio moved on to “Bombs Away,” a light, breezy Weir-Barlow pop song The Dead never covered. Two Grateful Dead concert standards followed – Weir (and Barlow’s) “Cassidy,” from Weir’s first album, “Ace,” which led to Garcia/Robert Hunter’s “Tennessee Jed.” Both of these songs were a challenge for a three-piece rather than a full band, but Weir and Company worked competently at keeping them afloat. The first set ended with a definitively-Weir Grateful Dead standard set-ender, “Music Never Stopped” which was wrapped around “Easy Answers,” a tune written by Wasserman and adopted by The Grateful Dead in the early 1990s.

Adding to the evening’s atmosphere was, as many in attendance realized, the birthday of The Grateful Dead’s beloved Jerry Garcia, who would’ve turned 77. While people in the audience were demonstrably cognitive of that fact, validation came from the stage as well. To the surprise of many, Parish, at the start of the second set, along with Weir who strummed mildly on guitar, led the audience in a cheerful, upbeat version of "Happy Birthday" for Garcia. 

The second set began in earnest with two Grateful Dead “Garcia songs,” “Eyes of the World,” on which the trio achieved a fine groove on the complex piece of music, and the timeless ballad, “He’s Gone” (maybe for Garcia but we really never know), which Weir, Lane, and Was skillfully delivered. The set moved onto RatDog’s inventive “Two Djinn,” followed by two big Grateful Dead favorites, the shuffling “New Speedway Boogie” and the touching Garcia ballad, “Standing on the Moon.”

The band and the place were rocking for the closing-song pairing, both first-time performances by this band, The Grateful Dead’s “Franklin’s Tower” backed by good ol’ “Sugar Magnolia.” An encore of The Dead’s enduring, “Ripple,” often covered by Weir & Wolf Bros., closed the evening and sent the audience on their way. For the record, the trio did not repeat any songs during the three-day run.

The original Sweetwater, which operated in Mill Valley from 1972 till 2007, reopened with Weir’s involvement in 2012 at a nearby site within a few months of Phil Lesh opening his Terrapin Crossroads, which is situated eight miles away. The two proximate clubs are both magnets for an extended Grateful Dead extended family of bands as well as other contemporary performers.

The 12th incarnation of the Petaluma Music Festival, proceeds of which are allocated to local public school’s music programs, packed a potent punch on August 3. This year’s all-Bay-Area-band fest’s pleasing musical patchwork, which fueled lively dancing, swaying and foot-tapping, was led by prominent rock ‘n’ jam bands ALO, David Nelson Band, The Mother Hips, Hot Buttered Rum, Blame Sally, New Monsoon, and Royal Jelly Live.

Together, along with many others, the festivities provided a transcendent 10-hour audio background for thousands of enthusiastic, musically cultivated attendees. There was a friendly comradery to the day’s cheery proceedings and, while many of the bands had their own passionate, devoted fan bases (i.e., ALO, Mother Hips, David Nelson Band), all teams of fans comingled, and all attendees grooved together in the brilliant sunshine.

Supplementing music on four stages was a large silent auction, and a kid’s area made marvelous by the presence of large iguanas, snakes, and turtles, courtesy of the Petaluma Wildlife Museum. Artisan crafters and plenty of food and drink vendors dotted the venue. Festival organizers hoped to have an attendance of 6,000 and meet or exceed the $60,000 that was reportedly raised in 2017 and 2018.

The biggest news of the day was that Dave Brogan, former percussionist for fest headliners ALO, the renowned jammy, jazzy, funky, poppy, electronica four-piece, was visiting from Utah. Brogan was seen huddled with the band before their set and in the end joined them on keyboards for several songs, and on the drumkit for “Blew Out the Walls.”

In addition to the special-guest occurrence, ALO, which includes Zach Gill on keyboards, vocals, accordion, ukulele, and melodica; Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz on guitars and vocals; Steve Adams on bass and vocals; and Ezra Lipp on drums and vocals, skillfully played off each other’s instrumental chops. Lebo, as always, did an exemplary job on traditional and pedal steel guitars, twisting, bending, jumping, and otherwise contorting to his ever-changing, never-ending array of lead guitar flourishes without ever becoming tiresome. Gill, delivering lead vocals on the majority of numbers, wondrous and nimble instrumental offerings, and several gracious, light-hearted chats with the crowd, was splendid. Steve Adams, who offered flawless bass passages and drummer Ezra Lipp who was impressive on drums, also performed earlier as two-thirds of the crafty band Magic In the Other, along with guitarist Roger Riedlbauer on the Petaluma Stage.

Preceding ALO, and maintaining a marvelous groove of unison as well, the David Nelson Band delivered several originals as well as a few covers, all with the requisite stretched-out DNB improvisations. A genuine American music icon, Nelson, a patriarch of the psychedelic cowboy rock scene at 76, remains sharp as ever as a fine bandleader, guitarist, and vocalist. “Ripple,” which was played as the set’s second song, perhaps in tribute to Garcia, had a particularly nice arrangement, sparked by Mookie Siegal’s piano sounds and Barry Sless’s incomparable pedal still touches. Other covers included Bill Monroe’s “Rocky Road Blues,” the classic “Iko Iko” and the New Riders of the Purple Sage’s “Prisoner of Freedom” and “Where I Come From (both co-written by Nelson and Robert Hunter).

The DNB quintet, which took many improvisational pathways during their set, boasts marvelous players, each with the pedigree to prove it. Barry Sless, who has been part of the DNB since the beginning, in the mid-‘90s, was a powerhouse on lead and pedal steel guitars. With a 50-plus-year music resumé, Pete Sears delivered fierce bass passages that would make jealous most rock ‘n’ rollers half his age. Keyboardist Mookie Siegel meshed compatibly with the rest of the band, while drummer John Molo marvelously maintained drumming duties.

The Mother Hips, who performed in the 3:30 p.m. slot, before the David Nelson Band, were established back in 1991 in dorms and small clubs in Chico, California, in which Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono attended college. Twenty-eight years later, with Bluhm and Loiacono still at the helm, the five-piece offered a dynamic set of “California soul” delivered with clever lyrics highlighted by tight vocal harmonies and plenty of extended jams. The proficient set had plenty of twangy Western-tinged jams as well as some ferocious roadhouse-rocker segments — each player delivered in outstanding form. Bluhm and Loiacono were fiery on guitars, and John Hofer (drums) Danny Eisenberg (keyboards), and Brian Rashap (bass) were all superb. Barry Sless added some extra pizzazz, joining the band on pedal steel for several songs before “Toughie” launched into the set-ending sequence.

Earlier in the afternoon, fronted by the distinctive vocals of captivating personality of Lauren Bjelde, swing and retro-jazz collective Royal Jelly Jive delivered a fine set. Keyboardist/accordion player Jesse Lemme Adams and a trio of horns kept the mood bright and fun and instigated lots of dancing.

Moonalice began the main, Festival Stage activities at noon, with a fun set of songs, each with supplemental psychedelic-flavored jams. Led by Roger McNamee, who in many circles is noted as a “venture capitalist turned Silicon Valley critic,” as tagged recently by CNBC, the band’s set featured Lester and Dylan Chambers for “Time Has Come Today. While offering originals as well as “Not Fade Away” and The Byrd’s “Eight Miles High,” McNamee earnestly contributed rhythm guitar and lots of vocals, and Jason Crosby’s keyboard passages were spot on as Molo, Sears, and Sless, who are also core members of the David Nelson Band, were consummate players.  

The Lagunitas Stage, which was for lack of a better term, the “second” stage, offered its own menu of established, very popular bands. Hot Buttered Rum, with James Nash playing in the band, headlined that venue, kicking up some dust with its superior brand of jamming folk-grass. Their excellent set included, of all things, versions of Prince’s “Kiss” and a rocking rendition of Eddie Rabbit’s “Drivin' My Life Away,” the latter of which featured vocals from The Real Sarahs’ Sarah Ryan and Sarah Songbird, who joined in with Nash, Nat Keefe, Bryan Horne, and Erik Yates.

Alt-folk/rock band Blame Sally, who have been spreading their charismatic brand of acoustic musical imagery for almost 20 years, were a welcome festival presence, performing to a mostly seated audience (many sitting on conveniently placed hay bales. Each an adept singer-songwriter, Monica Pasqual (piano, accordion, and vocals), Jeri Jones (guitar, bass, and vocals), Renee Harcourt (guitar and vocals), and Denise Perlita (percussion and vocals) – along with Rob Strom on bass, delivered a spirited set.

New Monsoon, a veteran fun-loving, jam-happy ensemble led by the accomplished Bo Carper (guitar, banjo, vocals), Jeff Miller (lead guitar, vocals), Phil Ferlino (keyboards), and Murph Murphy (bass), preceded Blame Sally on the Lagunitas Stage. Even with all of the other featured bands performing on this day, New Monsoon delivered a standout performance. The Petaluma High School Jazz Combo and The Grain played early in the day on the Lagunitas Stage.

The Petaluma Stage provided an outlet for several not-yet big-time bands to let loose live and rouse the crowd. The performances included hour-long sets by the Soul Section, Dictator Tots, Magic in the Other, and Domenic Bianco and the SoulShake.

In addition, an indoor acoustic stage hosted low-key acoustic sets by some of the day’s musicians, including Sebastian Saint James, The Real Sarahs, Royal Jelly Jive, Monica Pasqual and Pam Delgado of Blame Sally, Kate Gaffney with Derek Brooker, and Fog Holler.

The Petaluma Music Festival is the brainchild of Cliff Eveland, the event’s executive director, who also happens to be the instrumental director at Petaluma High School, at which he has taught for more than 20 years.  “Music education makes kids smarter,” Eveland told the Petaluma Argus Courier a few weeks ago. “There’s lots of research showing this. It teaches them to focus on the task at hand. When you learn to read music as a child, for example, it opens pathways in the brain and increases cognitive ability.”

ALO: Try, Get To Do It Again, Maria, After the Rain, Cowboys and Chorus Girls, Undertow, Girl I Wanna Lay You Down*, Plastic Bubble*, Blew Out the Walls#, The Ticket*. Encore: Shapeshifter, Sweet Child O’ Mine (* with Dave Brogan on keys; # with Brogan on drums).

Check out more photos from Petaluma Music Festival 2019.

Achilles Wheel, which has been carving an ever-widening circle of fan appreciation over the past eight years, is working on a new live recording project, the second session of which was a real humdinger in their idyllic, rustic hometown of Nevada City, Calif., on August 21.

Many Achilles Wheel enthusiasts were first inspired by band appearances at regional clubs and listening rooms, and such notable high-profile California proceedings such as the High Sierra, California Worldfest, Kate Wolf, Hangtown, June Lake Jam, Strawberry, Just Exactly Perfect, and the soon-to-to-come Santa Cruz Mountain Sol music festivals, as well as ongoing appearances at Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads. And while many of those Achilles Wheel aficionados dig the group’s four studio albums, they are keen for a new live project.

“We put out ‘Sanctuary’ a year-and-a-half-ago,” explained Achilles Wheel co-front man Paul Kamm while sitting around a large table before the show. “Since then our fans are like, ‘We love your studio records, that’s very cool, but what we want are more live recordings because those are the shows that we come to and we want to hear recordings of what it is that we experience when we come to see the band." So, this year we’re not doing a studio recording were doing live recordings at a bunch of places around Nevada County.”

The band’s songs, crafty in lyrics and arrangements, delivered live as powerful rock ‘n’ blues, and sizzling with extended, irresistibly psychedelic jamming, were crackling with energy on this night. While Achilles Wheel can pay and has paid homage to Grateful Dead songs with the best of ‘em, this show consisted of all original offerings, including a couple new ones that the band, and the audience, tried on for size for the first time. The show took place at the historic Nevada Theatre, which opened in 1865, and is California’s “oldest existing theater building,” according to a plaque out front.

The triad of front-line players that includes Kamm (guitar, vocals), Jonny “Mojo” Flores (lead guitar, harmonica, vocals), and Shelby Snow (bass, vocals) – who often also perform as an acoustic and/or electric trio – displayed their uncanny knack for nonverbal communication on stage. Such cohesiveness drove their separate parts into remarkably dynamic, yet single-voiced pieces of music.

Kamm’s diverse musical background includes songwriting, recording, and touring over the past 35-plus years with Eleanor McDonald as half of an engaging contemporary-folk music duo, and performing for many years in The Grateful Dead tribute band The Deadbeats. Both of these prolific segments of his music timeline serve him well as Achilles Wheel’s more traditional singer/songwriting force, a perfect juxtaposition to Jonny Mojo’s and Snow’s more unbridled, cowboy-psychedelia presence.

Mojo, with his trademark long red hair and beard and cowboy hat, is perhaps the band’s most defining player. With the ability to pen and sing a twangy song, and back it up with Dickey Betts-like, Jerry Garcia-like, and more important, Jonny Mojo-like lead/slide rock ‘n’ blues guitar flourishes, he dazzled the hometown audience. In addition to his work with Achilles Wheel, Mojo also leads A Band Beyond Description and often plays as a solo act or along with other notable Northern California musicians such as Stu Allen and Scott Guberman, and groups like the Rusty Buckets and Old Mule.

Snow’s long musical timeline includes sharing a stage with an illustrious cast of characters including Bill Kreutzmann, Carlos Santana, John Cipollina, Steve Kimock, Carole King, Lacy J. Dalton, Gene Harris, Johnny Otis, and John Dawson. His bass passages were intricate and lively, and always on the mark.

Drummer Mark McCartney, who also played with The Deadbeats, was a monster on the drum kit, putting forth an energetic array of rhythms that left no room for audience letdown after the band went from two drummers to one in the past year.

Finally, Ben Jacobs, the most recent addition to Achilles Wheel though he’s now been part of the fold for a few years, was excellent at taking what the other bandmates were “saying” and replying with excellent accompaniments on keyboards and occasional accordion. Jacobs also performs with notable bands Poor Man’s Whiskey and the Grateful Bluegrass Boys.

The next such live recording series session is set for October 26 at the Crazy Horse, also in Nevada City.

Equal parts romance lyricist and swashbuckling stage performer, Dave Matthews and his band ran through 21 songs at the Golden 1 Center arena in Sacramento on Sept. 7, and the enthusiastic crowd was with Dave every step of the way. The band delivered an almost three-hour grunge-free virtuosic fusion of rock, jazz, folk, and soul with plenty of jamming pizzazz. Its configuration was spotlighted by Matthews’ always-captivating South African-accented voice, and acoustic and electric guitars, all awash with rhythms, horns, woodwinds, and keyboards.

With massive screens of fascinating animated line drawings and video snippets operating behind the band, Matthews opened with a snappy “Why I Am” to ignite the show. The fairly rare opener was likely a tribute to LeRoi Moore, beloved Dave Matthews Band co-founder and former bandmate who would have been 58 on this day. Moore contributed a saxophone jam to the song’s studio version, the recording of which was completed after he died from complications from an all-terrain vehicle accident in 2008. Matthews sang, in part, “When my ghost takes me from you, you will remember the fool that I am, so don't cry, baby don't cry.”

The band didn’t throw in any of the covers they may have been expected to sample, i.e., Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle,” or Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Yet the crowd seemed fine with that fact, ebbing, flowing, and singing along, like on “Grey Street” and “Everyday” during the course of the evening.

The Golden 1 show was the 38th for Northern California’s Wendy Marsters, the first being in July 1999. “The energy, the stellar jams, the family of fans,” Marsters replied, when asked what makes DMB so special. “But ultimately, it's the theme of love. Big love, the kind that can change the world. That's what I get filled up with every time I go to a DMB show.”

Emily Rivera and her friend Dee traveled from suburban Boston to catch the run of Northern California shows. Rivera, who has seen 70 shows since her first in 2000 at Foxboro Stadium, said the DMB has been a positive mainstay in her life. “Through the good, the bad, and all my ups and downs, their music has helped me past it all!” Rivera said. … “His music was playing in the room as I welcomed my son into this world, it put me to sleep the night I lost my mother to cancer and calmed me down when I wanted to jump ship and quit nursing school. Literally a life saver. I have had many wonderful experiences and have made friends all around the world by following the band – all over the U.S., Mexico, Canada, you name it.”

The band, which still includes drummer Carter Beauford and bass player Stefan Lessard, both of who’ve been with Dave from the start, covered material that spanned the course of their existence, including “The Song that Jane Likes” as well as hits, “Typical Situation” and set-ender “Ants Marching,” all from 1993’s “Remember Two Things” album. The band also mixed in nicely selections from their 2018 album “Come Tomorrow,” including “Again and Again,” “Do You Remember,” and the title track.

Other notable offerings included “The Space Between,” “Warehouse,” “Grey Street,” encores “Granny” and “Stay,” and “Drunken Soldier,” which had only been played once prior on this tour, and that was the first since 2015.

The summer tour represents a little more than a year since the departure of fiddler/mandolinist Boyd Tinsley, who had been a mainstay since 1992. But surprisingly, he didn’t seem missed, with other players filling out a complete rainbow of sounds and textures. “Do I miss Boyd? Surprisingly no,” Marsters said. “The band has done a great job of filling those spots in with keys, horns, or Timmy <Reynolds> on guitar and the songs sound fresh again.”

Reynold’s lead guitar work was spot on, though always within the context of the song. He never found the need to be too much in the spotlight or dominate the proceedings, though did crank out a mean blues/slide solo on “Cornbread.”

Beauford, always representing the backbone of each song with his crisp and complex drumkit beats, was on point all night, whether it be for his perfectly timed hi-hats and cymbal work or his kick-drum flurries.

Lessard, playing over Matthews’ left shoulder throughout, delivered an integral, satisfying, steady as she comes, component to each song.

Though Beauford and Lessard provide crucial drums ‘n’ bass punch, that can be overlooked important components of the DMB sound, band veterans Jeff Coffin (sax, woodwinds) and Rashawn Ross (trumpet, backup vocals) brought forth lots of high-end audio colors to each song’s canvas.

Coffin, a former Flecktone (for Bela Fleck) and a music clinic instructor, was fierce throughout, offering powerful sax passages and particularly sweet, almost vocal-like passages on the clarinet and other instruments, such as pennywhistle soloes during “Bartender,” for which he ended with a snippet of “If I Only Had Brain” from “The Wizard of Oz” film.

Standing next to Coffin, Ross, a Berklee College of Music grad with all sorts of diverse work on his musical resume, was also an important part of the mix, augmenting many-a-tune with trumpet flourishes.

Finally, new kid on the block, keyboardist/backup vocalist Buddy Strong was embraced by the large crowd, sure for being the newest member of the family, but also for his soulful keyboard embellishes, and extended crowd-pleasing solo on “Everyday.” His awesome chops shouldn’t be a surprise as he previously toured with Usher, Ariana Grande, and other big-name popsters.

Though the DMB has played near Sacramento over the past several years, this was the first show in the city in 20 years (July 13, 1999, at Arco Arena, at which Jimmy Cliff opened).

Check out more photos from the show.

When it comes to photographing The Grateful Dead and its extended family, and in particular the late Jerry Garcia, Bob Minkin has, to coin a lyrical phrase, “Been here so long he’s got to callin’ it home.” And in “Just Jerry” (https://justjerry.net), a newly released glossy, coffee-table book, Minkin presents a definitive, through-the-lens compendium of Jerry Garcia images from 1977 till 1995.

Minkin, with the wherewithal, dedication, stick-to-itiveness, and photographic access to the band for many years compiled an extraordinary accumulation of high-quality images of The Grateful Dead patriarch. And with this book, like the Grateful Dead themselves demonstrated at the mid-1960s Acid Tests, Minkin passed the test with flying colors.

Between the covers we see Garcia, The Grateful Dead’s forever lead guitarist and “captain,” in flattering onstage views in sharp detail, delivering musical intonations by voice or guitar – and in a variety of hair “styles.” You get an unobstructed view of Garcia at such venues as Winterland (1977), Capitol Theatre (1978), Madison Square Garden (1979, 1988), Red Rocks (1979), Radio City Music Hall (1980), Melkweg Club (1981), Keystone-Berkeley (1981), Roseland (1983), Laguna Seca (1987), Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (1987), Frost Amphitheater (1987), and Shoreline (several years in the ‘90s).

The reader is also privy to get a peek behind the curtain at insiders-only events, such as at a New York Hilton Press Conference (1979) and the Rain Forest Action Network Press Conference, held at the United Nations (1988).

“Despite the passing of Jerry Garcia almost 25 years ago,” Minkin explained to Grateful Web, “The Grateful Dead are more popular than ever. The latest post-Jerry iteration, Dead and Co., continue to sell out stadiums across the country and Phil Lesh & the Terrapin Family Band do the same. While thinking about my next book project, it occurred to me that a book of only Jerry images had never been produced, and then the words ‘Just Jerry’ came into my mind. And hence this book.”

“Having known Bob Minkin since somewhere around the beginning of time was plenty to get the drift of what he was up to here,” Grateful Dead co-conspirator Bob Weir states in the book’s forward. “Reading Ol’ Jer’s expressions in each of the photos takes me back to countless similar moments –all of which eventually blend back into that continuum that was us, doin’ what we did, right now.”

“The focus of this book is 99% Jerry onstage, wrote Dennis McNally, long-time Grateful Dead historian and publicist, in the book’s introduction. “The emphasis on pictures of him playing makes sense because that’s where he chose to live his life. He wasn’t the best family guy. Aside from scuba diving and painting, he really didn’t have many hobbies. In the end, his life took place with a guitar in his hand, practicing, recording, or performing. It’s an appropriate portrait.”

Minkin solicited personal commentaries from many other prominent members of The Grateful Dead scene (pre-Garcia and post-Garcia), and several were happy to oblige, including Pete Sears, Steve Parish, Trixie Garcia, Melvin Seals, Sandy Rothman, Bill Walton, Maria Muldaur, Jacklyn LaBranch, Buzz Buchanan, Rosie McGee, John Kadlecik, Stu Allen, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Rob Eaton, Zach Nugent, Mark Karan, Barry Sless, Ozzie Ahlers, and Mik Bond.

Finally, the late Neal Casal contributed a short passage. “Jerry’s voice has accompanied me every mile of the way. He’s the perfect traveling companion, really,” Casal stated.

Dobro, mandolin, guitar, musical exaltations and vocal flourishes – and much more – lilted through the autumn-painted trees and into the ears and souls of some colorful attendees at the fairgrounds in the Sierra Nevada foothill town of Placerville, California, at the ninth annual Hangtown Music Festival (formerly the Hangtown Halloween Ball).

Summing it all up, Katia “Pixie” Racine, frontwoman of Pixie & the Partygrass Boys reflected: “Bouncing around the stage singing my face off while my friends play their faces off alongside a giant crowd of people dancing their faces off is kind of my definition of heaven.”

Fueling some of the fun were 1) stunning light shows; the three giant main-stage screens were illuminated in the evenings with visually enchanting liquid light shows supplied by Mad Alchemy and by Jonathan Singer; 2) costume themes for each day: Thursday – Hakuna Matata, Friday –Let’s Get Funky, Saturday – Pajama Party, and Sunday – Fantasy Realm; 3) the Sunday afternoon parade led by the Big Fun Circus and their stilt walkers; and 4) a kids arts, crafts, and music workshop area that was busy all weekend.

Oddly enough, the hypothetical Most Valuable Player was not a member of headliners Railroad Earth, Dark Star Orchestra, or Greensky Bluegrass, all of who carried the day with fine shows. Instead, such acclaim should go to the skilled folks that linked up alternative power to the whole festival with generator-juiced lights just moments after a regional blackout on Saturday night and all day/night Sunday. At about 7:30 p.m. Saturday, smack-dab in the middle of Greensky Bluegrass’s set, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) implemented one of its so-called “Public Safety Power Shutoffs” as a preventive measure in the face of fire danger caused by super-dry vegetation, low humidity, and forecast strong winds. The stage show went on without a hitch as both festival stages were, as commonly done, powered by generators all along. But in one moment, the rest of fairgrounds, including vendors booths, attendee VIP area, backstage buildings, etc., went dark. Though it was not unexpected, a behind-the-scenes little network of techs with flashlights and extension cords quickly made alternative power connections, all within about 30 minutes.

Back to the music: To the visual and aural delight of the attendees all weekend-long, the rootsy, folky, bluegrassy Railroad Earth superbly weaved songs and jams that produced waves of joy and freeform dance. As they did in 2018, the band, sporting different costumes and makeup each night, headlined Thursday’s, Saturday’s, and Sunday’s proceedings, with Dark Star Orchestra closing out Friday night’s festivities. From Tom Waits’ “Cold Water” opener on Thursday through “The Great Divide,” the first single from their next album that closed out the festival on Sunday night, Railroad Earth – Todd Sheaffer, Tim Carbone, John Skehan, Carey Harmon, and Andrew Altman, along with Matt Slocum and Mike Robinson – did not repeat a song. On Saturday, the band delivered a nice, long “Hangtown Ball,” a location-fitting ode to lawbreakers whose fates ended with their heads in a noose. That set also featured a first-time-ever cover of The Beatles’ “I’m So Tired,” sung by Carbone, and a sit-in by Fruition’s Mimi Naja on vocals for “Hard Livin’.”

Dark Star Orchestra, who’ve made a living for more than 20 years recreating Grateful Dead concerts, verbatim, picked a good one on Friday night. They played a full two sets – the weekend’s only such main, El Dorado Stage performance – offering a live rendering of The Grateful Dead’s show at San Francisco’s Winterland, on October 9, 1972. DSO gave nice treatments to that show’s big numbers, including “Box of Rain,” “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider,” “Playin’ in the Band,” and “The Other One” > “Wharf Rat.”

In addition to band performances, Emcee Joe Craven’s prophetic band intro sage wisdom and colorful costumery were also a major component of the weekend’s happenings. This was, by his recollection. Craven’s fifth Hangtown Fest. A massively talented multi-instrumentalist and music scholar who has assumed the role of Master of Ceremonies at 13 different music festivals across the country over the past 22 years, a better emcee for such an affair you’ll never find.

An addition, with an impressive musical pedigree including a stint playing in the band during Jerry Garcia and David Grisman’s Grateful Dawg days, Craven also led his band, Joe Craven & the Sometimers in spirited performances on Sunday.

Craven’s approach, in his own words: “As an artist who performs at many of the festivals I have been an Emcee at, I gift creative writing in the form of prose and poetry for my colleagues who are about to gift the audiences with their art. I don't offer regurgitated ‘data’ from artist websites, but rather offer my feelings about what they are – and offer – as artists to the world.”

Regarding his Hangtown stage apparel, for which much square footage of he and his band’s dressing room was devoted to his inspiring collection of colorful tops and bottoms, and more than a dozen pairs of footwear and hats: “Sometimes I'll dress to a theme that the artists themselves are going for,” Craven said, “or I'll present a sharp contrast to their appearance. Hangtown celebrates, and gives permission to, expression with theatrical costuming to all who attend – on and off the stage. It's all part of a longstanding multicultural tradition of individual and collective unity in artful living.”

Some of Hangtown’s biggest fun also came from folks whose names appeared in smaller type, a little further down the festival announcements/posters. Pixie & the Partygrass Boys, for example, created several such moments. Buoyed by charisma, onstage joy and effervescence, and bluegrass prowess, Racine and musical crew (Amanda P. Grapes, Zach Downes, Ben Weiss, and Andrew Nelson), painted smiles on lots of faces during their three performances, including an off-the-hook collaborative set on Sunday with singer-songwriter Melanie Frances Sponselee (formerly of The Sweet Lilies) and members of World Finest, who played early Friday morning, as well as an under-a-gazebo set to serenade adult and kid pumpkin carvers, who prepared jack-o’-lanterns that were placed on the stage Saturday night and Sunday.

“My personal favorite thing about Hangtown was the sense of collaboration and community,” Racine said after the fest.” My favorite moment was for sure the Sunday guest jam session. A close second favorite thing was probably the meditation garden area. A place of calming respite during a festival, which can otherwise be so overwhelming, is such a fantastic surprise.”

Pixie and the Partygrass Boys covered a lot of musical ground over the weekend, including "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" (Charlie Daniels Band), “My Church” (Maren Morris), “Mama Knows” (Sister Sparrow). As for their own tunes, “We actually leaned mostly on unreleased music!” Racine said. “We have spent so much time on the road in the last year that we haven't found much time to get into the studio. We're spending the winter focusing on getting more of that material out!”

In reference to Sunday’s jam-session set, which included washboard, kazoo, and costumes as the ensemble touched on a bunch of wide-ranging material that included “Proud Mary” (Creedence Clearwater Revival) and Respect (Aretha Franklin), Racine said, “That sort of moment is what we live for. We've always been a fan of Partygrass plus horns, and we not-so-jokingly talk about our dreams of performing shows with The Partygrass Orchestra. … For me, that was one of those magical moments in music that so many of us live for - when everyone onstage and in the audience shows up, fully present, and lets the magic of life channel through us all. (Yes, I'm the dirty hippie of the band.)”

With two stages of performances (there used to be three at this fest) that never overlapped, no one had to make choices whether they wanted to see Band A or Band B, both of which would be playing at the same time. The music schedule allowed attendees to catch every set.

After Organ Freeman and his three-piece jazz-funk combo opened the El Dorado Stage entertainment early on Friday, things got weird, funny, and uber-awesome with solo performer Steve Poltz, who has the knack of putting the audience in the palm of his hand with his banter, witticisms, self-effacing manner, and comedic timing. At one point, The Wood Brothers joined him as they all sang around one mic for a spirited version of Southern gospel artists Albert E. Brumley’s “Turn Your Radio On.” Poltz closed the set out in the field with the audience with a sing-along (with adlibs) version of Bob Dylan’s, “Forever Young.” On Saturday night over at the smaller naturally tiered Gallows Stage, Poltz made up a song on the spot, “Cantaloupe Can’t Elope,” sung directly to Jacob and Veronica, a couple that he said he actually married earlier in the weekend.

With a main-stage set late Friday afternoon and two small-stage performances on Saturday, singer-songwriter-guitarist Lindsay Lou and her three accompanying players covered a lot of music ground over the weekend. Playing all different stuff in each set, She and her skilled accompanists performed several selections from her “Southland” (2018) and “Ionia” (2015) projects, as well as songs she recently released on streaming platforms as singles and EPs.

In addition to the many, many originals, Lindsay Lou also offered up a dynamic collection of covers including, “Althea” (Grateful Dead), “I Wish You Well” (Bill Withers), “Two Hands” (Townes Van Zandt),  “Street People” and “Long Face” (Louisiana swamp-pop songwriting legend Bobby Charles), “Oval Room” (country/blues singer-songwriter Blaze Foley),  “Show Me A Brick Wall” (Country/rockabilly/swing singer Carl Smith).

Lindsay Lou also did a sit in during Stave Poltz’s main stage set, but the most fun came on Saturday night. “ I sang ‘The Chain’ by Fleetwood Mac with Greensky as the last song of their set,” she recalled. “I was dressed as a hot pink psychedelic monkey wearing entirely things lent to me by the super cool vendors at the fest.”

The Wood Brothers, Oliver and Chris Wood along with Jano Rix, are fine songwriters who nicely deliver live renderings of their studio tunes. Their alt-country, folk and blues set included such faves as opener “Postcards from Hell,” as well as “Atlas,” “Snake Eyes,” and closer “Luckiest Man.” The trio also invited Poltz onto the stage for a fun version of TLC’s 90’s pop hit, “Waterfall.”

Singer-songwriter Cris Jacobs and his three bandmates performed an inspiring early afternoon good-timey main-stage set that included components of alt-country/rock, roots, and Americana. The Baltimore-based Jacobs, who has a smooth, soulful voice, and who has been festival-ubiquitous of late and has played a bunch of gigs with Phi Lesh & Terrapin Family Band as well as Midnight North, started off seated while playing lap-style a cigar-box (Grand Puro brand to be exact) guitar before wailing on a Fender electric.

The Lil Smokies, whose classic bluegrass essence is most aurally defined by Andy Dunnigan’s euphonious dobro flourishes, followed the Cris Jacobs Band, providing a virtuosic set of progressive bluegrass thanks to skilled players on five string instruments: dobro, guitar, fiddle, stand-up bass, and banjo.

Fruition, which combines an amalgamation of genres into its rock ‘n’ party essence performed an exciting main-stage set early Saturday evening, with Mimi Naja, Jay Cobb Anderson, and Kellen Asebroek’s animated stage presence helping turn up the heat. The set included a trio of songs with Railroad Earth’s Tim Carbone on fiddle – “I Should Be (On Top Of The World),” “Death Don't Come Knockin',” and “Mountain Annie." The set also included “Labor of Love,” “There She Was,” and closer “I Don’t Mind,” as well as a couple of tunes from the band’s recent 7-inch-vinyl series. Fruition’s new album, “Wild as the Night,” is set for a November 8 release, but the band’s Hangtown set did not touch on the new record.

Arguably the quintessential progressive bluegrass outfit on the circuit, with a jam band mentality in their DNA, Greensky Bluegrass fired on all cylinders during their Saturday early-evening set. Their 1980s-Jazzercise gear, including frontman Paul Hoffman’s pink-and-white zebra shorts (over black tights), pink headband, and MTV muscle shirt, added to the merriment. Utilizing the same classic instrumental lineup as by the Lil Smokies, excepting Hoffman’s mandolin instead of the fiddle employed by the Smokies, the band’s charismatic personalities, songs, and sweet instrumentals were sublime. In addition to performing favorites such as “Demons” and “Past My Prime,” and several pieces of music from their new record, “All for Money,” such as “Courage for the Road” > “It’s Not Mine Anymore” > “Courage for the Road,” Greensky’s set also included several guests. Tim Carbone played fiddle during “I’d Probably Kill You” and “All Four,” Railroad Earth’s John Skehan played mandolin on “Burn Them,” playing face-to-face with Hoffman and his mandolin,” and Lindsay Lou provided lead vocals on the set-closing version of Fleetwood Mac’s, “The Chain.”

Toward the end of the set, Greensky’s dobro player, Anders Beck, spoke to the crowd about the power outage: “If you look around folks, it’s very dark, dark. That’s because PG&E has shut off the power to everywhere around here, except our festival. …There’s no power anywhere, and everybody <in the Placerville area> is looking at these fucking lights shining around here and hearing the music and they’re like, ‘What the fuck; what the heck!’ What is going on over there and how are they so lucky to be having a festival, when there’s no power anywhere? And the question is: How? And the answer is: Amazing people that throw this festival. Let’s don’t forget it! Everybody make a shitload of noise for the people who put on this festival because we have power, and nobody else does! C’mon!”

Sunday’s festivities took place in decidedly cooler and windier conditions, with temperatures in the 50s, a far cry from Friday’s highs in the 80s. But brilliant sunshine and continued good vibes did not diminish the good general joviality. First up on the main stage were the all-female jamgrass trio, The Sweet Lilies, followed by the previously mentioned Joe Craven & the Sometimers. Performing a set that leaned on their recent “Garcia Songbook” project, the band turned a lot of heads with their unique  – rather than copycat – arrangements of such classics as “Scarlet Begonias,” “Franklin’s Tower,” and “Friend of the Devil,” with fine players Bruce MacMillen on guitar and vocals, Jonathan Stoyanoff on bass and vocals, Barry Eldridge on drums, Craven on bongos, fiddle, and mouth percussion, and Hattie Craven on vocals.

Anders Osborne and his band were next, delivering a raucous set that showcased both his song craftsmanship and roadhouse-rocking guitar jams. Osborne’s band of four included throughout Jonathan Sloane from the Cris Jacobs Band. Osborne, who just a couple of months ago declared that a bunch of his guitars were stolen, and who he reported from the Hangtown stage that there was a fire in his previous night’s hotel room which cause him to scramble to save his guitar, visibly impressed both old and new fans. In one of the weekend’s phenomenal moments, The Motet’s Lyle Divinsky came out to sing lead on the final song, a righteous bass-backboned version of Little Feat’s “Spanish Moon” to honor that band’s Paul Barerre, who passed away over the weekend.

Divinsky and his Motet ensemble followed with the festival’s penultimate main stage performance. The seven-piece laid down an impressive, much of it instrumental pieces of music,  of 70s’-style funk updated toward more complex 2019 sensibilities, with components of hip-hop, world beats and improvisational jamming.  Some of The Motet’s imaginative funk ‘n’ groove jams would work well as compelling big-screen movie scores.

Many main-stage acts also played sets on the small, Gallows stage. But some great music came from bands who triumphed on the small stage only.

Take The Higgs for example. The inventive Los Angeles-based four-piece have been garnering national attention as of late, and Friday at Hangtown, judging by the freeform dancers in the audience, The Higgs made a big splash for existing fans and those who were previously uninitiated to their psychedelia-flavored brand of audio delights. Higgs magic was fueled, during their two sets, through Jesse Jennings soaring keyboard passages and John Lovelo’s dexterous guitar, which glided nicely over steady bass (David Barsky) and drums (Garrett Morris).

Dirty Revival, a seven-piece Portland, Oregon-based soul outfit led by the powerful, soulful vocals of frontwoman Sarah Clarke, along with commanding rhythms and beats, kicked up the dust at the small, Gallows stage on Saturday. Their two early-evening sets, which they categorize as “Vibrant Neo-Soul for a Dirty Nation” bookended the Wood Brothers’ big-stage appearance.

Sacramento’s Golden Cadillacs also played two Gallows Stage sets, Sunday afternoon before and after Anders Osborne’s performance. The talented rock/country-rock sextet, led by a front line of Jeremy Plog (Jackie Greene Band, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers), Jillian Secor (MerryGold), Nick Swimley (Dead Winter Carpenters) and Adam Wade dressed up as “Alice in Wonderland” characters for their second set, which included Tom Petty’s “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” and featured Secor’s powerful vocal treatments on Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.”

Jubilee, a youth bluegrass band of four – two girls and two boys – consisting of two sets of siblings between the ages of 11 and 14 on mandolin, cello, and a pair of fiddles, surprised and delighted the audience early Saturday with their traditional bluegrass acumen.

Late-night shows in the Hangin’ Hall kept the music alive between midnight and 4 a.m. – a little earlier on Sunday night – with Fruition and The Higgs (Friday night), The Motet and Dirty Revival (Saturday), Cris Jacobs and Lil Smokies (Sunday) and Cory Wong (Thursday night).

Craven’s most poignant pre-performance presentation came before Railroad Earth’s final set, giving some thought-provoking words and sage advice as everyone was about to embark on their journey’s home. He said, in part:

"Always pray to be able to see the best in people,” Craven offered. “A heart that forgives the worst, a mind that can forgive the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in the idea of play.

“Consider ‘the happiness of pursuit’ as an alternate to the ‘the pursuit of happiness,’ and that instead of ‘Success being the key to happiness,’ that ‘Happiness is the Key to Success.’

“Be well and write down your stories. Work hard, play deeply, stay curious and be honest with yourself. Because – If the fiddle string felt no more strokes, If the old skinhead on that banjo broke, If no one sang or cracked a joke, Then where's the good in living?

“For all of life plays like a tune.  It sounds so sweet….and ends too soon. So go on - rosin up your bow...before it's time to go.”

Zero, starring co-founders Steve Kimock (vast array of guitars) and Greg Anton (drums/rhythmic wizardry), opened a four-show Zero-revival run on November 20 with two sets of compelling songs and ethereal jamming.

This incarnation of the band, which was established in the early 1980s, included Melvin Seals (keyboards), Pete Sears (bass, backing vocals), Hadi Al-Saadoon (trumpet, backing vocals), and Sebastian Saint James (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), with Miles Kimock contributing additional guitar passages in the second set. Steve Kimock had worked with Seals and Sears in the recent past, and with Al-Saadoon in Zero’s early days. Saint James, who was new to the Zero fold, gelled well with the group.

From the poignant, slow crescendo of the bluesy opener, Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross,” which appeared on Zero’s second album, through their bold rendering of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” encore, Zero delivered a splendid array of purposeful aural performance art that included musical hypnotics and subtleties as well as intensive rock, blues, and jazz jams. The band, which assembled a lot of material over its 35-year tenure (though infrequent since about 1998) was well-rehearsed and plenty enthusiastic.

In addition to a triad of gigs the band did this summer in Oregon, this was the first Zero show in a long time, and the intimate Raven Theater, a 70-year-old, 440-capacity venue in Sonoma County’s Healdsburg, a genteel magnet for wine, art, and music, was a delightful setting. The mini-tour would also include two shows at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and Crystal Bay Casino, situated a smidge over the Nevada border from the California side of North Lake Tahoe.

Since the mid-1970s, Kimock has led several of his own ensembles (e.g., Steve Kimock Band, KVHW, Crazy Engine), and plied his craft in many Grateful Dead-connected (RatDog, Phil Lesh and Friends, The Other Ones), and many non-Grateful Dead-connected bands (Jerry Joseph, Bruce Hornsby).

Kimock’s guitar mastery, on full display with this assemblage of musicians, accentuated his uncanny ability to set any number of imaginative moods with adept fingerpicking. Anton, a lawyer, novelist, and rock ‘n’ roller for such outfits as Heart of Gold Band, The Rock Collection, and Gregg’s Eggs, was telepathically connected to Kimock all night, contributing the right beats for each selection of music.  

Though Kimock and the rest of the players brought to the stage their own enormous catalogs of music, the group executed exclusively—and appropriately—material from the Zero catalog. And that catalog’s entries were all instrumental pieces of music in the band’s early days until Robert Hunter-penned songs were introduced and sung by the late-Judge Murphy. On this night, Zero performed Hunter’s “Catalina,” “Home on the Range,” and “End of the World Blues,” with Saint James, who sported a “Judge” T-shirt, doing a fine job on vocals.

In addition to the recent passing of Hunter, a Zero show in 2019 calls for reminisces and shared fond memories of other Zero players who are longer with us. That little hall of fame includes the aforementioned Murphy, who died in 2013, horn player Martin Fierro (2008), and Quicksilver Messenger Service-synonymous John Cipollina (1989).

Here’s hoping that the success of these shows builds momentum for more songs and shows from Zero.

Check out more photos from the show.

Set 1: Many Rivers To Cross, Catalina, Pits of Thunder, Zero - Theme From Nancy Germany, Merl's Boogie, Home on the Range. Set 2: Roll Me Over, Smells Like Girls Drums, Rigor Mortis, End of the World Blues, Golden Road, Encore: Like a Rolling Stone

One could almost feel kaleidoscopic dust particles shake from the hallowed halls and chandeliers of the gritty old Fillmore in San Francisco on December 6. The occasion, a Rex Foundation benefit called “American Beauty,” was a two-set, four-hour supergroup spectacular in which Set 1 consisted of a live-and-complete rendering of the classic Grateful Dead LP, “American Beauty.” The musical program was led by ALO guitarist/songwriter Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, who has a gift for facilitating and crafting new song arrangements for big-show all-star bands. And magic ensued.

And Bob Weir was there, though he was unannounced in pre-show promo for the event. Weir’s relationship with the nonprofit goes back to its foundation’s establishment in 1983 by members and friends of The Grateful Dead and was named after the Dead’s late roadie/road manager Rex Jackson. Weir to this day is listed on the foundation’s board of directors.

“We started working on this show a few months back,” Lebo said. “Cameron Sears from the Rex Foundation reached out to see if I was interested in leading the band for it. Bob Weir came on just a few days before the event. … For the evening, we called the band Lebo & The Arrows of Neon. The core band was myself, Jackie Greene, Jason Crosby, Wally Ingram, Robin Sylvester, Scott Law, and Matt Butler. Added to that were Railroad Earth members Todd Sheaffer, Tim Carbone, and John Skehan. Plus Lesley Grant, T Sisters, and Ben and Alex Morrison from Brothers Comatose. And of course, Bob Weir.”

Each song, which by the nods, smiles, and body movements of the admiring patrons rekindled special memories for many, was given fresh treatments, whether it be a new twist on a lead vocal or instrumental arrangement. All the while, stage backdrops included dazzling light designs and iconic Grateful Dead still images, all adding to the evening’s sparkle.

The show, like the “American Beauty” album, started off with the breezy “Box of Rain,” with Lebo on guitar and lead vocals, Sheaffer on another guitar, Law on lead guitar, Crosby on piano, Greene on organ, Sylvester on bass, Butler and Ingram on drums/percussion, and the T Sisters adding background vocals. Players moved on and off the stage all night with precision, guided by Lebo-designed stage blocking and direction.

Carbone joined in beginning with the second number, “Friend of the Devil,” with his Railroad Earth partner Sheaffer taking lead vocal duties, Lebo moving to lap-steel guitar and Brother Comatose’s Alex and Ben Morrison on a riser at the back of the stage set up for backing vocals. The rest of the album-recreated first set included such notable moments as the Morrison brothers-led version of “Ripple,” the T Sisters performing an a capella version of “Attics of My Life,” and Grant’s amazing take-us-to-church gospel rendering of “Brokedown Palace.”

After eight songs, Lebo pointed out that the band skipped a tune that appeared early in “American Beauty” and that we’d understand why as he invited Weir to the stage. The audience then basked in rocking/jamming set-ending versions of “Truckin’” (and its lyric, “Arrows of Neon”) and “Sugar Magnolia,” with Weir, the original “American Beauty” vocalist on these songs, front and center on vocals and guitar. The band was a fortified powerhouse, with at least two excellent players at almost every position, particularly on guitar. Sylvester, a bass player with a storied pedigree, including several years with Weir’s RatDog band, and a still in-demand live player, was a stalwart as the big band’s sole bassist.

“Cameron had the idea of playing an album in its e ntirety for the first set,” Lebo said. “We had a bunch of other ideas we were considering for the night but were most excited about that one. During all of this, Robert Hunter passed, so we considered doing a night of songs he penned. Then we realized that ‘American Beauty’ had some of his most iconic lyrics within its grooves, and he wrote almost all the lyrics on the album. So, we decided to stick with the ‘American Beauty’ idea and tribute Hunter as well.”

Sears preceded the first set, speaking to attendees first about the recently passed Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, whose words made up nine of “American Beauty’s” 10 tracks. He went on to praise the foundation’s recent accomplishments, including those made by 2019 Rex Foundation grant recipients 1Hood Media, A New Direction, Beverly Morgan Park, Bill Cook Foundation, EarthTeam, Farm to Pantry, Kid Pan Alley, Music Heals International, The Nomad Music Foundation, The Other 98% Lab, Ulster Immigrant Defense Network, Ultimate Impact, and Youth Beat.

Regarding Hunter, The Grateful Dead’s lyricist for so many Jerry Garcia-sung songs and more, Sears eloquently said, “We all recognize that he was our philosopher-king that brought us all together and the words that he put on paper, and the band sung every night to all of us, meant so much that we couldn’t possibly estimate the value in real terms.” Tying Hunter’s poetic lyrics to the foundation grants, Sears said, “We look for people that are doing innovative things that are maybe overlooked and that may not have started out in a meaningful way but are doing something really innovative that we think deserves a chance. And again, going back to the lyrics that we depend on, that’s a theme we’ll find in those words, and we’re living it today.”

The heralded Fillmore venue, famous for its jazz in the 1940s and ‘50s, and Bill Graham-produced dance concerts in the 1960s, was the appropriate place to host the fundraiser and though the music was what was visibly celebrated by the stage-lit faces in the audience, the inspirations for the event were catalysts for common ground within the audience. While the event did have a regular general-admission ticket option, about half of the attendees were seated at round dinner tables that occupied most of the concert-hall floor. Those patrons donated from $150 to $1,000 to be there. A silent auction with an assortment of many fine arts items also seemed destined to bring plenty of additional foundation revenue.  

The second set of music consisted of other selected Grateful Dead songs, all penned by Hunter, and a couple of covers. Here, Sheaffer assumed a bit less of a prominent role as Greene moved from organ to lead guitar and vocals, leaving Crosby to handle all keyboards as well as a stint on fiddle – along with Carbone’s fiddle – during “I Know You Rider.”

Greene led vocally the opening second-set pieces, “Scarlet Begonias” and “So Many Roads,” before Lebo announced Weir’s return to the stage, on which he would stay for the rest of the show. Weir led “Loser,” with, during the song’s jam portion, nods between band members encouraging other players to take leads at certain junctures in the song, a nonego practice that was present during the whole show. Clearly, the band members were having fun as they realized the collective talent pouring out of this supergoup.

Then it became obvious that it was also not lost on the event organizers that the date, December 6, marked the 50th anniversary of the infamous Altamont Festival, a decade-ending violent flashpoint that soured some on the good vibes that the rest of the decade had generated.

With Weir, Greene, and Lebo at center stage, the band introduced “New Speedway Boogie,” the “Workingman’s Dead” album track that paid tribute to Altamont and the Livermore, California, speedway at which it took place. The song made its live debut just two weeks after the failed festival, on December 20th, 1969, at San Francisco’s Fillmore West. Hunter stated in “A Box of Rain” that the song was written as a reply to an indictment of the Altamont event by rock critic Ralph Gleason, who forecast that it had signaled the end of the counterculture era. The lyric, “In the heat of the sun a man died of cold,” likely referred to the 18-year-old who was killed near the stage that day, according to David Dodd’s “The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.”

After “New Speedway Boogie,” which featured several jams between Weir, Greene (on slide), and Lebo, among others, the band moved directly into the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” with Weir and the rest clearly having fun indulging in that song’s musical dynamics.

“December 6th was the 50th anniversary of Altamont,” Lebo said. “‘New Speedway Boogie’ was written about that, so I knew we wanted to do that one. I was playing at an event at the Great American Music Hall with Karl Denson the night before the Rex show and ran into Jay Blakesberg. We got to talking about Altamont and he reminded me that a lot of craziness broke out during ‘Sympathy for The Devil.’ I sing that tune already and realized that ‘Speedway’ and ‘Sympathy’ would pair really nicely and boom!” 

Next, the second-set closer of “China Cat” and “I Know You Rider” featured simultaneously, Weir, Lebo, Shearer, Greene, and Law, all on guitar. Weir’s passionate “I Know You Rider” lyric, “The sun’s gonna shine in my back door someday; March winds will blow all my troubles away,” so familiar for so many years, provided another of the evening’s pinnacle moment. A “We will get by; we will survive” “Touch of Grey” singalong encore provided us with a positive outgoing sentiment.

Lebo & the Arrows of Leon with lead vocalist in parenthesis– Set One: Box of Rain (Lebo), Friend of the Devil (Sheaffer), Operator (Lebo), Candyman (Schaeffer), Ripple (Ben & Alex Morrison), Brokedown Palace (Grant), Till the Morning Comes (Lebo, Sheaffer, Grant), Attics of My Life (T Sisters), Truckin’ (Weir), Sugar Magnolia (Weir).

Set Two: Scarlet Begonias (Greene), So Many Roads (Greene), Loser (Weir), New Speedway Boogie (Weir, Greene), Sympathy for the Devil (Lebo), China Cat Sunflower (Weir), I Know You Rider (Weir). Encore: Touch of Grey (Weir)

Check out more photos from the show.

A new, cavernous San Francisco concert venue was put to use by Dead & Company on Dec. 30, and while it is the biggest indoor venue in Grateful Dead-hometown history, the party was no less enthusiastic. On New Year’s Eve, balloons would drop and a vintage plane would fly through the arena at midnight, but here on the 30th, the penultimate night of the year, Dead & Company delivered a big, powerful show worthy of review.

“Shakedown Street” began the proceedings, covering a lot of pleasurable musical ground. The jazzy 13-minute rendition set the evening’s tone and brought the audience together as one, featuring Bob Weir’s lead vocals and sprightly guitar passages, John Mayer’s lead guitar flourishes, Oteil Burbridge’s strong, steady bass, and Jeff Chimenti’s ever-interesting keyboard offerings. Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart, drummed and percussed in tandem, overseeing the band’s frontline musicians and enthusiastic crowd out beyond the stage lights. Dead & Company’s addition of a funky little “Shake it down, shake it down-down” moment toward the end of the song is a nice little ingredient that sets its version slightly apart from the original.

Weir remained as lead vocalist on “Mississippi Half-Step,” for which the “Across the Rio Grand-eo” portion of the song was delivered at an uber-slow, pace, though in its slowness Mayer noodled radiant, bluesy, and comforting guitar passages. The song included a little voices-in-the-round treatment of the “Half-Step Mississippi Uptown Toodeloo” lyric as Dead & Company are apt to do, and with four band members’ propensity to sing – Weir, Mayer, Burbridge, and Chimenti on this song – Dead & Company achieved something The Grateful Dead rarely if ever did, a four-part harmony.

“Cumberland Blues” was next, turning the massive arena floor into a medium-paced, polka-like Bohemian stomp. Here, and as he would often through the show, Mayer brought to bear his own picking acumen, reverent to Jerry Garcia’s licks but with an updated guitar voice. Chimenti, as he has proved in the past, may be this band’s secret weapon. Part of The Grateful Dead family since 1997 when he first collaborated with Weir’s RatDog, he brings to the mix elements of, depending on the song, all of The Grateful Dead’s keyboardists as well as his own musical ideas.

Pure blues came next, with the Mayer-led version of “It Hurts Me Too,” the blues standard The Grateful Dead adapted through 1972. This version, in which Mayer’s lead was arguably the best jam in the first set, was brilliant, though contained to 4 ½ minutes. Funny, the older Grateful Dead fans hold this song in sacred regard yet young Dead & Company fans seem to shrug off the song as just OK. The closing sequence of the first set were all slow numbers: “High Time,” in only its fourth Dead & Company performance with Burbridge’s enchanting tenor vocals leading the way; then “Cold Rain & Snow,” the first song from The Grateful Dead’s first record in 1967, led by Mayer and his unique vocal style; and ending with an epic “Bird Song,” voiced dually by Weir and Mayer, with enchanting instrumental production from all.

Still all shiny and new since its September 2019 opening, the $1.4 billion Chase Center, which has capacity of 18,064 for basketball, is a structural and technological marvel. Half-time presented the revelers a generous amount of time to seek out friends from near and far as well as to poke around the sparkly new arena. Located along the water in the Mission Bay neighborhood, just down the way from the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park (formerly AT&T Park), the Center’s outdoor plaza was outfitted with plenty of holiday art installations. It boasts a grand, sophisticated main entrance and lobby, pleasing concourses with upscale local restaurant choices and public areas that feature group-sized tables and comfortable. And for the rich, private suites, lounges, and boxes offered upscale food and beverage choices served by so-called butlers.

At a shade after 9 p.m., the second set began with Weir’s/John Barlow’s everlasting “Music Never Stopped,” pleasurable for sure, and with Weir’s modern-day “Never stop, never stop” passage, but its sluggish pace kept the number from opening the set with a bang. “Deal,” followed, led by Meyer and his anomalous vocal style and pronunciations.

The show kicked into high gear during pre-drums/space portion of the second set, with Weir & Company lifting the band and the audience to dazzling heights with a medley of “St. Stephen,” “The Eleven,” and “Turn on Your Lovelight,” made famous 50 years ago on “Live/Dead,” first heard as a double LP set or 8-track tape. This night’s version of “St. Stephen,” one of the original Grateful Dead staples, builtin strength and power from beginning to end, with many in the crowd swaying and rollicking with the notion, and the lyric, “Been here so long, he's got to callin' it home.” By the end of the song, the band and crowd were visibly and audibly energized, making the segue into and multiple components of the “The Eleven” a psychedelic flashpoint of the show: “Now is the time of returning / With our thought jewels polished and gleaming / Now is the time past believing.” Here, Weir, harnessed the band’s ample power, orchestrating the band’s individual dynamisms into a compelling, dizzying piece of music.

With a perfect opportunity for the band to exit for “Drums” and Space,” Weir and Meyer instead strummed and picked until “Turn on Your Love Light” came out of the haze. A furious version ensued with Weir thrashing at his guitar while the rest of the energized band raised their game as well. Finally, after “Love Light” finished with an almost end-of-the-show final note, the front line exited, leaving Kreutzmann and Hart (and his “Beam”) to take over for 15 minutes of cosmic percussionisms from beyond. From there, slowly but surely, things progressed into a flowing, melodic version of “The Wheel” for which the four-part harmony returned and from which a jazzy/reggae-like jam developed, and then on to a satisfying, soothing we-all-miss-Jerry-but-Weir’s-version-is-properly-reverential “Stella Blue,” which led into a rousing, show-closing “Casey Jones.” Returning for an encore Dead & Company then played its very first version of Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn),” a song The Grateful Dead offered occasionally between 1986 and 1995.  

Final tidbits:

Dead & Company has still not performed any of the many songs Brent Mydland brought to The Grateful Dead in his 11 years with the band.

“Shakedown Street,” which debuted in 1978, was the newest tune of the night.

The band did only two bona-fied “Weir songs” all night, “Music Never Stopped” and “Lovelight” (counting Lovelight as Weir’s even though it was originally a “Pigpen song”; as Weir led the song between 1981 and 1995.

Set One, with lead vocalist(s) noted: Shakedown Street (BW), Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo (BW), Cumberland Blues (BW/JM), Hurts Me Too (JM), High Time (OB), Cold Rain and Snow (JM), Bird  Song (BW). Set Two: The Music Never Stopped (BW), Deal (JM), St. Stephen (BW/all), The Eleven (BW), Turn On Your Lovelight (BW), Drums, Space, The Wheel (BW/JM/all), Stella Blue (BW), Casey Jones (JM/BW). Encore: Quinn The Eskimo (BW)

For about 25 years now, “Phil & Friends” has constituted several combinations of like-minded players with extensive Grateful Dead music pedigrees and acumen. On New Year’s Day, 2020, Phil Lesh performed and led a high-spirited, two-set show in the Beach Park, the outdoor performance venue at his Terrapin Crossroads club and restaurant in San Rafael, Calif.

The show was a convergence of several notable elements: it was the first day of the 2020s, the ability to carry out an outdoor show in the middle of winter, and the show was Phil’s first full concert in 4½ months following back surgery and recuperation, since a one-set Phil & Friends performance on Aug. 11, 2019, at the Beach Road Weekend festival in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. (he did play five songs at a local, Marin County ribbon cutting in mid-December).

Another interesting component to the show was its proximity in time and location to a pair of big Dead & Company shows that took place at San Francisco’s new Chase Center on Dec. 30 and New Year’s Eve. It was interesting to observe the many long-distance travelers who made the 20-mile journey from San Francisco to San Rafael, making their first visit to “Phil’s place,” many of whom were visibly a bit bleary-eyed after ringing in the new year a mere 14 hours prior. Some of the New Year’s Eve revelers arrived at the show with tickets, and many without (they tended to congregate along the service road along the canal, which offered good audio and isolated visual glimpses of the show).

Joining Lesh on this day were regional stars and nationally in-demand players, all of whom have often performed with Lesh and others at Terrapin Crossroads, including Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (ALO, Rock Collection, special music events orchestrator), Stu Allen (Mars Hotel, Melvin Seals & JGB, Keller Williams’ Grateful Gospel, Rock Collection), Jason Crosby (Blue Rose Music solo artist, Jenny Lewis, Robert Randolph, Assembly of Dust, highly in-demand sideman and session player), and John Molo (Bruce Hornsby & the Range, Greenleaf Rustlers, David Nelson Band, Moonalice).

Time and again during the hourlong sets, the band brought forth crowd-pleasing, nicely paced songs and high-reaching jams of intensity. The show’s final three pieces of music “Here Come Sunshine” -> “China Cat Sunflower” -> “Shakedown Street,” which covered more than a half-hour, were particularly fierce. Lesh, who turns 80 in March, was visibly delighted and in his comfort zone, delivering indomitable bass work throughout. Allen and Lebo were huge on lead guitars (Allen on electric and Lebo on acoustic and also pedal steel during “Friend of the Devil” and “The Wheel”), and the two ably supplied lead vocals – that is, except for “Friend of the Devil” and “Mississippi Half-Step,” on which Lesh carried out lead vocals. Crosby delivered extraordinary keyboard flourishes, knowing when to offer a song’s standard keyboard passages and when to beautifully improvise. And Molo was on point all afternoon, making one ponder the need for two drummers. While the weather at the start of the show hovered at around 60, breezes picked up and an onstage propane-tank heater was added as well as a layer or two of clothing for the second set.

Lesh and these same Friends also delivered an indoor performance at Terrapin Crossroads for Jan. 2, and another is set for Jan 7  (substituting Lebo for Grahame Lesh), and Lesh & Friends, with a to-be-determined lineup, is set to appear March 13 to 15 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y.

Set I: Jack Straw (Lebo), Big Railroad Blues (Stu), Friend of the Devil (Phil), Stagger Lee (Stu), Deal (Lebo), Viola Lee Blues (Phil, Lebo, Stu). Set II: Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo (Phil), The Wheel (Phil, Lebo, Stu), Here Comes Sunshine (Stu), China Cat Sunflower (Stu), Shakedown Street (Lebo).

Check out more photos from the show.

With Garrett Deloian’s lead guitar out in front, Los Angeles-based Jerry’s Middle Finger is deserving of its reputation for throwing down some of the best Jerry Garcia Band- tribute gatherings in the land, giving Melvin Seals’ and JGB a run for their money. On January 25, in the quirky but ample Odd Fellows Hall in the California Sierra Nevada foothill town of Auburn, Deloian and company perpetuated their justified notoriety with a two-set party of Garcia Band favorites as well as some deep tracks from the Garcia playbook. And like a Garcia Band show, pieces of music ranged from rip-snorting rockers, like opener “Rhapsody in Red” to gospely ballads, like “Stop That Train.”

Deloian’s ample vocal delivery and dynamic finger-picking lead guitar flourishes, delivered in spot-on Garcia-reminiscent tones and textures, with just enough of his own uniqueness to separate him from the late-Grateful Dead patriarch, led the proceedings. Keyboardist Jon Gold, on the opposite side of the stage, presented a clear runner-up component of the band’s sound, offering passionate, swirling Leslie-enabled instrumental passages. Gold brings the perfect skill, energy, and pedigree to the table. Seasoned enough to have plied his craft a long, long time ago with new wave band Oingo Boingo, as a guitarist, bridges his work into 2020 with Jerry’s Middle Finger while still a part of Grateful Dead tribute band Cryptical Development.

Also on the front line, in Garcia Band tradition, was the dual vocal handiwork of Lisa Malsberger and Halina Janusz, whose always-timely choral passages certainly elevate the band. Backline players, bassist Burt Lewis – who has often collaborated onstage with Stu Allen & Mars Hotel – and drummer (and band manager) Rodney Newman completed the sextet. It was actually Newman and Deloian, close friends and long-time music collaborators, the story goes, who came together in 2008 to form the short-lived Los Angeles roots-rock band, The Knuckles, seven years before the establishment of Jerry’s Middle Finger.

One of the marvelous byproducts of a Jerry Garcia Band tribute band is that you are bound to witness sounds from Garcia’s wide-ranging interest in various musical genres. From its inception about 50 years ago, Garcia’s Grateful Dead side projects, which produced its own catalog of original material, would expand the listener’s appreciation of a broad spectrum of contemporary music, bringing marvelous and captivating arrangements of Motown (“How Sweet It Is”), reggae (“Stop That Train”), rock (“Rhapsody in Red”), ballads (“I’ll Take a Melody”), and other genres of music to the stage. And thus, so did Jerry’s Middle Finger, turning many old radio hits into far-reaching improvisational masterpieces. Expect Jerry’s Middle Finger to keep turning heads and gaining steam at festivals, clubs, and concert halls throughout 2020 and beyond.

In addition to local opening band, Love Mischief, a major co-star of the night was Lance Gordon and his kaleidoscopic Mad Alchemy Lights, whose never-ending array of colorful liquid lightshow projections on the walls and ceiling turned the Odd Fellows Lodge into a living, breathing psychedelic concert hall.

Love Mischief, an up-and-coming Sacramento-based experimental rock ‘n’ jam band led by Berklee College of Music-schooled singer/songwriter/lead guitarist/vocalist Brian Curtin, opened the show, coming out of the gate with a funky intro to a fine rendering of The Grateful Dead’s coveted pairing of “China Cat” -> “I Know you Rider.” The band of four, including bass, drums, and compelling keyboards, showed a lot of rock and ballad versatility, offering the quick-pickin’, hundred-year-old bluegrass standard, “Mountain Dew” (Stanley Brothers, Willie Nelson, Grandpa Jones), as well as four originals: “The Green Mountains,” “Sweet Tooth Blues,” and “My Backyard” -> “Love ‘em Till They Leave.”

Jerry’s Middle Finger, Set 1: Rhapsody in Red (Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter), I’ll Take a Melody (Allen Toussaint), That’s The Touch I Like (Jesse Winchester), Sitting in Limbo (Jimmy Cliff), Waiting for a Miracle (Leonard Cohen), He Ain’t Give You None (Van Morrison), Road Runner (Junior Walker & the Allstars). Set 2: Harder They Come (Jimmy Cliff), How Sweet It Is (Marvin Gaye), Stop That Train (Bob Marley & The Wailers), Second That Emotion (Smokey Robinson), Señor (Bob Dylan), That’s What Love Will Make You Do (Little Milton), Ride the Mighty High (Mighty Clouds of Joy). Encores: Someday Baby (B.B, King), Gomorrah (Garcia/Hunter).

Check out more photos from the show.

With the house only about two-thirds full, likely due to attendee coronavirus precautions, ALO and Leftover Salmon nevertheless persisted in front of an enthusiastic crowd, many of whose outfits celebrated the show’s artsy moniker, The Fins, Fur & Feathers Fancy Formal. It was the band’s first-ever appearance at the famed Warfield Theatre in San Francisco. It was also the last show of ALO’s 14th annual Tour d’Amour, as the Seattle and Portland, Ore., shows, set for March 13 and 14, were canceled due to coronavirus precautions.

Contemporary jamgrass outfit Leftover Salmon led off the proceedings, touring in support of “30 Years Under the BOG TOP!” a vinyl box set that includes all of the band’s albums. Founding members Vince Herman (acoustic guitar, vocals) and Drew Emmitt (mandolin, guitar, vocals), as well as Andy Thorn (banjo, vocals), led the proceedings. The show opened with the late John Hartford’s rootsy “Up on the Hill Where We Do the Boogie,” and included some quick-paced pure bluegrass selections, including the freight-train-like-beat and mad-string-pickin’ “Hollerwood” and “Ain’t Gonna Work,” a traditional bluegrass ditty performed over the years by the Carter Family, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, and many more.

The versatile band also included bass player Greg Garrison who’s been with the group for 20 years. Just before Garrison’s turn at lead vocals, Herman turned to him and said, “What a treat to be here in Jerry’s house, eh Greg?” Garrison then led the band in a sweet version of “Like a Road Leading Home,” released in 1971 by Albert King and adapted by Jerry Garcia a couple years later. The set also included improvisational alt-bluegrass jazz jam “Bird Call,” with Emmitt producing doing some furious wailing while using a slide on his mandolin.

Drummer Alwyn Robinson and keyboardist Erik Deutsch, who Herman said would be moving on soon to work on a big project, rounded out the band. “Erik is going off on a new adventure, musically speaking; he’s joining the Dixie Chicks on their next tour and that is fuckin’ awesome.”

The set also included the ethereal “Astral Traveler,” sung by Emmitt. Herman introduced the song, saying, “We wrote this next tune here in honor of our Zen master, Mr. Bruce Hampton, and we want to send this out in memory of Ram Dass, too. Be here now.” While in the mood for dedications, Herman then offered one “in honor of our buddy, Buddy Cage of the New Riders of the Purple Sage,” before launching into a fine rendering of that band’s “I Don’t Know You.” Their set ended with “Ain’t No Use.”

Following a brief but jovial intro by Wavy Gravy – he and his wife Jahanara sat side-stage all night – ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) was off and running. Partners in musical ventures since they were middle-school chums in the South Bay Area, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (guitar/vocals), Zach Gill (keyboards/vocals), and Steve Adams (bass/keyboards/vocals), all virtuosic in their instrumental skills, reached pinnacles of aural joy in almost every song.

Reliably, even with some new originals in the mix, the jammy, jazzy, funky, electronica four-piece fired on all cylinders. Bursting with distinctive danceability and captivating originality, ALO’s musical escapades on this night visibly pleased the audience, especially its avid, celebratory devotees. In addition to the exploratory places that the music took them, ALO’s performance was steeped in well-crafted, and surprisingly accessible songs. That is to say that while many bands can jam with wild abandon, their songs often lack the structure, originality,  and fine lyrics and melodies that ALO lays down with their songs – from which they then rise, expand, and crescendo into massive improvisational pieces of music.

With flare and style, Lebo was masterful on electrified acoustic (and a bit of pedal steel) guitar, twisting, contorting, and leaping as he coaxed an ever-changing, endless array of sounds he propelled upon the audience. Though Lebo is always a guitar master whenever he plays – he’s a busy, in-demand player as well as a writer, arranger, and orchestrator – he seems most at ease in the middle of ALO’s boiling kettle of sound.

Gill, whose tenure as keyboard player and core member of Jack Johnson's band has lasted 15 years and counting, offered his usual affable, non-rock-star persona to the show. In addition to delivering a wondrously wide array of sweeping keyboards layers and textures, and a couple of stints on ukulele and melodica, Gill chatted with the crowd and at one point passed out handfuls of rose petals to those down front.

Adams was stellar on bass, playing an MVP-like Scottie Pippen to Lebo’s Michael Jordan every step of the way, with meaty and always on-time bass profundity. Ezra Lipp, Adams’ partner in the up-and-coming band Magic In the Other, is now in his third year as ALO’s drummer, and he is comfy/cozy in that role, as his rockin’ drumkit mastery at the Warfield attested.

ALO’s set began with three Gill-sung numbers – a short and snappy “Get To Do It Again,” followed by the catchy “Cowboys and Chorus Girls,” and a stretched-out version of “Maria,” with Lebo delivering a morsel of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood” by song’s end.

Three new ones followed, including Lebo’s “Ridin’,” a mid-tempo number reminiscent of a 60’s pop song – until the jamming took over; Adams’ beguiling and anthemic-rocking “The Rain,” with the oft-repeated lyric, “Everything’s clean after the rain, but the rain can’t wash my blues away”; and the funky/poppy “Baby Blind Spot,” on which Adams’ bass line was evocative of the bass parts on Blondie’s “Rapture.” The triad of songs can all be found on ALO’s recent “Creatures Vol. 1: Spark” and “Creatures Vol. 2: Weave” albums.

The always popular “Shapeshifter” was its own epic, 22-minute piece of music, in that the concert favorite included Lebo visiting on guitar three classics: “What the World Needs Now is Love,” which was a hit for Jackie DeShannon’s in 1965 (written by Hal David/Burt Bacharach); “My Favorite Things,” from “The Sound of Music” 1959 stage show (Richard Rogers/Oscar Hammerstein); and The Beatles, “All You Need is Love” from 1967 (John Lennon/Paul McCartney). The set’s closing sequence included “Storms and Hurricanes” and “Room for Bloomin’,” which segued into a nifty, Gill-sung version of “Ride Captain Ride,” a hit for the Blues Image in 1970.

What followed, whether one calls it a third set or an encore, was pure magic, a special moment in time when the two bands (along with 15-year-old guitar phenom Asher Belsky, Wavy Gravy, Pete Lavezzoli on tambourine, several life-sized dancing bears and a bigger-than-life Jerry Garcia puppet) joined together for a special finale to be long remembered.

Vince Herman sang lead on a crowd-pleasing blues-rock version of The Grateful Dead’s 1970 favorite, “New Speedway Boogie,” followed by a perfectly appropriate show-ender, The Who’s 1972 FM-radio staple, “Join Together (With the Band).” Lebo said afterward that he and Vince last performed together in 2015, after a show in Petaluma, Calif. “We had just played a Voodoo Dead show at the Mystic,” Lebo said. “Kreutzmann, Vince, myself, (and some others) weren’t ready for bed yet, so we went to Zodiacs and they unlocked the doors, turned the PA on, and we invited a bunch of friends over. We jammed into the wee hours. Good times.”

Upon reflection, now that live music has been largely shut down in the United States, temporarily due to the coronavirus, Joni Mitchell’s iconic lyric comes to mind: “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”

Leftover Salmon set: Up on the Hill Where We Do the Boogie, Show Me Something Higher, Run, Red Fox, Run, Hollerwood, Like a Road Leading Home, Walking Shoes, Bird Call, Astral Traveler, I Don’t Know You, Shame and Scandal, Southern Belle, Ain't No Use.

ALO set: Get to Do It Again, Cowboys and Chorus Girls, Maria, Ridin', The Rain, Baby Blind Spot, Shapeshifter (embedded w/What the World Needs Now is Love, My Favorite Things, and All You Need is Love), Storms and Hurricanes, Room for Bloomin', Ride Captain Ride

Encore featuring ALO, Leftover Salmon, & Asher Belsky: New Speedway Boogie, Join Together

“All I need is music; I’m gonna make it through,” Jonny “Mojo” Flores sings on “Live on Wesley’s Road,” a massive, new live-performance project by northern California’s renowned song-and-jam-makers, Achilles Wheel. The three-CD package, which fiercely delivers the jamming juke-joint dance party vibe that the band gives off on the concert circuit, is a collective humdinger.

Achilles Wheel, now with almost 10 years under its belt, is among California’s most well-known improvisational rock ‘n’ blues bands north of San Francisco. The album, which provides excellent medicine during these times of Covid-19, is available in digital and CD formats at www.achilleswheel.com. While Achilles Wheel’s four studio albums, all of which are represented here, have inspired praise and rightly so, the band and its fans have been anxious for a new live project, such as those performed at regional festivals, nightclubs, and listening rooms.

Captured in superb sound, and crackling with energy, virtually every song on “Wesley’s Road,” crafty in verses and arrangements, takes off onto its own unique and energy-generating psychedelic-tinged jam of rock and joy, with, as the good ones do, each player melding his own singular input toward an interesting, productive collaborative of sound. The album was assembled from live-concert recordings made in mid-late 2019 at four venues – three in their Gold Country hometown of Nevada City (Nevada Theatre, Miners Foundry, and Crazy Horse Saloon & Grill), and one in Fairfax (19 Broadway), California.

All the Achilles Wheel comrades are tremendously talent players, with the knack of knowing how they can best contribute to a song’s overall effectiveness, especially on the live stage. The quintet is led by harmonious front men/songwriters Paul Kamm and Flores, well-known regional performers both, who build on the solid foundation of Shelby Snow’s intricate, bold, and melodic bass runs that are always on the mark, and Mark McCartney’s strident drum attack. Ben Jacobs throughout delivers just-right piano and organ textures and flourishes, as well as a couple of accordion passages.

One of the band’s qualities that keep things refreshing for the listeners is its dual lead singer/songwriters. The variances between Kamm’s and Flores’s songs provide refreshing trade-offs and help keep the album interesting throughout. One example is Kamm’s “Shadow of a Doubt,” a smart, sensitive song with the comforting lyric, “There was something in the way that you came in tonight, and you kissed me on the mouth and you turned out the light.” It is immediately followed by, and nicely contrasted by, Flores’s “Sweet Bye & Bye,” a feel-good, pickin’ and grinnin’ foot-stomping number.

And make no mistake, though the band can be tagged into the too-widely used jam band category, with passages of both tack-sharp precision followed by frenzied improvisations like on “Feelin’ Alright” and “Slow Train,” it’s the songs that make the difference. Each piece of music begins with a thoughtful, clever song that eventually escalates into different sorts of freeform jamming. So, like the Grateful Dead had “Garcia songs” and “Weir songs,” here we have Paul Kamm songs and Jonny Flores songs that generally tradeoff back and forth. Each of which are unique in their own ways but take us to the same place of musical enlightenment. There are hints – just hints – of heavy hitters like the Allman Brothers Band, Derek Trucks, and Carlos Santana, and the bass-driven lightning-quick jams in “Slow Train,” are akin to a coherent version of the Grateful Dead’s “Caution (Do Not Stop on Tracks),” but Achilles Wheel’s collective DNA is its own, molded through their lifetimes of soaking up such sounds. And while in concert they used to play a lot of cover songs, including several by the Grateful Dead, their own music is what defines and brings them distinction.

Kamm’s diverse musical background includes songwriting, recording, and touring over the past 35-plus years with Eleanore McDonald as half of an engaging contemporary-folk music duo, and performing for many years in Grateful Dead tribute band The Deadbeats (for which McCartney has performed as well). Both of these prolific pieces of Kamm’s pedigree serve well as Achilles Wheel’s more traditional singer/songwriting contributor, providing a perfect balance to Flores’s and Snow’s more unbridled, cowboy-psychedelia presence. Flores, with his trademark long red hair and beard and cowboy hat, is perhaps the band’s most defining player not-so-secret weapon. He is a guitar prodigy, loaded with twang in his toolbox and an engaging countrified voice that can be likened to an amalgamation of Arlo Guthrie and Railroad Earth’s Todd Sheaffer. In addition to his work with Achilles Wheel, Mojo also leads A Band Beyond Description and often plays as a solo act or along with other notable northern California musicians such as Stu Allen and Scott Guberman, and groups like the Rusty Buckets and Old Mule.

Snow’s long musical timeline includes sharing a stage with an illustrious cast of characters including John Lee Hooker, Bill Kreutzmann, Carlos Santana, John Cipollina, Steve Kimock, Lacy J. Dalton, Johnny Otis, and John Dawson. And Snow’s studio work has been captured at such famed venues as Fantasy Studios, Prairie Sun Studios, and Hun Sound. Jacobs also performs with noteworthy bands Poor Man’s Whiskey and the Grateful Bluegrass Boys.

“This recording is dedicated to the memory of Wesley Robertson,” the liner notes proclaim. “Live music was his life’s passion and he also loved this band.” So who is Wesley, in addition to a former KVMR-FM on-air personality? Many regions have one person that is bigger than their radio role, and whose presence at arts events amplifies its collective pride. Musician Joe Craven said, in part, of Robertson, who passed in March 2018, “He was a cheerleader, matchmaker, mischief maker, educator, enthusiast, entertainer... and humanitarian with a microphone..”

The band’s ode to Robertson, “Wesley’s Road,” appears at the end of disc 2. “Just up ahead on the next horizon, not too far from a place you know; there’ll be good times and if you’re askin’, they’ll be music down on Wesley’s road.”

About 40 years after joining the original Jerry Garcia Band, Melvin Seals & JGB delivered on December 20 two solid sets at a private, socially distanced performance. The gathering of a few dozen folks, mostly masked, took place on a bright, sunny afternoon in the small Sierra Nevada foothill community of Auburn, Calif. That the improbable, COVID-era show happened all was thanks to the tireless efforts of local concert impresario Scott Holbrook and his Keep Smilin’ Promotions.

This, the ninth annual Very Jerry Christmas show, all of which Melvin Seals & JGB have headlined, was a benefit for the next (2021, hopefully) Jerry Day, an 18-year tradition that typically takes place in August in San Francisco. And the good news for all is that nugs.net will stream the show for free, at 5 p.m. PT, Saturday, December 26, 2020 at https://nugs.tv/free/?showID=459.

Melvin Seals, band leader, soulful organist, and maestro in charge, directed a four-man combo on this day. Distinguished by swirling organ flourishes exuded from Seals keyboards and boosted by his twin Leslie amplifiers/speakers, this performance was clear and crisp – in sound and mid-50s temperatures – comprising a deep and rich sampling of the Jerry Garcia Band canon of material. And what a rich repertoire it is. Grateful Dead patriarch Garcia had extensive interests in a variety of musical genres and artists. From its beginning in the early 1970s, Garcia’s Grateful Dead side projects displayed such multidimensional material, bringing a bevy of reggae, rock, ballads, gospel, and other varietals of contemporary music to the stage. And often, the Garcia Band, and in turn, Melvin Seals & JGB, who are self-described “keepers of the flame,” turn three-minute radio hits into extended improvisational masterpieces.

Having performed with Garcia for 15 years, and then carrying on the group's heritage ever since, Seals and the band hit home for those of us who enjoyed Garcia’s projects over the decades. Thanks to Melvin Seals & JGB, we are able to visualize, and experience through audiation, a bonified re-living of many of those memories with vivid reality, akin similar benefits people reap from Dead & Company’s re-creation of the live Grateful Dead experience. And for the under-40 crowd, the performances delivered by Seals and his accompanists give a darned fine aural representation of the old Garcia Band days.

While no female backup vocalists were in attendance, the performance nevertheless was compelling and satisfying. The band featured lead guitarist/lead vocalist John Kadlecik and his Garcia-reminiscent guitar passages. Kadlecik, who plays like an MVP every show, is a co-founder of Dark Star Orchestra, lead guitarist/vocalist for Furthur, and leader of Golden Gate Wingmen. He became a permanent member of Seals & JGB band in December 2019.

Also playing in the band is always-on-point bass player/sound engineer/composer John-Paul McLean, a Berklee College of Music graduate and veteran player who’s been with Melvin & JGB for seven-plus years. Jeremy Hoenig, a drummer who has toured the world and these days pops up with many a-band at many a-Bay-Area-venue, including Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads, filled out the foursome. He has taken over for drummer Pete Lavezzoli, who announced via social media on Feb. 29, 2020, “After ten years and almost a thousand shows, I bid farewell to the JGB Band.” Together, the group were in fine form and presented the kind of nonverbal cues and telepathies that strengthened the band’s cohesion and efficacy.

Some equate Grateful Dead songs, and vis-à-vis Garcia Band/Melvin Seals & JGB songs, as devotions, or dare I say, prayers, with lyrics that inspire and enhance our daily lives. Many such phrasings were delivered from the stage on this afternoon:

“But you brighten up for me all of my days, with a love so sweet, so many ways.” (From James Taylor’s “How Sweet It Is.”)

“Cats on the bandstand, give 'em each a big hand. Anyone who sweats like that must be all right.” (From Garcia/Robert Hunter’s “Cats Under the Stars.”)

“The wife of Lot got turned to salt because she looked behind her.” (From Garcia/Hunter’s “Gomorrah.”)

“Come take these guns and put ‘em in the ground. Well, I won’t shoot them anymore.” (Seals’ slightly adapted lyrics from Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”)

“We can all be together forever and ever when we make it to the promised land.” (The closing number of set two, Charles Johnson’s gospel tune and Garcia Band staple, “My Sisters and Brothers.”)

The show also included Garcia’s straight-ahead ol’ rocker, “Tore Up Over You”; the obscure “Leave the Little Girl Alone,” a Hunter/Garcia collaboration from the 1982 “Run for the Roses” LP; and a cover of King Floyd’s funky “I Feel Like Dynamite,” that goes back to Garcia’s mid-1970’s Legion of Mary band days with Merl Saunders. The band also performed “Don’t Let Go,” a party song that Roy Hamilton scored a hit single on the 1958 rhythm ‘n’ blues charts.

The band performed two Van Morrison tunes long ago adopted by the Garcia Band – “Bright Side of the Road” and the beloved ballad,” And It Stoned Me,” with its stirring organ embellishments. They also did three Bob Dylan songs – “ It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry,” and two in succession – “Tough Mama,” followed by “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” the only song of the day for which Seals took lead vocals, and that the Jerry Garcia Band performed from the 1970s to the ‘90s and the Grateful Dead picked up as a frequent encore choice in 1987. The second set ended with a rousing version of Hunter/Garcia’s “Deal,” which appeared on Garcia’s first LP and became a Garcia Band, and of course, Grateful Dead standard.

The performance/production was supported and sponsored by Andy Logan Productions, with video recording and editing by Media One Audio. The audio engineer was Armando Tobriner.

Set 1: How Sweet it Is, Leave the Little Girl Alone, Cats Under the Stars, Love in the Afternoon, The Maker, Tore Up Over You, Gomorrah, Bright Side of the Road, Lonesome And A Long Way From Home

Set 2: I Feel Like Dynamite, It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train to Cry, And It Stoned Me, Tough Mama, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, Waiting for a Miracle, Don’t Let Go, My Sisters and Brothers. E: Midnight Moonlight.

“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 (CBC), just over the Nevada border from California on Lake Tahoe. The show, Greene’s (and the CBC’s) first show back before a live, socially distanced and masked audience had a casual, performer/audience-connectiveness to it, and Greene and Dale quickly reestablished their footing on the traditional artist-performs-to-live-humans concert stage.

The evening fused Americana, blues, jazz, folk, country and acoustic rock. Greene and Dale ran through 20 songs in a tidy just-under-two-hour performance that successfully, and enjoyably, touched on several styles of material displayed on both original and cover songs that represented just a bit of his musical repertoire, or “canon” as he aptly called it. The show, with Greene on a Gibson acoustic guitar, Lee Oskar harmonica, and Kawai MP-6 keyboard, and Dale doing work on a Suhr electric was composed of about one-half Greene originals and one-half covers. It was a Good Friday, literally.

On this night, the set included Greene standards, including “Don’t Let the Devil Take Your Mind,” and “Shaken,” as well as a fistful of selections from his 2002 debut album: “Tell Me Mama, Tell Me Right,” “Mexican Girl,” “Cry Yourself Dry,” “The Ballad of Sleepy John,” and the encore, “Gone Wanderin’.” A couple of times, Greene asked the audience what they wanted to hear. And when someone yelled, “Mexican Girl,” he obliged. “That wasn’t on the set list; good pick,” he said. “Set lists are always like, what do they say, they’re like the speed limit – suggestions.”

With Greene on guitar and harmonica, the duo opened the show with a newer Greene original, which had the ambiance of an early 1960s Bob Dylan folk ballad. Indeed, Greene and Dale also delivered two Dylan songs, “I Shall Be Released” and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit.”

The set was also abundant with a wide range of finely arranged cover versions, specifically Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey,” Merle Haggard’s “Big City,” and George Strait’s “When Did You Stop Loving Me.” In addition, the duo offered three heritage songs often attributed to the Grateful Dead due to that band’s adaptations: 1) "Death Don't Have No Mercy" by Rev. Gary Davis, with celebrated covers by the Grateful Dead and Hot Tuna; 2) "Peggy O," an old traditional, often called "Fennario" or "Fyvio," and reinterpreted by countless artists including The Weavers, Simon & Garfunkel, and yes, the Grateful Dead; and 3) "Deal," nitpicky here, but the original artist here was Jerry Garcia, from his first album, yet indeed performed hundreds of times by the Grateful Dead..

Greene, who cut his teeth in the Sacramento, California, area in the early-mid 1990s while observers and enthusiasts nationwide spread the word that this talented fellow could spin a fine song (music and lyrics), shred on extended blues and rock guitar jams, finely fingerpick an acoustic guitar passage, and was equally adept on piano/keyboards, and harmonica. Greene is also a musical chameleon of sorts, mastering many styles and supplementing Jackie Greene Band performances over the years by playing in the band with the likes of the Black Crowes, Phil Lesh & Friends, Joan Osborne (Trigger Hippy), Tim Bluhm (Skinny Singers), and a trio with Chris Robinson, Bob Weir and Lesh. He even offered for sale his own artwork at shows for a time. Each such collaboration has allowed the singer/songwriter’s already large, original body of work to grow wider, and along the way enabled him to absorb and then master many styles and repertoires.  Greene is one of the core artists on Blue Rose Music collective label.

Dale’s low-fi guitar flourishes provided a retro aesthetic and were on point throughout, skillful and measured while displaying calm and precise strength over amplification. The ballroom was adapted to seat about 170 in little clusters of two, four, and six chairs, while in days past (and maybe someday in the future) the ballroom can accommodate a general admission crowd of up to 850, according to a staff person.

For the past year or so, since the Covid-19 pandemic changed our world, many musicians have taken to online streaming performances. Greene has been especially kind to his fans, treating his fans to weekly home-studio “Live From Backstage” online performances with several different players. In March 2021, he delivered themed performances including “Dylan and Dead,” “Blues and Soul” and “Sticky Fingers,” the latter of which spotlighted the Rolling Stones album of that name.

In an especially nice touch, a friend of Greene’s brought and distributed long-stemmed roses for everyone in attendance. The April 2 show was a birthday celebration of sorts for Greene, a father of two who turned 40 on November 27, 2020. This performance was originally scheduled for that night, rescheduled to mid-January due to Covid-19, and then pushed back again to April 2.

This was Greene’s first of three shows at the CBC, which he indicated during the night that the second and third shows would have no, or very few repeats. It was also the first show back for the CBC (Karl Denson, the California Honeydrops, The Mother Hips, and Willy Tea Taylor are also slated to appear over the next several weeks). The CBC prepared the hall safely and thoughtfully as they operate carefully at this present juncture of the Covid-19 era. Each attendee had short interviews with staff, who also checked guests temperatures on the way in. Masks were mandatory throughout, except while actively sipping beverages.

Setlist: Recession Proof, Honey I Been Thinking About You, Death Don't Have No Mercy, Don't Let The Devil Take Your Mind, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Cry Yourself Dry, Shaken, Grindstone, Tell Me Mama - Tell Me Right, I Shall Be Released, Trust Somebody, Mexican Girl, When You're Walking Away, When Did You Stop Loving Me, Big City, Peggy-O, Tupelo Honey, Deal, The Ballad of Sleepy John. E: Gone Wanderin'

Midnight North kicked off its 2021 live-stage endeavors on April 18, with a masked and physically distanced performance at their original home base, Terrapin Crossroads. The concert was the band’s first show back since the Covid-19 proliferation and leaned heavily on the band’s newly released album, “There’s Always a Story.”

The album, and the concert, showcased finely crafted songs in the genres of rock, alt-pop, alt-country, and more. Performances and the songs themselves were strong and dynamic, with excellent lyrical passages giving way to meaningful jams that morphed out of those verses. The show, which took place under unseasonably warm bright sunshine, featured six of the new record’s 10 songs, including two ballads – Elliott Peck’s “Coyote” and Nathan Graham’s “Wild Card,” both of which have been released as singles.

The band featured founding/core members Grahame Lesh (guitar/vocals), Elliott Peck (guitar/vocals), and Connor O’Sullivan (bass), along with Nathan Graham, who’s been playing in the band for five years (drums as well as banjo/vocals on his song, “Silent Lonely Drifter”), and always-in-demand-player Jason Crosby (fiddle, mandolin, keyboards). Peck skillfully demonstrated her alt-country/honky-tonk vocals and picking-and-strumming guitar-play presence. Though she did not play keyboards, as Crosby's presence on keys at this show made it unnecessary. Peck’s delivery on both acoustic and electric guitars were laudably proficient in ability, dexterity, and confidence. Lesh played slide guitar notably often through the set, honing that skill, which augmented his lead guitar and vocal flares and talents. The two-hour show included nary a Grateful Dead song, which was fine; the only covers included the Peck-sung Gillian Welch ballad, “Tear My Stillhouse Down” as well as an inspiring and raucous version of “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning,” a traditional blues-hymn recorded by such luminaries as Blind Willie Johnson, Rev. Gary Davis, and Hot Tuna. The show ended with a rousing version of the rocker, “Under the Lights.”

After one more late-April warmup show at Terrapin Crossroads, the band is set to journey on an East Coast tour that so far includes nine shows in June, geographically spread between Charleston, South Carolina, and Stowe, Vermont. With Terrapin Crossroads’ restaurant, bar, and Grate Room still closed, the club that Phil built is carefully, cautiously holding intimate shows in the backyard park, at which all patrons are required to stay in their pods – or batters boxes, as I call them. On this day, the club owners were present, seated behind the stage at a vase-of-roses-adorned small table, enjoying the show with their large-breed dogs.

Set List: We’re Not Alone, Playing a Poor Hand Well, The Sailor & the Sea, Good Days, Tear My Stillhouse Down, Echoes, Give Away the Ghost, Longview, Miss M, Coyote, Silent Lonely Drifter, Wild Card, Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, The Highway Song, Under the Lights.

During this age of COVID-19, touring musicians across the land have been creative with the process of bringing music to their fans while maintaining some ability to generate revenue. Live video streams have been a ubiquitous way to accomplish both, and more recently pod-separated, limited attendance performances have emerged. In the San Francisco Bay Area, KC Turner Presents adapted to the COVID health protocols and has developed a special, portable concert series niche that has materialized into an efficient and effective enterprise.

Facilitated by KC Turner, live-music producer and talent buyer for the Hopmonk Tavern venues in Sonoma and Marin counties, California, his In Your Driveway (or Back Yard) Concert Series has been generating happy customers (and musicians), with more performances slated for at least the next two months. “We roll up in one car and literally are bringing a headlining artist to your back door,” Turner said. “We drop in about 30 minutes before we go on, we play an 75-minute set, and then we leave.”

Like a ringleader of a traveling circus, Turner transports the performers in and sets up the “circus tent” so to speak, supervises the show, then quickly departs, leaving nothing but footprints, and some priceless memories. “You book it through me, I bring you great sound, lights, and the artists,” Turner said. Turner, the musicians and their instruments, and gear/stage rigging all travel from place to place in one car. Making a comparison to circus clowns piling in and out of a VW Beetle is tempting, but I won’t stoop to such frivolity in this piece.

Take Saturday, April 24, for example. In a single day, Turner and the Hot Buttered Rum Trio (Nat Keefe, and Erik Yates with ALO’s Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz in tow), roamed the hillsides in their portable tour “bus” and performed backyard concerts in Sebastopol, San Anselmo, and Ross, California. Grateful Web attended the San Anselmo live gathering.

These particular trio shows materialized when Hot Buttered Rum front man’s Nat Keefe called Turner expressing his interest in the concept. “It would be me and Erik <Yates>, and I can probably get Lebo involved,” Turner recounted Keefe as saying. “Then we went to the calendar to see what weekends we all had. He really spearheaded it, Nat did. That’s how most of these artists became a part of it. The artists tend to hit me up. They see me doing this with Megan Slankard and Poor Man’s Whiskey and Steve Poltz and stuff, and are like, ‘Whoa! How do I get involved?’”

In terms of gear, the trio traveled light. Yates brought his Beard resonator guitar and Nechville banjo, Keefe sported his Santa Cruz H-13 acoustic guitar and Rickenbacker bass, and Lebo was armed with only his trusty, much modified Takamine guitar. “That old guitar of mine has been a 20-year living experiment,” Lebo said.  Instruments were supplemented only by guitar pedals and diminutive amplifiers.

The mood, buoyed by the symbiosis between the musicians and small audience, was lighthearted and joyful. Together, the trio delivered a nicely paced set of music, touching on acoustic ballads, progressive bluegrass, and mid-tempo songs and jamming, all of which drifted beautifully over the vast backyard.   Hot Buttered Rum songs, including “Busted in Utah” and “Jack Mormon Mom,” were supplemented by Gillian Welch’s “Time (The Revelator),” and a wonderful 11-minute composition of Jerry Garcia’s “Sugaree” that flowed into ALO’s/Lebo’s “Try” and back into “Sugaree.” The set also included “The Deep End,” for which Hot Buttered Rum and ALO collaborated on the “Lonesome Panoramic” recording, which was released in 2018. Both bands are mainstays at the Camp Deep End festival in California’s Mendocino County.

The In Your Driveway series premiered in October 2020 with performances by singer/songwriter Megan Slankard, and Turner, who manages Slankard’s projects, revealed that she was part of the concert series’ brainstorming sessions. “She kind of pushed me to do this and I’m very grateful for it,” Turner said. “At first, I was like ‘Nah.’ I kind of brushed it off; that was in the summer of last year. She definitely gets credit for pushing my brain in that direction and wrapping my head around it because it started to feel a little a safer in the fall to have a plan. In the summer we didn’t even want touch even our mail.”

It is important to note that the shows have strict COVID-related guidelines, which is an important part of the pre-show planning. “There are ground rules for these shows,” said Turner. “One is that they have to be outdoors, preferable in a driveway or backyard. There’s a limit to the amount of people allowed to be at the show and that number tends to be about 20." In addition, masks must be worn at all times – between sips and bites for those actively eating and drinking – and attendees are to remain at least 12 feet from the performers. “We’re making it safe as possible,” he said. “We put safety above all other reasons for doing this. We’re trying to have fun but want to make sure that no one’s in harm’s way." Also, the people hosting the events must keep them private. “We’re not selling tickets or advertising the event itself,” Turner said. “We’re advertising that you can have an event through us, but you can’t make a link to sell tickets. It’s just your friends, your family, your pod. It’s very, very intimate. Very small.”

The event fees, a flat rate from roughly $1,000 to $5,000, according to Turner, are paid for in advance by the hosts. It is then up to them if they want to collect donations from their guests. Sponsored by Bose Sound, Turner uses small, high-quality, battery-added Bose speakers that last for an entire three-in-a-day group of shows. Turner also employs battery-powered Chauvet DJ LED lights for evening shows.

So far, the concert series has presented, in addition to Slankard, The Mother Hips Duo, G. Love, John Craigie, and Glen Phillips. Coming up are shows with David Lowery, John Doe, Tom Freund with Wally Ingram, Griffin House, Poor Man’s Whiskey, Citizen Cope, and Donavon Frankenreiter. Some of these are already completely booked, but for hosting opportunities, go to https://kcturnerpresents.com.

Looking ahead to after the pandemic subsides. Turner said he will still manage private events, “but I don’t want to identify my KC Turner Presents brand as the guy who just does private events, because we want to bring all these artists back to Hopmonk. This is great to do in in this meantime, in this little window, and it feels right.“

The gestalt theory of "the whole is more than the sum of its parts,” was in evidence in Sonoma County, California, on May 22, as the so-called Tree of Life Band delivered a dandy of a benefit show. The group was a one-time conglomerate in support of the Tree of Life Fund, which supports children and young adults living with profound developmental disabilities. The ensemble included the three core members of Midnight North (Elliott Peck, Grahame Lesh, and Connor O’Sullivan), Jackie Greene, Alex Nelson, David Simon-Baker, Jeremy Hoenig, and Brian Lesh. The band emanated profound power, precision, and intuitive nonverbal communication throughout, with almost everyone taking lead vocals during the course of the night, which featured mostly cover tunes, some more obscure than others.

The 2½-hour outdoor tables-and-chairs event, with the more and more music fans rising to their feet and dancing to the merriment, took place on a cool night at the SOMO Village Event Center, in a different and more intimate setup than past shows there. The audience, who enjoyed a fine dinner and dessert from neighboring Sally Tomatoes, was a genteel bunch that included a nice swath of seasoned Bay Area Dead Heads, many hugging each other and sharing live-music joy for the first time since Covid changed the world.

The boldest, most exuberant pieces of music included set-ender “That’s What Love Will Make You Do,” the Little Milton party song adapted and oft-performed by the Jerry Garcia Band, as well as an amazing 20-minute composite of late-‘70s iconic pieces of music – the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” and the Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street,” that included a couple of minutes of jamming back and forth between melodies and the band visibly pleased at their command of the moment before moving completely into “Shakedown.” The musical fellowship churned out three Stones songs throughout the night, including honky-tonk ballad “Sweet Virginia,” vocalized by Brian Lesh, and midtempo rocker “Sway,” with Peck leading on the vocals.

Some wonderful ballads were delivered as well along the way, such as Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You,” sung by Grahame Lesh; Lucinda Williams’ “Fruits of My Labor,” crooned by Peck; and William Alan Ramsey’s twangy “Goodbye to Old Missoula,” delivered by Nelson.

Though it was only for a very few minutes, it’s important to note that family patriarch Phil Lesh, he of Grateful Dead legend, who looked on at the proceedings all night, joined his sons and the rest onstage for a second and final encore, of “We Bid You Goodnight,” with Peck, Greene, and all three Leshes on vocals. That old hymnal/spiritual, which research confirms goes back almost 150 years, was a superb and touching ending, considering in Grateful Dead circles that song was a rare musical chestnut. Some of us nerds are still trying to trace the last time in which Phil, Grahame, and Brian appeared onstage together.

If one had to choose, it appeared as if Greene and Grahame Lesh led the band, but each player has so much presence, talent, and musical pedigree that everyone was integral to the success of the night. Greene for one, is such a versatile, intuitive, and powerful player, he definitely kicked the show up a notch, to coin an Emeril Lagasse phrase. Stationed at the keyboard all night – he is equally adept at guitars and keys, but there were plenty of guitar slingers on stage on this night. He delivered lead vocals on Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” Jimmy Reed’s “Big Boss Man,” and “Rise Up Singing,” the latter of which came from his days with the too-short-lived band, Trigger Hippy days. But more than that, Greene elevated the party vibe with is extended jams, for many of which he pounded the keys and rocked in place from a standing position.

Grahame Lesh was grinning all night, adding a positive, happy vibe, jamming expertly throughout, singing lead on “That’s What Love Will Make You Do,” and taking the reins on a delightful performance of “Handle With Care,” the Traveling Wilburys’ hit on which he sang the George Harrison lead and Greene contributing the crowd-pleasing Roy Orbison vocal pieces.

Peck, who is more and more becoming a respected and recognized honky-tonk/alt-country star away from Midnight North, was a wonderful presence on this night at center stage, adding an important part of the collective mix on acoustic guitar and pitch-perfect voice. In addition to other songs mentioned so far, she sang lead on the opening number, “Good for You I Guess,” a midtempo rocker from her own album, as well as Gillian Welch’s ballad, “Tennessee.” She also sported, two days before Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday, a Dylan guitar strap.

Nelson, who for several years led the Sacramento-based Walking Spanish band, of which he performed one of their songs, “Jacksin (is Long Gone),” turned a lot of previously uninitiated heads with his guitar and vocal talents, like on the first encore, Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm,” for instance. He not only melded with older brother Greene, but was definitely a protagonist in this band of heroes. He more than rose to the occasion during a time in which he is presently, rather than devoting himself to music activities, spending most of his time as a synthetic chemist in a chemical engineering research laboratory at Stanford University and working on such projects as an effort to transition large metropolitan areas around the world to 100% renewable energy systems by 2050.

Simon-Baker, a mixer/engineer who has produced records for Midnight North, ALO, Peter Rowan, and others stayed on the back line during the gig, but his just-right, right-on-time lead-guitar shredding added excellent added layer to the musical collective. He also sang a reverent version of the Beach Boy’s “Sail On Sailor.”

Brian Lesh who is an excellent player with a swell voice, is a bit of a below-the-radar enigma as far as his musicianship and social media, but he was on point and an integral part of the Tree of Life Band, contributing solid mandolin and guitar licks and delivering vocals on Dylan’s “When I Paint My Masterpiece” and Tom Petty’s “Crawling Back to You.”

As per usual, the bottom-end guys, O’Sullivan on bass and Hoenig on the drum-kit, get mentioned last year, which should in no way undermine the importance of the foundation they laid for each and every song.

This benefit show also featured a silent auction of gifts, photos, and other goodies, which raised funds for the Tree of Life Fund at Ferncliff Manor in New York, a seven-year old nonprofit. Its mission is to “empower the individuals in our care to achieve their optimum level of independence, well-being, self-esteem through our individualized life-skill programs and nurturing care.”

The California Tree of Life weekend also included on Friday an intimate benefit with Greene and Nelson at the Green Room Social Club in Placerville, and a show featuring Farmer Dave & Wizards Of The West, Alex Koford & The Wise Owls, Katie Skene, and others, at Joshua Tree National Park.

Setlist: Good for You I Guess, Won't Back Down, When I Paint My Masterpiece, If I Needed You, Sail on Sailor, Jacksin (is Long Gone), Tennessee, Rise Up Singing, Sweet Virginia, Handle with Care, Fruits of My Labor, Big Boss Man, Sway, Miss You -> Shakedown Street -> Miss You, Crawling Back to You, Goodbye to Old Missoula, That's What Love Will Make You Do. Encore 1: Maggie's Farm; Encore 2: We Bid You Goodnight

Rock and blues whiz Jackie Greene and his markedly talented secret weapon (and brother) Alexander Nelson christened the new Green Room Social Club on May 21, a new destination-location in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe. And what’s more, the acoustic two-set show was a benefit for the Tree of Life Fund, which supports the students at Ferncliff Manor, a Yonkers, New York, nonprofit residence that serves people with intellectual disabilities.

Reviving a duo that has performed from time to time over the past several years, Greene and Nelson through the course of the evening ran through two sets of material for the 100 or so souls that were in the building (capacity will be 260 for standing-room events). For the burgeoning club, it was an admirable feather in the cap to attract Greene, a star in his own right who’s made grand acoustic and electric rock ‘n’ blues music over the years with the Jackie Greene Band, Trigger Hippy (with Joan Osborne), the Skinny Singers (with Tim Bluhm), and prominent guest stints with The Black Crowes and Phil Lesh & Friends.

Nelson, a indie-rocking singer/songwriter/guitarist, also sports an excellent curriculum vitae through his band, Walking Spanish, and a host of other live and studio-session work. Adding to the mix was renowned local fiddler, Tom Gunterman, a core member of Walking Spanish and purveyor of his own “Alittlebitoffiddle” franchise, who now through marriage is related to Nelson and Greene.

But as amazing as the performance was, the headline of the night was indeed the grand opening of The Green Room Social Club, just steps from U.S. Highway 50 in Placerville, a historic Gold Rush-era town that still maintains its wild west spirit. With all of the advance planning, permitting, alterations/renovations, good will, and intangible magic led by proprietor Jennifer Teie out of the way, the night went off without a hitch. Managed skillfully and harmoniously by an admirably talented crew (husband Jeff Teie, a general contractor, played a large role in the process), the multifaceted Green Room Social Club passed the Acid Test with flying colors, so to speak, on all fronts: sound (QSC performance-audio equipment from Sweetwater Sound), video, kitchen, and bar.

All of which was no surprise given visionary Teie’s gumption and stick-to-it-iveness, which she’s illustrated as a Realtor and chief honcho of the intimate and awesomely appointed Just Exactly Perfect Music Festival, which Grateful Web covered in years past. Fiddler Gunterman put it best, telling Teie, “It was as if you had been to every venue I have ever been in and you copied and expanded on what I liked and left out what I didn’t. It is beautiful, homey, and practical… You really created a masterpiece.”

Even the venue name plays on its distinctive treat-the-patrons well concept. “The ‘green room’ traditionally is the backstage room where the artists are, so the idea is to have that intimate, elevated experience that you would get if you were an artist backstage,” said Jamaica Zajonc, “partner and cohort” to Teie’s “instigator and founder” role. To which Teie added, “It’s all about the experience. From the front door to the back door and everything in-between."

In addition to the dynamic cast of lead and supporting staff and independent contractors who made the opening possible, Teie and Zajonc make an impressive, and please note, female, top duo. Since moving to Placerville three years ago, Zajoc has been a prolific marketing and events coordinator for local wineries and the county winery association; previously, while living in the San Francisco Bay Area, was a self-employed professional dancer, musical theater producer and choreographer, event coordinator, and Pilates instructor. Teie, an experienced local real estate professional and who always exudes positivity, is also armed with an impressive background as a financial advisor and business-venturer.

Getting back to the music, the trio, for which Greene alternated between keyboards and acoustic guitar – and a little harmonica – delivered Greene’s “I Don’t Live in a Dream” (the opener) “Gone Wanderin’,” “Tupelo,” “A Moment of Temporary Color,” “Take Me Back in Time,” “Shaken,” “Sweetheart Like You,” and “Hollywood.”

Nelson meanwhile, on guitar and vocals, led “Narcissus By Name,” “Tennessee Border,” and “Phoenix Down.” They also performed crowd-pleasing covers of the Grateful Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie,” Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released,” William Alan Ramsey’s “Goodbye to Old Missoula,” and Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.”  The encore was Greene’s “Like a Ball and Chain."

The Green Room Social Club’s music program actually got off the ground digitally and via stream, something that’s been ubiquitous for the past year (thanks, Covid!). They have ben streaming from an impressive set of Sacramento-area indoor venues that have been closed to the public, as well as various intimate outdoor venues, including the so-called “Backyard Stage” in Placerville that on May 2 featured an album-release show by the Anton/Guberman Project, featuring Scott Guberman, Greg Anton, Stu Allen, Mark Karan, and Jean-Paul McLean. Folks near and far can take advantage of The Green Room Social Club’s membership options, whereby members can obtain ongoing livestream portal access, archived shows, and early-bird invites to future performances.

The club, which is now open five days per week, features an extensive small-plate, seasonal menu of “lite bites & conversation starters.” Chef Robb Wyss is presiding over the kitchen. A Napa Valley Culinary Academy graduate, back in Illinois he was a chef at the Illini Country Club, and at the House of Blues in Chicago where he oversaw their Gospel Brunch, as well at Chicago’s Bin 36. Once relocated to California, the renowned chef ran two kitchens on the west shore of Lake Tahoe before accepting this new opportunity.

Wyss is looking forward to matching his menus to the happenings at the Green Room Social Club. Some menu items on this night included crab croquettes, wagyu beef sliders, ahi poke, blistered shishito peppers, and heirloom tomato salad. “We’re going to let the seasons speak and we’re gonna listen,” he said, in reference to locally sourced foodstuffs. “There’s no specific barriers. We’ll do American tapas and we’ll do California cuisine and in seasonal, small-plate form. So we’re going to have some fun. We’re doing to do a lot of farmers markets and looking at sources from local purveyors. We’ve already hooked up with some farms here and we hope to grow those relationships as spring turn to summer.“

The bar is well stocked with cocktail spirits and wine, and several on-tap beer choices including distinctive craft brews from local and regional Northern California breweries, as well as good ol’ Pabst. Coffee/espresso are available as well.

Looking ahead, The Green Room Social Club will offer live, in-person music most nights, often for no cover charge. And while jam bands and the like are expected to be greatly represented, the club will feature all “good music,” Zajonc said. The current week’s event schedule, for example features a reggae duo, a Grateful Dead-friendly duo, and prominent folk/roots/bluegrass player and storyteller Joe Craven. Other ticketed performances are being lined up, but at deadline it was too soon to name names.

Finally, not to overlook the good cause of opening night, the Tree of Life fund supports Ferncliff Manor, a nonprofit residential program in Yonkers, New York, that provides job training and employment opportunities for young adults/adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. Ferncliff Manor “provides targeted, progressive critical components of care for each individual, ensuring that as they become adults, they are equipped with the lifelong skills they need in order to become self-fulfilled, contributing members of the communities of their choice, based on their unique potentialities, interests and ability.

As Sacramento reached a high temperature of 113° on July 10, it was a case of “hot as a pistol but cool inside” as The Mother Hips opened their current tour with a comfortable, indoor, two-set acoustic show, with Jessica Malone opening the festivities.

At it for 30 years now, The Mother Hips have an incredibly deep catalog of music to choose from, many selections of which present themselves nicely to acoustic interpretations. Which is not to say that this was a church-quiet affair with a couple of soft guitars and vocals. Indeed it was an evening of full-band songs and jamming, with co-founders Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono leading the way on their Boswell (Bluhm) and Martin (Loiacono) acoustic guitars. And while it was a seated show by design, little by little mostly in the second set, folks rose up to dance and sway in the space in front of the first row. Chief songwriter and vocalist Bluhm delivered his audio tales with his uniquely comforting, caramel-smooth voice. Loiacono is a fine singer as well, and provided lead vocals for such selections as “State Fair Letdown,” “Freed From a Prison,” and “Meet Me on the Shore,” the latter of which offered this romantic notion, “You are strong when I am weak / If you’re weak I will be strong / I want to stay right here with you / I am the words you are the song.”

John Hofer (with the band for 25 years, on drumkit) and Brian Rashap (electric bass) did not shake the walls with force and volume, yet contributed plenty of substantive, just-right bottom-end rhythmic flourishes. Long-time Hips collaborating keyboardist Danny Eisenberg, an in-demand session and live player, was a wonderful wild card, displaying clear, bright, and upbeat chord-progression keyboard accompaniments to Bluhm’s (rhythm guitar) and Loiacono’s (lead guitar) ever-inventive intertwining, finger-pickin’ statements.

Indeed there was a decided twanginess to much of the material, as the band’s trademark California Soul sound has in its pedigree a certain bit of the so-called Bakersfield Sound (i.e. Buck Owens and Merle Haggard). And to that end, the band performed the timeless 1969 Haggard ditty, “Workin’ Man Blues,” as well as Gene Clark’s post-Byrds classic train-rocker, “Kansas City Southern,” and the Everly Brothers early ‘60s strummy rocker, “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

Running through almost two dozen songs of material that covered almost their entire 30-year proprietorship, the first set included opened with “Later Days” and closed with Hips standard “Delmar Station.” And not surprisingly, during the course of the night the band leaned on selections that appeared on “Do It On the Strings,” an acoustic live album recorded in Grass Valley and Santa Monica, California, in November 2010. This included the aforementioned “Later Days,” as well as “Do It on the Strings,” “This Dream,” “Whiskey on a Southbound,” and “One Way Out.”

In the second set, the quintet reached back to its early days for the liquor-soaked ballad, “Whiskey on a Southbound” and closing number, “Esmerelda, as well as dishing out a couple of tunes from the bands’ 2018 release, “Chorus,” including “Clean Me Up,” and “It’ll Be Gone.” “Clean Me Up,” which featured some splendid Loiacono slide-guitar jamming, includes some witty lyrics that Bluhm has likely penned from his own life’s observations: “We don’t have much but what we have is whiskey; So tonight let’s just grin and tip the cup.”

“Bluhm’s “Toughie,” which appeared in the middle of the second set, indicated that all of those life observations were not paved with gold and rainbows: “I left home with a bag of milk bones the day I turned 16 / I was climbing the walls till I drifted east on the jet stream / My money ran out where the hills flattened out, Boulder, Colorado / I worked for my meals passing out handbills in the rain.”

Adding to the palpable mutual love and respect between the band and the audience, The Mother Hips have a large and rabid fanbase, many who have grown up with the band since their early days performing at frat houses and the like in Chico, California, whilst the band’s core duo, Loiacono and Bluhm, were teen students at California State University, Chico. They’ve been based in the Bay Area for many years.

And while The Mother Hips have persisted for 30 years, their collective journeys have taken them to many musical places via several musical endeavors. Bluhm over the years, in addition to solo work, which has of late been produced by Blue Rose Music, was a core member of Brokedown in Bakersfield, Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers, and co-led The Skinny Singers with Jackie Greene. He also played a few shows with Phil (Lesh) and Friends.

Loiacono, who just released a new single, “Last Day Of June,” leads his own Greg Loiacono Band, is a record producer and is a core player with the Chris Robinson-led Green Leaf Rustlers. Bluhm and Loiacono also produced a duo album, “Ball Point Birds,” in 2002.

Rashap, who joined The Mother Hips about three years ago, is a core member along with Craig MacArthur of The Casual Coalition, member of Bay Area rootsy jam band San Geronimo, and has played on occasion with the Lesh-led Terrapin Family Band.

Bourgeoning Northern California alt-country-pop balladeer Jessica Malone opened the show. Often performing with a full band, on this night Malone was backed only by talented violinist Giorgi Khokhobashvili. Her brief, well-received set showcased a fistful of outstanding original ballads and mid-tempo songs, including “Golden Flowers of the West,” “Wake Up the Sun,” and her new single, “No Matter What I Do.” With a beautiful, soulful voice that somewhat resembles that of a Norah Jones / KT Tunstall amalgamation, fine guitar chops, and her wanderlusty appreciation of life experiences in places like Mount Shasta City and Humboldt County, California, the charismatic Malone seems destined for a wider following.

Originally scheduled for July 17, 2020 at the smaller Sofia Center for the Arts, the concert, like many events thanks to Covid-19, was pushed back, in this case almost precisely one year, and took place in the beautiful art deco style Crest Theatre, which was originally built in 1912.

Mother Hips upcoming shows:

July 31, Sisters, Ore.
Aug. 1, Hood River, Ore.
Aug. 5, San Rafael, Calif.
Aug. 6, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Aug. 7-8, Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Aug. 27, Hailey, Idaho
Sept. 10, Venice, Calif.
Sept. 11, Redondo Beach, Calif.
Sept. 24-26, HipNic XII, Big Sur, Calif.
Oct. 2-3, Chico, Calif.
Oct. 6, Philadelphia, Pa.

The Mother Hips – Set 1: Later Days; Single Spoon; Do It on the Strings; This Dream; Desert Song; State Fair Letdown; Kansas City Southern; Stunt Double; Meet Me on the Shore; Delmar Station. Set 2: Clean Me Up; Gold Plated; One Way Out; Workin’ Man Blues; It’ll Be Gone; Toughie; Song in a Can; Freed From a Prison; Whiskey on a Southbound; Gone, Gone, Gone; Smoke; Esmerelda

Venerable Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir led an epic spectacular on July 24, overseeing an ensemble performance at the legendary Greek Theatre on the University of California Berkeley campus. What started as a trio a little more than 2½ years ago, Bob Weir & Wolf Bros has developed a larger and deeper skillset as it is now a five-member core band, made even more versatile with the five-piece strings and brass/woodwinds Wolfpack that added new song dynamics at most every turn.

The return engagement to the Greek Theatre, a venue Weir has played several dozen times over the past 50-some years with the Grateful Dead and with other performers, was a big deal because, 1) it was a prodigious production, 2) it marked the first concert at the Greek Theatre since 2019, and 3) it was a one-off Weir & Wolf Bros show, set three weeks before the next Dead & Company tour. The four-hour show also marked a joyous reunion for the hometown family of fans, with hugs abounding between Covid-tested/vaccinated attendees all through the old bowled amphitheater as the band started and ended the performance with the Grateful Dead-familiar, Buddy Holly lyrics of “You know our love will not fade away.”  

Weir & Wolf Bros’ style is to reproduce Grateful Dead/Bob Weir catalog favorites in new, slow-to-mid-tempo arrangements that has Weir deftly handling both lead and rhythm guitar duties while accompanied by longtime collaborator Jay Lane on drums and Don Was, a legendary record executive, in-demand producer, and fine stand-up bass player. Recently, the core band of three became five, and more diverse, with addition of longtime Weir musical comrade Jeff Chimenti on keyboards and pedal-steel guitar specialist Greg Leisz. The result is a second current Weir-fronted Grateful Dead legacy band – the other being Dead & Company – through which the audience receives new variations on familiar Grateful Dead themes.

Was delivered steady, flawless bass injections that were appropriate for each song, from the countrified ditties to the epic, jazz-soaked pieces of music offered in the second set. Lane more than aptly handled drumkit duties, riding each song’s tender and rocked-out interludes with equal aplomb, while Chimenti contributed his now-expected splendid array of keyboard interpretations of Grateful Dead catalog material. Both Chimenti and Lane have worked with Weir onstage for more than  25 years in RatDog, Furthur, and more.

New to many in the audience was pedal steel specialist Greg Leisz, who was positioned front and center all night and delivered Grand Old Opry-evocative instrumental flourishes. The multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer has recorded and performed with such luminaries as Joni Mitchell, Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, Eric Clapton, Ray LaMontagne, Ryan Adams, Bill Frisell, k.d. lang, John Mayer, and others.

The Wolfpack strings and brass quintet brought a remarkable pedigree of players to the fold, including Alex Kelly (cello), Brian Switzer (trumpet), Adam Theis (trombone), Mads Tolling (violin), and Sheldon Brown (sax, clarinet, flute). Together they added an adept, wondrous orchestral element to the production. The collective contributions from the amalgamation of 10 musical voices into one festival of sound was awesome to behold. The development of this 10-piece ensemble is quite recent. Before this Greek Theatre show, the band debuted last month with the so-called Wolfpack for four shows in Colorado.    

A special moment occurred midway through the first set, when folksinging luminary Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, just shy of his 90th birthday and still touring, took center stage to lead the band in a meaty version of Jimmy Rodgers’ “Muleskinner Blues,” a song Elliot’s been performing since at least 1962, as the internet can attest. It’s also a song Weir performed occasionally with RatDog and Kingfish (check out the live version on Kingfish’s 1977 LP, “Live ‘n’ Kickin’ LP).

Throughout the show, the orchestral infusion to the band was distinctive and felt just right and not overly prominent, and the concerto-like song arrangements presented some musical components heard on their original vinyl recordings, but not on the live stage, till now. These included horns on “Black Throated Wind,” and “Estimated Prophet,” and in the case of “Weather Report Suite,” a 20-minute piece of music that ended the first set, the symphonic arrangement included lovely string infusions at the start and horn embellishments reminiscent of Martin Fiero’s passionate jazzy sax improvisations. In other spots, some welcome augmentations included pedal steel on “Friend of the Devil,” and the inclusion of both soft pedal steel and soaring horns during “Scarlet Begonias.”

On social media on the day after the show, Theis wrote, regarding a trombone passage on “Scarlet Begonias”: “I’d never soloed on this tune before this night; always fun to jump in and make it happen! I loved this moment so much because it’s a killer example of how deeply this band listens to each other. I was really inspired by all the interplay and was literally taking every note I played for the first many bars from what Bob, Jeff (keys) and Greg (pedal steel) were playing melodically. You can hear us all vibing off each other’s ideas and simultaneously creating new ones.”

The band did present some offerings with just the core five players delivering some old Grateful Dead standards – “Friend of the Devil,” “Tennessee Jed,” and Hank Williams’ “You Win Again” in just-right, alt-country, folk-rocky, Grateful Dead-ish arrangements. The ballad, “Standing on the Moon” was also delivered by the core five.

The second set opened with the aforementioned “You Win Again,” and carried on with an impressive “Scarlet Begonias” followed by two epic sequences. The first was about a half hour’s worth of “Playing in the Band” into “Uncle John’s Band” back into “Playing in the Band,” with a snippet of Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis’s “So What” just before “Uncle John’s Band,” which illustrated the wide latitudes that this band can and did achieve.   

Next, the collective stretched out in impressive fashion on one of Weir’s trademark long selections, “Estimated Prophet,” with the 10-piece bringing additional ebbs and flows to the already ebbing and flowing piece of music. Chromaticism improvisation was at play here (and at several junctures throughout the show), a harmonic concept that makes use of tones outside the major or minor scales. This also rebutted the oft-mentioned fact that Weir leads songs that are played at a slower pace than in decades past. Indeed, but especially with the Wolf Bros and Wolfpack, there is more sound going on and in-between each note than ever before.

“Estimated Prophet” floated into an ethereal version of “The Other one,” the first six minutes of which was a slow-tempo jazzy prelude. The ending sequence moved on to a favorite Robert Hunter-Jerry Garcia 1990’s ballad, “Standing on the Moon,” during which the following lyric naturally drew lots of audience fanfare: “Somewhere in San Francisco // On a back porch in July // Just looking up to heaven // At this crescent in the sky.” The set concluded with a sluggish yet pleasing “One More Saturday Night,” during which fans had a hard time singing along at such a slow pace. The encores of “Ripple” and concluding segment of “Not Fade Away were a nice nightcap to the proceedings.

The ambitious Weir exhibited commendable stamina and commanding mastery of the entire production. In addition to being the de facto band leader, giving nods and signals to players to launch select musical passages, Weir also was chief vocalist and the only guitarist onstage. Alternating between a few guitars, Weir delivered licks with with his signature twangy, trebly tone that cut through the cool night air, exhibiting a broader wider range of guitar skills than he displayed with the Grateful Dead

The next expansive step for the group is an ambitious one, slated for the Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, D.C., where Weir & Wolf Bros featuring The Wolfpack will join the National Symphony Orchestra for five performances in February 2022.

Scatter thoughts and recollections:

The show included a “breakout” of “She Says,” a song recorded during sessions for RatDog’s 2000 release, “Evening Moods,” but not included on the record. All other songs on this night, except for “You Win Again” and “Muleskinner Blues” were played during the four-show Weir & Wolf Bros (featuring the Wolfpack) shows in Colorado in June.

Regarding the inclusion of a Miles Davis refrain, Dead & Company have before jammed in an out of Davis’s “Milestones.”

Very, very, very few people could be seen or smelled smoking cigarettes, which was appreciated. Some outdoor concert/festival attendees that still insist on puffing on silly cigarettes should emanate this model.

Scoreboard: During the course of the night, the band performed 10 “Weir songs” (counting “Weather Report Suite” as two and leaving out the Jack Elliot-led “Muleskinner Blues), and seven “Garcia songs.”

Orchestral rock associations are a bold proposition, but not so unique. Such efforts have been carried out live and/or on record by The Who, Robert Plant/Jimmy Page, Yes, Metallica, and others, and the Moody Blues set the orchestral rock standard back in 1967 when its “Days of Future Passed” LP featured the London Festival Orchestra.

Set 1: Not Fade Away -> Cassidy, She Says, Friend of the Devil, Black Throated Wind, Tennessee Jed, Muleskinner Blues, Weather Report Suite (Prelude, Part I, Part II/Let it Grow) Set 2: You Win Again, Scarlet Begonias -> Playing in the Band -> So What -> Uncle John’s Band -> Playing in the Band, Estimated Prophet -> The Other One -> Standing on the Moon -> One More Saturday Night. Encore: Ripple -> Not Fade Away.

The inaugural Days Between Festival, celebrating the legacy of late-Grateful Dead patriarch Jerry Garcia and the musical score he left embedded in our soul, was upbeat and a resounding success in northern Mendocino County, California on August 6 and 7, even amidst the rage of north-state wildfires and Covid-19 pandemic 2.0. Proof of vaccination or a negative, very-recent Covid test were required for entry. Dark Star Orchestra, David Nelson Band, Full Moonalice, Stu Allen & Friends, and others put their stamps on the proceedings with superb renditions of Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia material, as well as other selections from their own portfolios.

The Days Between moniker, which comes from the title of one of the last Garcia-Robert Hunter songwriting collaborations, has become synonymous with the eight-day span between the date of Garcia’s birth, August 1, and the date of his passing 26 years ago, August 9.

Each of the free-jamming bohemian bands came to bear with deep, talented live-music pedigrees, a ton of tie-dyed musical wisdom, and street cred. The common ground here was a deep respect for, and appreciation of, Garcia’s heritage. Each musical group over the weekend, all of which had Garcia and his music seep into the fabric of their lives, carved out their own unique stamp of Garcia reminiscences.

The site, Black Oak Ranch, was a festival star unto itself. Indeed the festival staff did a great job, but the site itself, which has hosted many festivals over the years, has long been synonymous with the Hog Farm, founded by Wavy Gravy and Jahanara Romney, who still oversee Camp Winnarainbow children’s performing arts camp just up the road. Following Full Moonalice’s set, front man Roger McNamee fittingly proclaimed the following: “There are days. There are days between. And this is one of them. Here we are assembled once again at Black Oak Ranch, in the hood of the legendary Hog Farm, sharing the beautiful vibe of this hallowed ground. Let us celebrate Jerry, The Dead, Wavy and Jah, the Dead Heads, the Rex Foundation, Seva, and the future that we will make together after Covid.”

The fest drew about 2,000 people to the Black Oak Ranch, said Festival Producer Tamara Klamner of Shooting Star Events. Klamner also said Wavy Gravy, a staple at such colorful affairs in the Laytonville area, wanted to attend but in consideration of Covid-19 played it safe due to his age and compromised health.

Early Friday afternoon, a brief gong and didgeridoo Sound Immersion performance, followed immediately by a Round Valley Indian Tribe ceremonial song showcase, added healthy healing and respect-to-Earth to the colorful and flavor of the fest. The Round Valley tribe is a local coalition of the Yuki, Wailacki, Concow, Little Lake Pomo, Nomlacki, and Pit River tribes.

Rootsy, folksy trio Tumbleweed Soul took over from there with soothing sounds emanating from the smaller stage at the back end of the main-stage bowl. Their first offering, a bluegrassy version of “Stealin’,” was a fitting start, as the hundred-year-old jug band ditty was one of the first songs covered by the Grateful Dead, and which Garcia later recorded with duo-mate David Grisman. Tumbleweed Soul featured front-and-center on ukulele and vocals Stephanie Salva, who has performed with many Bay Area groups in the past several years, including the Rock Collection (with Melvin Seals, Stu Allen, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, and John-Paul McLean). Adam Walsh (guitar/vocals), and Michael Leal Price (upright bass) rounded out the trio. As just-arriving travelers were strolling onto the grounds, the Tumbleweed Soulsters carried on with original tunes including “Trouble Me,” “Freedom Talk,” and “Taking Back.” They returned to the stage several hours later with a tribute set of 10 songs written and/or performed by Garcia, including “Friend of the Devil,” “Mississippi Moon,” “Catfish John,” and “New Speedway Boogie.”

Focus then turned back to the main stage, where The Grateful Bluegrass Boys delivered their jammy bluegrass arrangements of Grateful Dead-esque material as attendees began to get comfortable, dance, and shake their bones. The band’s current lineup included Aaron Redner (mandolin, fiddle, vocals), Sean Lehe (guitar), Scotty Brown (upright bass), and Isaac Cantor (banjo). The well-schooled string band performed such Grateful Dead classics as “Big River” (the opening sequence was actually Ray Charles’ “I Got A Woman” into the Johnny Cash-penned “Big River”), “Deal,” “Touch of Grey,” a delightful “Russian Lullaby,” and dynamic “Scarlet Begonias” into “Eyes of the World.” The band also dished out splendid versions of Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs’ “Blue Ridge Cabin Home,” Hank Penny & Herb Remington’s “Remington Ride,” Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” and closed with The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride.”

Next, Full Moonalice, 10 members strong, gathered onstage for an impressive, captivating set, consisting mostly of material from the late ‘60s/early ‘70s. Since expanding in 2020 – thus the “Full” added to the band name – Moonalice co-founder Roger McNamee has assumed the role of ensemble coordinator in addition to his duties as guitarist/vocalist/songwriter. The group’s core remains McNamee, Pete Sears (bass), Barry Sless (guitar, pedal steel guitar), and John Molo (drum kit), with Jason Crosby or in this case, Mookie Siegel on keyboards. The ensemble, also includes 81-year-old Lester Chambers (vocals, harmonica) and son Dylan Chambers (vocals, tambourine, cowbell), as well as the T Sisters (Erika, Chloe, & Rachel) on soaring vocals. Lester Chambers called the T Sisters, “the angels of the stage.”

The result, especially with Sears and Sless fueling a commanding instrumental nucleus for each piece of music, created a powerful multifaceted palette from which to paint song textures and layers. There were the Grateful Dead tunes, including an epic “Uncle John’s Band,” as well as three others on which the T Sisters delivered impressive harmonies, “Bird Song,” “Attics of My Life,” and “Brokedown Palace.” The band also performed a rocking version of Otis Redding’s “Hard to Handle,” which the Grateful Dead played fairly often in their early days. Dark Star Orchestra keyboardist Rob Barraco substituted for Siegel during “Hard to Handle” and “Brokedown Palace.”

Full Moonalice also performed Sless’s catchy instrumental, “Coconut Wireless” and the T Sisters’ “Woo,” as well as a couple of selections from classic-rock radio: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” and Brewer & Shipley’s topical “One Toke Over the Line.”

But the set’s biggest moments came when Lester and Dylan fronted Chambers Brothers songs, including opening number “Love, Peace & Happiness,” which was a 16-minute track on the Chambers Brothers 1969 debut LP, “Funky,” and Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” which also appeared on the first Chambers Brothers record. A rollicking version of “Time Has Come Today,” a 1967 single that was the bands’ highest charting hit, brought the house down. 

Tumbleweed Soul returned to the smaller stage after Full Moonalice, and this time delivered a rootsy tribute set of Garcia solo material (“They Love Each Other,” “Valerie,” Peter Rowan’s “Mississippi Moon,” “Love in the Afternoon,” Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds’ “Catfish John,” and “Russian Lullaby”) as well as plenty of Grateful Dead material (“Friend of the Devil,” “Candyman,” “Ramble on Rose,” and “New Speedway Boogie.”)

After the festival, Tumbleweed Soul’s Salva wrote on social media: “I’m so grateful to The Days Between festival for inviting Tumbleweed Soul to play at Jerry’s celebration last weekend, and getting to belt out some of my favorite Jerry songs that have been forever ingrained into my heart and soul. And extra thanks to Stu Allen for inviting me up for some tunes! Looking out at the crowd I realized just how many friends I’ve made through the years from our amazing community, my very large extended family! It was a beautiful celebration full of wonderful music and lots of dancing with everyone again! My heart overfloweth!”

Then came the headliner, Dark Star Orchestra, which graced the stage with two-set performances on both evenings to “celebrate the Grateful Dead experience.” Famous for recreating powerful performances of specific Grateful Dead concerts, in order, the band on Friday instead mixed it up with a showcase of songs of their choice. Led by lead guitarist and vocalist Jeff Mattson, who refashions Garcia’s persona while rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rob Eaton personifies Bob Weir, DSO presented some impressive performances, including Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue,” which was a Garcia Band staple, an opening sequence of “Cassidy,” into “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad,” back into “Cassidy,” and a first-set closer of “Uncle John’s Band,” into “Black Throated Wind,” into “I Know You Rider.” The second set included an epic version of Traffic’s “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and a heavenly “Dark Star.”

In addition to Eaton and Mattson, the rest of the band was on-point and in sync: Skip Vangelas (bass), Barraco (keyboards), the double-drum attack of Rob Koritz and Dino English, and Lisa Mackey on vocals. Interestingly, the answer to a trivia question of who in the present incarnation of the band has been there longest, is Mackey, the last original member from when the band formed in 1997.

For those who still had the energy and the gumption around midnight, the Whiskey Family Band, featuring members of renowned Poor Man’s Whiskey who announced a touring hiatus in late 2019, raged on the small stage till 1 a.m. with material that included their latest single, “Emerald Triangle Blues.” And they’d be back on Saturday.

And then there was Day Two. Over in the Maple Grove, before the first guitar riff was cast and away from the concert bowl, about 150 people reclined on blankets, mats, and pads to experience an aurally soothing Sound Immersion Experience, featuring more than one dozen gongs, singing bowls, and humming wind instruments. Healing musicians provided the soothing sounds from outside the area and also lightly stepped through the attendees, with chimes and other hand instruments, further laying down healing vibrations to tune the soul. “The physiological impact of sound on the body, emotions, and cognition is apparent,” Danny Goldberg, who offers the Sound Immersion Experience at Stanford University as well as many northern California yoga, wellness, and spiritual unique centers, explains on his website. “Through the vibrations of these instruments we experience an inner calm and deep relaxation that enables us to journey within and center.”

Saturday’s music-stage proceedings began on the small stage with David Gans, Grateful Dead journalist, author and scholar, darned good songwriter and minstrel of song. The result was a just-right-for-the-moment Garcia-flavored forerunning set to the rest of the day and night’s proceedings. For the latter half of his set, Gans was accompanied by Fragile Thunder bandmate Anela Lauren on a five-foot-tall Celtic harp she calls Guinevere. Strummy acoustic song selections included Gans’ own “Blue Roses” and Gans/Scott Guberman’s “The Town That Still Believes in Magic,” along with the Grateful Dead’s “Box of Rain,” “Looks Like Rain,” “It Must’ve Been the Roses” (incredibly poignant as presented in guitar and harp fashion), “St. Stephen,” “Days Between,” and “Ripple.”

The aforementioned Whiskey Family Band then kicked off the main stage itinerary, which comprised an all-killer, no-filler sequence of songs. As stated online by the band, “This last year, with our new project The Whiskey Family Band we have been experimenting with taking our original folk/bluegrass songs and turning them into more upbeat rock songs, adding a backbeat with some electric guitar and keys.” In addition to Poor Man’s Whiskey mainstays John Brough (on keyboards), Jason Beard (electric guitar), and George Smeltz (drums), the band featured Alison Harris on acoustic guitar and vocals, Skyler Stover on bass, and Nigel Wolovick on saxophone. Together, with a full-band sound in a style evocative of say, The Mother Hips and The Band, they delivered a set of original material, some of which were newly arranged Poor Man’s Whiskey selections, and all completely unique from Friday’s late-night set. New Whiskey Family Band tunes included “Like A River,” “Days of Old,” “Hot Buttered Popcorn,” as well as “And Watch The Sun Go Down.” Over Brough’s left shoulder, Grateful Bluegrass Boys’ Sean Lehe joined the band for a song.

Following a short Round Valley Indian Tribe dance ceremony on front of the main stage, Stu Allen, renowned purveyor of the highest quality of Grateful Dead material, led a foursome a friends (Jordan Feinstein, Ezra Lipp, and Murph Murphy) at the main stage. The band concentrated on Jerry Garcia Band material and for anywhere within a quarter-mile of the main stage, Allen’s Garcia-evocative jamming and passionate vocals floated through the trees like so many Garcia riffs that are forever etched in fans’ minds and psyches.

In addition to reviving covers that Garcia Band covered themselves, including opener “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” “Goodnight Irene,” “The Thrill is Gone,” and “Mystery Train,” Allen and friends carried on with a fine varietal of some other classics, including “50 Ways to Leave your Lover” (Paul Simon) that featured a torrid embedded version of the Garcia-Merl Saunders-era instrumental “Finders Keepers,” “One More Cup of Coffee” (Bob Dylan), as well as a closing sequence of “Dreams” (Allman Brothers Band), into “Kashmir” (Led Zeppelin) that clocked in at more than 20 minutes and featured two drummers with DSO’s English joining Lipp on drums. In addition, with Tumbleweed Soul’s Salva and DSO’s Barraco sitting in, Allen and friends also performed Clifton Chenier’s “I’m A Hog For You Baby,” a tune that the Grateful Dead performed only a handful of times. Band sound engineer and harmonica player Bo Putnam also guested briefly.

Back over on the small stage, Los Angeles-based Jerry Garcia Band tribute band Jerry’s Middle Finger, whose popularity has swelled in the past few years, kept the Garcia-celebration flowing. Led by guitarist/vocalist Garrett Deloian, others making the magic happen included Jon Gold (keyboards), Halina Janisz (vocals), Lisa Malsberger (vocals), Burt Lewis (bass), and Rodney Newman (drum kit). Their short set blazed with Garcia Band revivals of “How Sweet It Is,” Chuck Berry’s (and New Riders of the Purple Sage mainstay) “You Never Can Tell,” Jesse Winchester’s “That’s A Touch I Like,” Lennon and McCartney’s “Dear Prudence,” “I’ll Take a Melody,” and “Deal.”

The David Nelson Band took over the main stage next, bringing rolling, crescendoing jams of raging, stretched out, roadhouse rock supplemented by passages of psychedelia. Of all the weekend’s performers, Nelson certainly has the greatest tenure as Garcia’s contemporary, working and traveling in Garcia’s coterie since the early 1960s. The famed New Riders of the Purple Sage co-founder was in fine form, chatting with and thanking the audience, singing and playing his twangy cowboy-rock style of guitar. And as this band’s rabid fans will attest, Sears, Sless, Siegel, and Molo bring the intensity, and the quality, every night.

This band in particular did not need to adjust their playlist to an all-Garcia format, as Nelson’s presence was tribute enough to his long-time comrade. They did however carry out a couple of Grateful Dead songs, “Friend of the Devil,” which carried into “Peggy O” (a traditional song adapted by The Dead). Scattered throughout were a couple of NRPS covers – “Down the Middle” and “Suite at the Mission,” as well as Bill Monroe’s “Rocky Road Blues” opener, Dylan’s “The Wicked Messenger,” and Traffic’s “Rainmaker,” which was nestled into “Fable of a Chosen One” to end the set.

Nelson regaled the audience with a story about the creation of “Friend of the Devil,” which is credited to Robert Hunter (lyrics) and Garcia and New Riders’ John Dawson (music). Nelson let this audience know that the opening riff for the song was forever etched, during a casual visit that Hunter paid to the house where the New Riders hung out. When Nelson was setting up a reel-to-reel recorder and happened to play a scale-riff in the key of G to which everyone else was tuned, which Hunter said, “Yeh, leave that in there.” Nelson added with a smile as he played that riff to start “Friend of the Devil,” “And that became the intro to the fucking song.”

Except for Nelson, the band (Sears, Sless, Molo, and Siegel) also performs with Moonalice, and they pulled off a logistical challenge as Full Moonalice played Friday night here, then rolled down Hwy 101 to Petaluma for a Saturday afternoon set before getting back on the road to return to  Black Oak Ranch for the Nelson Band’s 7 p.m. set.

Dark Star Orchestra appeared again to bring the fest home with a re-creation of a Grateful Dead concert from November 20, 1978 at the tiny Cleveland Music Hall. That gave the band license to yield furious versions of such throwbacks as “Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo” into “Franklin's Tower,” “Lazy Lightning,” “Playin’ in the Band” into “Shakedown Street” and the rare Garcia ballad, “If I Had the World to Give.” The original show ended with “Around and Around” (no encore), but here at the fest, DSO tagged on encores of “Box of Rain” and the 1978-esque Dead cover of Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London.”

I wrote this in August 1995, shortly after Garcia’s passing. for a special “Garcia Reflections” publication and I second that emotion after attending the Days Between Fest in summer 2021: “From the president of the United States to impromptu vigils that sprang up virtually everywhere, it was obvious even to those who never would ‘get it’ that the teddy-bearish, gray-haired singer/songwriter and lead guitarist for the most celebrated long-lived, enigmatic rock ‘n’ roll entity known as the Grateful Dead meant as much to millions as any human could.” … Everyone, from the tripped-out hippie, to the BMW-driving preppie, to the kid with his baseball cap on backwards scouring the parking lot for a beer and a nitrous balloon, had something in common. Everyone was accepted, and everyone was given the latitude to find their own boundaries, explore their inner self and, well, listen to the music.”

Often, as Garcia wrote and Jerry’s Middle Finger sang at the Day Between Festival, it’s as simple as, “I’ll take a melody and see what I can do about it. I’ll take a simple C and G and feel brand new about it.”

Check out more photos from Days Between Festival.

Setlists

August 6

Grateful Bluegrass Boys: I Got a Woman -> Big River, Deal, Blue Ridge Cabin Home, Remmington Ride, Russian Lullaby, American Girl, Touch of Grey, Scarlet Begonias -> Eyes of the World, Ticket to Ride.

Full Moonalice: Love Peace & Happiness, People Get Ready, Woo Woo, Bird Song, Fortunate Son, One Toke Over the line, Attics of My Life, Coconut Wireless -> Drums, Sisters and Brothers, Uncle John’s Band, Funky, Hard to Handle, Brokedown Palace, Time Has Come Today.

Dark Star Orchestra: Set 1 - Cassidy -> Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad -> Cassidy, Unbroken Chain -> Jack Straw -> Tangled Up in Blue, We Can Run, It’s All Over Now, Loose Lucy (fast version), Uncle John’s Band -> Black Throated Wind -> I Know You Rider. Set 2 – Eyes of the World -> Greatest Story Ever Told, Gimme Some Lovin’, Dark Star -> Drums -> Space -> Uncle John’s Band -> Low Spark of High Heeled Boys -> The Other One -> Stella Blue -> Sugar Magnolia. Encore – Black Muddy River.

August 7

David Gans (w/Anela Lauren, final four songs): Blue Roses -> Box of Rain, The Town That Still Believes in Magic, Looks Like Rain, It Must Have Been the Roses, St Stephen-> Days Between, Ripple.

Whiskey Family Band: Storm’s Coming In, Snow In Tahoe, Santa Cruz, Dogs, Hot Buttered Popcorn, And Watch The Sun Go Down, Like A River, Hard Times, Days Of Old, Little Whiskey, One More Song For The Road, One Of These Days.

Jerry’s Middle Finger (6 p.m. set): How Sweet It Is, You Never Can Tell, That’s A Touch I Like, Dear Prudence, I’ll Take a Melody, Deal.

Stu Allen & Friends: Let’s Spend the Night Together, Goodnight Irene, The Thrill is Gone, Mystery Train, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover -> Finders Keepers > 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, I’m a Hog For You Baby, One More Cup of Coffee, Dreams -> Kashmir.

David Nelson Band: Rocky Road Blues, Down the Middle, Friend of the Devil -> Peggy O, Long Gone Sam -> Movin’ Right Along, The Wicked Messenger, Suite at the Mission, Fable of a Chosen One -> Rainmaker -> Fable of a Chosen One.

Dark Star Orchestra: Set 1 - Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo -> Franklin’s Tower, Mama Tried -> Mexicali Blues, It Must Have Been the Roses, Looks Like Rain, Stagger Lee, Passenger, Peggy-O, Lazy Lightnin’ -> Supplication. Set 2 – Jam -> Drums -> Jam -> Jack-a-Roe, Playin’ in the Band -> Shakedown Street -> If I had the World to Give -> Playin’ in the Band -> Around and Around. Encores: Box of Rain, Werewolves of London.

Jerry’s Middle Finger (late-night set): Tangled Up In Blue, Cats Under the Stars, Tore Up Over You, After Midnight, Gomorrah, Lonesome And Long Way to Go. Encore: Midnight Moonlight.

It took 26 months for the second “annual” BeachLife Festival to transpire, September 10-12, but the Covid-19-includes delay only strengthened the shindig’s vision and spirit to deliver a celebratory tip of the cap to the Los Angeles South Bay seaside’s musical and lifestyle identity. The weekend’s music exemplified many genres, but there was a decidedly distinct number of post-punk rock and alt-pop bands who first blazed their ways to glory in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s. And for many bands, these were their first performances in more than a year thanks to the coronavirus. It is important to note that, all attendees were individually screened and wrist-banded following checks for Covid vaccinations or recent negative Covid tests.

Each day’s headliners – Jane’s Addiction, Counting Crows, and Ziggy and Stephen Marley – offered passionate capstone performances on their day’s proceedings, with such major acts including Portugal. The Man, Ben Harper, Cage the Elephant, Larkin Poe, Thievery Corporation, and Men at Work also delivering captivating performances as well, leaving considerable marks in the sand.

Long gone are the Woodie station wagons seen in photos and film when the Beach Boys (first hit, “Surfin’ Safari” in 1962) and Jan & Dean (first hit, “Surf City,” 1963) entered the scene. It was then, when the surf culture exploded both locally and nationally that Southern California was a crucial flash point for the fun-in-the-ocean-sun atmosphere in which surfers thrived.

“I remember living a very simple childhood: no phones, outside-till-dark mentality, skateboards being our ticket to the outside world, where we’d hang on the beach from morning till evening and return home with sunburns,” BeachLife Festival Cofounder Allen Sanford reflected in a letter appearing in a special edition of Salt Magazine. “There is no doubt we were not as advanced, intelligent, and worldly as children are today, but it seems like life was simpler back then, and that is the foundation of values upon which BeachLife Festival has been guided. The South Bay was a very special place then, and remains a special place today.”

The weekend’s festivities spotlighted a diverse range of performance genres, and all had one thing in common (in addition to the fact that most are, or were, based in the South Bay), to celebrate within a jukebox of live music and sun/sand/breezes of the seaside/surfside that has endured, and thrived.

The festival setting was tucked inside a piece of beachfront acreage along Redondo Beach’s Seaside Lagoon, and was nicely landscaped and styled for the fest. Music was switched-up timefully on the two main stages, for which music alternated; when one band finished at one stage, the band on the other stage would start up immediately. Along with the natural, deep-sand expanses at the Lowtide Stage, the cool, grass surface in and around the Hightide Stage, and the third, more intimate Riptide Stage, the festival site gave credence to what an old friend once told me about best experiencing a festival: “When everyone goes right, go left.”  That is, when thousands of people go one way, to watch and listen to, say, Larkin Poe, one could wander the other way and enjoy the rest of BeachLife acreage, dotted with art, sideshows, and plenty of food and drink choices made for a comfortable, trendy, and decidedly South Bay experience. A fourth, Speakeasy Stage that was located inside of an open-air Jack Daniel’s lounge and dedicated to stripped-down acoustic sets from local rockers, surfers and skaters, added to the options.

Here is a bit about the headliners, each of whom delivered 90-minute performances:

Janes Addiction: Led by Los Angeles-based, band leader and surf enthusiast Perry Farrell, who in addition to founding Jane’s Addiction in 1987, is credited for conceptualizing and creating Lollapalooza (when it toured the country annually rather than how it is presently presented, as a single-weekend event in Chicago). On this night, delivering a pulsating, grunge rock performance bathed in a sea of flashing lights, stage smoke, and theatrics, the band was reportedly playing their first Southern California gig in four years. Fronting the band alongside legendary lead guitarist Dave Navarro, the band opened with “Up the Beach,” and their set included “Just Because,” “Been Caught Stealing,” “Ocean Size,” Mountain Song,” and “Stop!”  The final pair of songs were “Whores,” during which onstage delirium ensued as two women swung over the stage on hanging meat hooks, and closing number, “Jane Says,” with Navarro playing acoustic and seated.

Josh Muzzy and his partner Leslie traveled from Durango, Colo., to attend BeachLife, and they were front and center at the railing for his favorite, Jane’s Addiction. “I’ve been a fan of Jane’s since the early 90’s,” he said. “My first show was in Vegas, front row and somehow <got> invited in the limo with them to the Hard Rock Cafe hotel and partied all night.” Regarding Friday’s show, “They rocked it as they do on a next-level performance,” Muzzy said. “They were spot on and brought the old-school rock/punk to the people, which is now somewhat lost from that era.”

Adam Duritz, sporting short-cropped hair and a new vinyl LP (“Butter Miracle, Suite One”), led the seven-piece Counting Crows through a crowd-pleasing headlining set on Saturday. Duritz started off with a passionate, heartfelt readthrough of “Round Here” and a bouncy version of “Mr. Jones,” their monster hit from their 1993 debut, “August and Everything After.” They also performed “Omaha” and closed with “Rain King,” both of which appeared on first album, and the latter turned into a sing-along. In addition to a few selections from the new album, including “Elevator Boots,” the band also offered nice, low-fi, mid-set rendition of the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil.”

As Sunday headliners, Ziggy and Stephen Marley led an impressive band through a legacy set of Bob Marley & the Wailers songs, many of which have been forever cemented into music lovers’ consciousness via Bob Marley’s and the Wailers “Legend” compilation. Selections performed from that record included  “Jamming,” “Three Little Birds,” “Stir it Up,” “No Woman, No Cry,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” “I Shot the Sheriff,” and “Is This Love.” The brothers, Stephen on guitar and djembe, and Ziggy on guitar, mostly traded off on lead vocal duties. They were backed by three backing vocalists, as well as keyboards, drums, bass, and guitars. They closed their set, and the festival, with the 1977 hit, “Exodus.”

Also, on Friday:

Cage the Elephant, performed a 75-minute set on the Lowtide Stage immediately prior to Jane’s Addiction, and brought and maintained a peak level of alt/indie-rock energy to the highest level. Front man Matt Shultz was at his slithery, dark and mysterious, unconventional best, tossing himself about and shredding vocals while also changing (and shedding) pieces of clothing. The band, featuring older brother Brad Shultz on guitar, have drawn comparisons to The Pixies on some songs, and on this night there were moments that were suggestive of Beck and Violent Femmes. Their set included opener “Broken Boy,” as well as such notables as “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” “Shake Me Down (Even on a Cloudy Day),” “Cigarette Daydreams,” “Ready to Let Go,” “Social Cues, and closer, “Teeth.”

Larkin Poe’s raucous road-house rock performance was a major bright spot in Friday’s proceedings. Front women and power-sisters Rebecca (Fender Stratocaster lead guitar and vocals) and Megan (1940s Rickenbacker lap steel, vocals) Lovell painted the stage with rousing blues-infused rock songs and jams while their infectious and obvious joy while performing spread throughout the oceanside venue. Veterans of Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and the Grand Old Opry, Larkin Poe’s fiery set included opener “Keep Diggin’,” as well as “Summertime Sunset,” “Holy Ghost Fire,” “Trouble in Mind,” “Beach Blonde Bottle Blues,” “Wanted Woman / AC/DC,” and Robert Johnson’s “Come On in My Kitchen.” Larkin Poe’s “Paint the Roses (Live in Concert)” project, recently recorded in Miami with the Nu Deco Ensemble, has just been released.

The Silversun Pickups on Friday afternoon delivered a fine, high-octane set of a dozen alt/post-punk-rock originals. Based in Los Angeles, the 21-year-old band, featuring married couple Brian Aubert (lead vocals, guitar), and Nikki Monninger (bass, backup vocals), offered such selections as opener, “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” “The Pit,” “The Royal We,” and “Nightlight.” Rolling Stone writer Evan Serpick perhaps put it best when he wrote that, “Well Thought Out Twinkles,” is “a surge of guitar squalls and male-female vocals that sounds like what might have happened if the Smashing Pumpkins had driven their ice cream cart out West.”

Monique Powell and her fiery persona, voice, red hair, and a little tambourine, led Save Ferris on a high-steppin’ ska-punk wave of sound early in the day on Friday. Formed in mid-‘90s, the band, led by the fabulous Powell, guitarist Justin Linn, and a band that included a trumpeter and trombonist, have been active for the past eight years following an extended hiatus. “Ska is important more now than ever,” Powell told the crowd early on. “Fuck it; let’s dance and have some fun. You have me for 45 more minutes. Let’s forget all about that <news> shit.” Their set ended with a cover of the unforgettable ‘80s radio staple, “Come on Eileen.”

The Revivalists funky, rock ‘n’ poppy jammy performance on Friday featuring and eight pieces band of players that included guitar, bass, saxophone, pedal steel, keyboard and dual percussionists, as well as front man/lead vocalist David Shaw. Their set included “All My Friends,” “Change,” and closing selection, “Wish I Knew You.” Their printed setlist also included “When I’m With You,” “Oh No,” “You Said it All,” “You and I,” “Criminal,” “It Was a Sin,” “Next to You,” “Got Love,” “Celebration,” and “Catching Fireflies.”

Quite under the radar, judging by the smallish crowd gathered at the smallish Riptide Stage, Paris Jackson, yes THAT Paris Jackson, fronted a particularly non-Michael-esque alt-rock band while the Silversun Pickups were firing up the multitudes on one of the main stages. Jackson’s backing band was strong and rocking as they ran through some selections from her solo debut album, “Wilted,” which was released in late 2020. Jackson, now 23, was a little tentative on vocals at times, but got comfortable and delivered her own songs, in an evocative and captivating style. Her measured, fairly low-key, non-spectacle stage presence was refreshing. The set included “Another Spring,” which is the final cut on “Wilted,” and the onstage setlist included other selections from the album, including “Undone” and “Dead Sea,” as well as the ballad  “Adagio,” which was recorded with Manchester Orchestra and released in June 2021.

Also, on Saturday:

As the penultimate band before Counting Crows'closing set, Los Angeles-based Fitz and the Tantrums, led by Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick and Noelle “Boss Lady” Scaggs,  took the helm for 75 minutes on the Lowtide Stage. In addition to delivering the actual soul-influenced alt-pop music coming from the stage, Fitz spent a lot of energy acting out and striking poses to virtually every lyric in each song, and the band also made it an ongoing effort to wave their arms overhead in order to have the crowd to the same. And the crowd ate it up.

Men at Work, led by Colin Hay, along with band frontwoman and wife, Cecilia Noël, delivered a popular and appealing collection of tunes early Saturday evening. The Australian band ruled the pop world for just three years, but their catalog of clever hits remain close to the public’s collective hearts 40 years later. The band, highlighting Hay’s still-strong vocals, opened with “Touching the Untouchables” and ran through all the hits, including the closing sequence of “Overkill,” “Down Under,” and “Be Good Johnny,” as well as “Who Can it Be Now?” “It’s a Mistake,” and “Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive.”

The Wallflowers, also performed on Saturday, with singer/songwriter Jakob Dylan overseeing the band through a pleasing set of tunes including selections that made heavy rotation on FM radio in the mid-late ‘90s: “Three Marlenas,” “6th Avenue Heartache,” and closing number, “The Difference.” The band also performed songs from their new “Exit Wounds,” their first release in nine years, including twangy ballad “Roots and Wings,” as well as “I Hear the Ocean (When I Wanna Hear Trains),” and rocker “Who’s That Man Walking ‘Round My Garden.” The Wallflowers also delivered a passionate version of Tom Petty’s “The Waiting.”

Country-popster CAM, who grew up in nearby Huntington Beach, performed Saturday afternoon on the Hightide Stage and presented an hourlong set of tunes including her 2015 pensive hit ballad, “Burning House,” as well as a vocally charged version of The Cranberries, “Zombie.”

Sugar Ray, which performed at the first BeachLife Fest in 2019 was back and the charismatic Mark McGrath-led band’s pop-influenced sounds were perfect for the BeachLife vibe. McGrath regaled Hightide Stage audience with a set that included ‘90’s faves, “Someday,” “Every Morning,” and “Fly.”

The Mother Hips, a venerable Northern California rock/soul/Bakersfield sound band, also played on Saturday afternoon. Led by Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono as they’ve been for more than 30 years since they formed a garage band as long-haired Chico State University undergrads, the five-piece started off with a blazing, fuzzed-out version of “Smoke.” While on the subject of “fuzzed out,” the band also dished out “White Falcon Fuzz,” as well as “Third Floor Story,” “Del Mar Station,” “Time-Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear,” and “Esmerelda.” Saxophonist Scheila Gonzales, who had performed with the band in the past and is currently touring with BeachLife band Men at Work, joined The Mother Hips for a song. They also performed the appealing J.J. Cale-evocative shuffle, “Sunset Blues,” which be the opening track of their forthcoming album, “Glowing Lantern.”

The Aquadolls, a fiery, unabashed all-female trio, carried the torch for punk-pop with a thrashing, in-your-face set, brought by Melissa Brooks, with Jackie Proctor on drums and Keilah Nina on bass (Proctor and Nina switched off on instruments for one song, which was novel and nifty.

And then there was Sunday.

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals immediately preceded Ziggy and Stephen Marley’s headlining set, with a captivating set of tunes that fused several genres. Harper opened his performance with “Inland Empire,” an instrumental slide guitar tune from the band’s recent “Winter is for Lovers” album. That immediately led into Leon Mobley’s familiar hard-striking djembe-drum intro to the pro-cannabis anthem, “Burn One Down.” Harper then introduced a “very special guest, beyond special” and brought out Ziggy Marley to perform and co-vocalize on “Spin It Faster,” a single on which the two artists collaborated and released in July. The set carried on with selections such as the popular “Steal My Kisses,” “Diamonds on the Inside,” and “Faded,” and closed with “With My Own Two Hands.”

Portugal. The Man brought mega-intensity and excitement to the Hightide Stage earlier Sunday evening. Led by bass player Zach Carothers and lead singer/rhythm guitarist John Gourley, the band is known for its social activism as well as its considerable energy. The band’s set went several places, including covers by Metallica (opener “For Whom the Bell Tolls”), Nirvana (“In Bloom”), and The Rolling Stones (“Gimme Shelter”). The set also included “Modern Jesus,” “Hip Hop Kids,” and “Atomic Man,” and the band’s closing sequence consisted of its monster hit, “Feel it Still,” followed by Pink Floyd’s anthemic “Another Brick in the Wall,” which segued into “Purple Yellow Red and Blue.”

Thievery Corporation, unique specialists in a fusion of dub, trip hop, electronic, and progressive activism, brought the most theatrical and culturally compelling performances to BeachLife. Co-founder Rob Garza (DJ table, vocals) steered the ship from a riser behind the frontline of performers (co-founder Eric Hilton is often not present at live performances). The visually stimulating performance-art ensemble, featuring bass player Ashish “Hash” Vyas stomping along the front of the stage as he played, and bass player guitar/sitar player Rob Myers adding plenty of energy, featured several personalities (Loulou Ghelichkhani, Raquel Jones, Natalia Clavier, Puma, and Mr. Lif), who took turns fronting and vocally leading songs, which included “Lebanese Blonde,” “Culture of Fear,” “Amerimacka,” “Sweet Tides,” “Richest Man in Babylon,” and closer, “Warning Shots.” Jones’ long jacket was particularly noteworthy, as emblazoned on the back was, “My body / My choice / My pussy / My rules.”

Blues guitar phenom Gary Clark Jr. and his band, which has one foot in the styles of legendary blues-masters’ of the past and one right here in 2021, thrilled the crowd with a spirited early evening set of songs and jams that opened with “Bright Lights.”

G. Love & Special Sauce performed on the Hightide Stage Sunday afternoon and offered up a set of stimulating alt-hip-hop. Friend and music compatriot Donavon Frankenreiter and Eric Krasno special guested on guitars for the bands finale of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil.”

Melvin Seals and JGB, performing as a quartet, brought the most Jerry Garcia/Grateful-Dead-like sounds to the beachfront crowd, playing a psychoactive set early on Sunday. Seals, who began playing keyboards with the Jerry Garcia Band in 1980 and did so until the Grateful Dead patriarch’s passing in 1995, has carried the torch ever since.

With his twin Leslie amplifiers/speakers pushing out the sound, quite the gathering came ‘round to the Lowtide Stage to hear Seals and friends, who included Dark Star Orchestra co-founder and Furthur alumnus John Kadlecik on lead guitar, John-Paul McLean on bass and vocals, and Jeremy Hoening on drums. Their set of eight songs in 70 minutes, which allowed for quite a bit of grooving improv, was true to the Jerry Garcia Band live catalog, though only two, the opener “Cats Under the Stars,” and “Deal” were Garcia (and lyricist Robert Hunter) originals. Other selections included “Expressway to Your Heart” (The Soul Survivors”), “And It Stoned Me” (Van Morrison), I Feel Like Dynamite” (King Floyd), “Tore Up Over You,”  (Hank Ballard), “We Be Jammin’”, and “Sisters and Brothers” (Charles Johnson).

The Los Angeles-based Main Squeeze was one of the bands that performed on the smaller Riptide Stage on Sunday afternoon. Fronted by the charismatic Corey Frye on vocals, the band of five serenaded their audience with a good-vibes mix of rockin’ funk and soul.

Nicki Bluhm, who in recent years moved from California to Nashville for a fresh start while slightly adjusting her sound to a more alt-country flavor, performed a fine set on the Riptide Stage early Sunday evening that included “The Things I Do to Get Attention” and “It’s OK Not to Be OK.” Bluhm, a gifted vocalist who has sat in onstage with countless artists, led her Nashville-based band of four, and enlisted the help of guitarist Eric Krasno for a nice version of Jerry Garcia’s “Deal,” a sign, in addition that she has upcoming shows slated with the Phil Lesh & Friends, that Bluhm keeps current that part of her repertoire and personality.

Odds and Ends:

The grassy knoll that created its own avenue, was lined with food, beverage, and informational displays, and which led to the Speakeasy Stage. Tito’s vodka, Corona beer, and Herradura tequila offered open air, but covered, with viewing platforms for soaking up the music while soaking up their adult beverages.

In addition to slaying it onstage with Jane’s Addiction, Dave Navarro’s presence was also prominent on the grassy-noll avenue for the “Dual Diagnosis” art exhibit that he co-produces with PADHiA, a Los Angeles-based street artist, creative director, and writer. “Dual Diagnosis” occupied a large display along “Dual Diagnosis by Dave Navarro and PADHiA is a thought-provoking project consisting of fine art, street art, impactful installations, apparel, curiosities… and subversive counterculture,” according to the display. “The project dispels society’s narrow margin of what is considered acceptable, normal, and pretty.”

Legendary skateboarder and ‘80s punk musician Steve Caballero also had a presence nearby, with an art display of paintings, on canvas, and on skateboards, as well as a set on the Speakeasy Stage.

Phish on October 15 returned to Sacramento, California, opening the fall tour with two sets of skillfully innovative rock, jazz, and funky songs, instrumental textures, and artistic noodling. The three-plus-hour show found Phish firing on all cylinders, including guitarist Trey Anastasio’s ever-imaginative bag of guitar tricks, Page McConnell’s incredible array of organ and grand piano keyboard flourishes, Mike Gordon’s always-solid substructural bass, and Jon Fishman’s bright, rat-a-tat-tat drumming.

It was the band’s first indoor show since the Covid-19 pandemic changed our world. It was also the first visit to the Capitol City in 25 years. Previously, they played Arco Arena in November 1996, outdoors at Cal Expo in September 1995, the 975-capacity Crest Theatre in March 1993, and Cal Expo in August 1992 (the latter performing on a bill with Santana, The Indigo Girls, and Los Lobos). Here in 2021, the performance took place at the Golden 1 Center, the cavernous, technologically advanced home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

The evening, in which the arena was about seven-eighths full, included some covers, some surprises, and some unusual song placements that kept everyone on their toes. Phish threw some typically second-set songs into the first set, including the shuffling, midtempo opener “The Final Hurrah,” which was followed by “Harry Hood,” a typically late-in-the-show selection that started with some reggae-infused riffs that involved some high-level keyboards and just-right bass and pleasing guitar interludes. Sufficiently warmed up and primed, the band produced a rare mid-first-set “The Squirming Coil,” which was followed by Gordon’s “555” and McConnell’s “Army of One.” The first stanza ended with a long and juicy “Mercury” and a quick and rousing “Character Zero.”

The evening’s cover songs were varied and carried out in fine fashion, and included Taj Mahal’s 50-something-year-old “Corinna,” and two songs first recorded in 1992 – a reverent bluegrass-Phish-style version of Del McCoury’s “Beauty of My Dreams,” and the Los Lobos ballad, “When the Circus Comes,” the penultimate song of the second set.

The 12-song second set included the performance debut of “And So to Bed,” as well as the first live treatment in four years of “Brother,” one of those Phish songs with lyrics of frivolity (“Somebody’s jumping in the tub with your brother; Whoa, Whoa, Whoa!”) presented as a fun and fast-paced drum-and-intricate-guitar-jammed treat.   

After “Brother,” Anastasio took a few minutes at the mic:

“A little trivia question for those of you who’ve seen Phish before,” he said. “What other song ends with ‘the pulling of the neck’? Page, what song is that?”

“I believe it’s ‘Rift’,” McConnell replied.

“The song is ‘Rift,’ Anastasio continued as if he was a game-show host. “Ten points for the keyboard player; zero points for the audience.”

The second set also included such standouts as “Piper” and “Tube,” which led into a first-ever performance of the instrumental “And So to Bed.” Phish closed out the second set with, “Golgi Apparatus,” and the assemblage was sent on its way with an inspiring version of “Sand.”

“I’m very happy to be here tonight,” Anastasio said before “When the Circus Comes.” “I think it’s been quite some time since we were here. I honestly don’t know the last time we played Sacramento.” After the crowd informed Anastasio that it was 1996, he said, “That was a fun year. It was the second-most fun year in Phish’s history. 2021. You may think that’s  some show business comment but it’s not. I’ve had more fun this year.”

Here is some very educated commentary from others in the house when asked their favorite song and to identify the evenings Most Valuable Player (MVP):

Larry Lemm, Chico, Calif. (Has seen 126 shows; his first was Sept. 27, 1995)

Song: “Sac had a big ‘Mercury.’ Almost 20 minutes. … Debut of ‘And So To Bed,’ which was on the band’s 1985 white tape demo. … Encore of ‘Sand’ was atypical placement, not usually an encore choice. Same with first set, ‘Hood.’

MVP:  Fishman Why? I dunno, but that little dude in a dress can drum!

Veronica Blake, Auburn, Calif. (Has seen four shows; her first was August 30, 2019)

Song: “Army of One”

MVP: “Page McConnell, because his fingers turn the keys into pure joy.

In addition: Couple thoughts I had during the show: Phish and their fans are the ‘Ted Lasso’ of jam bands. Sacramento vibe is really cool; haven’t seen this energy since Grateful Dead was playing Cal Expo.”

Kristin Stansby, Davis, Calif. (Has seen “a few hundred” shows; her first was May 7, 1992)

Song: “Character Zero” was well played with high energy. … “<Chris> Kuroda’s lights were in perfect synch, reminding me of seeing phish in Italy 1997 at a fancy marble theater.”

MVP: “Jon Fishman was the VIP ‘coz the beats were fresh, and he is a tireless player! He sounds like two drummers!”

In addition: “I love the family at phish. It takes but a few minutes to find a mutual friend amongst fellow fans, so the shows have such a tight knit community of love for this band.”

Matthew Gillies, Greenwood, Calif. (Has seen 34 shows; his first was March 1, 2003)

Song: “‘Brother’ was a real treat because it is so rarely played. I’m not sure that I’ve even heard them play it.”

MVP: “Jon Fishman, for his stamina and dexterity”

Tyler Blue, Grass Valley, Calif. (Has seen 118 shows.)

Song: “Phish just so happened to perform several of my favorite songs on Friday including ‘Mercury,’ ‘Scents and Subtle Sounds,’ ‘Plasma,’ and ‘Sand.’ However, the highlight of the night was the massive bust-out of ‘Brother,’ which hadn’t been performed since 12/30/17.

MVP: Jon Fishman is the MVP of just about every night because he really is one of the best drummers on the planet. While playing with such a high level of complexity, he makes everything seem effortless. He steered the jams in the most organic directions. His work during the ambient exploration of “Story of the Ghost” was particularly impressive.

In addition: When the band got wind of the fact that ticket sales were lackluster for this show, the writing was on the wall that they were going to make people pay for passing this one up. … Their first show in Sacramento in 25 years showed the full range of the band’s eclectic catalog, proclivities for improvisation and joyful spirit.

Jonny “Mojo” Flores, Placerville, Calif. (This was his first show)  

Song: “‘When The Circus Comes To Town’ – the sweetness; ‘Free’ – the journey.

MVP: “<all of> Phish – fingers on a hand.”MVP: “<all of> Phish – fingers on a hand.”

In addition: “I feel the band builds tension to uncomfortable for the sake of f%#€ing with heads. That tension could be measured in ‘Grittiness.’ The more grit, the more tension! Also, the plethora of tones stood out to me!”

Set 1: The Final Hurrah, Harry Hood, Corrina, The Squirming Coil, 555, Army of One, Beauty of My Dreams, Mercury, Character Zero. Set 2: Scents and Subtle Sounds, Plasma, Free, Billy Breathes, Piper, Ghost, And So to Bed, Sigma Oasis, Tube, Brother, When The Circus Comes, Golgi Apparatus. Encore: Sand.

The band’s all packed and gone / Was it ever here at all?

Terrapin Crossroads, the venerable restaurant and music nightclub that Phil Lesh “built,” which became known as “The Clubhouse” for like-minded frequenters, has closed its doors for good, proprietors Phil and Jill Lesh announced in a statement on November 5, 2021. Established in March 2012 after the acquisition of the old Seafood Peddler Restaurant/ Palm Ballroom site along the San Rafael Creek, off Francisco Boulevard in San Rafael, California, Terrapin Crossroads was less than a mile from the Grateful Dead’s old studio and offices at 20 Front Street (aka Club Le Front).