For more than 40 years, mandolinist/composer David Grisman has been busy creating "dawg" music, a blend of many stylistic influences (including swing, bluegrass, latin, jazz and gypsy) so unique he gave it its own name. In doing so, David has inspired a whole new genre of acoustic string instrumental music with style and virtuosity while creating a unique niche for himself in the world of contemporary music. Praised for his mastery of the instrument as well as his talents as a composer, bandleader, teacher and record producer by the New York Times, David’s role as an acoustic innovator continues to grow. After recording for several major and independent labels, Grisman founded his own company, Acoustic Disc, which he runs from his studio in northern California. After launching the label in 1990, David entered the most prolific period of his distinguished career, producing over 50 critically acclaimed, high quality recordings of acoustic music (five of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards). David discovered the mandolin as a teenager growing up in New Jersey, where he met and became a disciple of mandolinist/folklorist Ralph Rinzler. Despite a warning from his piano teacher that it wasn't a "real" instrument, Grisman learned to play the mandolin in the style of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music. He took it with him to Greenwich Village where he studied English at New York University and became immersed in the proliferating folk music scene of the early 1960s. In 1963 Grisman made his first recordings as an artist (the Even Dozen Jug Band-Elektra) and producer (Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and the Kentuckians - Folkways). In 1966, Red Allen offered David his first job with an authentic bluegrass band, the Kentuckians. While studying the music of his bluegrass mandolin heroes like Bill Monroe, Jesse McReynolds and Frank Wakefield, Grisman began composing original tunes and playing with other urban bluegrass contemporaries like Peter Rowan and Jerry Garcia, with whom he would later form Old & in the Way. David's interests spread to jazz in 1967, while playing in the folk-rock ensemble, Earth Opera. A failed attempt at learning to play the alto saxophone turned him into a student of jazz musicianship and theory. In the meantime, his burgeoning career as a session musician gave him experience playing other types of music and opportunities to stretch the boundaries of the mandolin. Today his discography includes recordings with Bela Fleck, the Grateful Dead, Stephane Grappelli, Emmylou Harris, Chris Isaak, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt , Earl Scruggs, Dan Fogelberg, Maria Muldaur, John Sebastian and James Taylor. David's unique instrumental style found a home in 1974 when he formed the Great American Music Band with fiddler Richard Greene. "Nothing against singers," said David, "but it became apparent to me that I could play 90 minutes without one. Besides, Elvis never called." Within a year, Greene moved on to join a pop act, and David met guitar wizard Tony Rice, who moved to California where they started rehearsing a new group, the David Grisman Quintet, which also included bassist/ mandolinist Todd Phillips and violinist Darol Anger. The rest is string band history. For the past 25 years, the DGQ has won numerous polls and awards and has headlined at major jazz, folk and bluegrass festivals around the world. DGQ alumni (including Tony Rice, Mark O'Connor, Mike Marshall and Darol Anger) have gone on to establish successful careers as leaders of acoustic music. Current DGQ members include bassist Jim Kerwin, multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven, flutist Matt Eakle, and Argentine guitarist Enrique Coria. In 1990, David founded the Acoustic Disc label with his friend and manager, Craig Miller, and two other long-standing friends from New York, Artie and Harriet Rose. To date label has released 55 CDs, including six with Jerry Garcia, all produced or co-produced by Grisman. David Grisman has always been a pioneer. He has deeply influenced several generations of musicians through his own musical explorations, and with the continuing success of Acoustic Disc has helped make artist-owned independent labels a viable force in the modern music business. This Band’s MySpace Page
Elephant Revival is a collaboration of five very talented, dynamic and distinctive songwriters, musicians and singers who meld into something in-all-ways wonderful. Although a relatively young musical entity ERC consisting of Daniel Rodriquez of Mystic CT (guitar, vocals, banjo), Bonnie Paine of Tahlequah OK (vocals, djembe, washboard, cello), Bridget Law, of Boulder CO (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Dango Rose of Chicago IL (upright bass, mandolin, banjo vocals), and Sage T. Cook of Waynoka OK (banjo, mandolin, upright bass, vocals) has already acquired a large, diverse and loyal following in Colorado, New Mexico, The Ozark Plateau and New England. The music is virtually all original with all members contributing songs and compositions. The ensemble is influenced by traditional forms and has strong roots in reggae, bluegrass, rock, folk, hip-hop and jazz. Overall the sound is new musical wine in a new bottle with a powerful vitality that gets a room moving and dancing, strong word that gets an audience thinking, amidst the power of trance. -Sam Libby. "It is refreshing to hear contemplative, beautiful music played by young people." -John Cowan. "This band reminds me of elements of Tha MuseMeant." -David Tiller. This Band’s MySpace Page
Things come and go, ebb and flow in the jamband world. Your favorite bands have probably gone through lineup changes, breakups or hiatuses (hiataii?) over the years. With the flourishing new band Great American Taxi, your next favorite band is harnessing some of the momentum of change and reining it in to form a tight vortex of Americana roots rocking and rolling. This collective was initially formed as a one-off jam session for a charity event in Boulder, CO in the spring of 2005. Now the five-piece core of the group is making waves all over the place in the Colorado high country and across the plains of the Midwest. Headed up by former Leftover Salmon front man Vince Herman, these guys are ready to pick you up and take you anywhere your rump-shaking self needs to go. Chicks dig drummers. At least, that's the story to which Jake Coffin, Boulder local and seasoned touring veteran, is sticking. Jake is a high energy, swinging impresario of the skins who keeps the meter running and the trips on time. Brian Schey is the one-man support group for the band, holding down the one and laying out the launching pad when its time to depart. As a long time collaborator with Jake, Schey knows where and when to report with the funky bass line that keeps the wheels spinning smoothly. Our man with the plan, Chad Staehly, hailing from Fort Collins, is the gas in the tank, both on and off the stage. On any given Taxi ride, Staehly can be found in the driver's seat behind the keys, filling it in, rounding it out and generally making the melodies and rhythms jump up and shake your bones. But make no mistake about it, Staehly hands out solo breaks and hotel keys with equal proficiency, as he is the default manager and kitten herder for the group as well. And last but certainly not least is the turbo-booster axe slinger Jefferson Hamer. Hamer has most recently been with the Single Malt Band as a multi-instrumentalist and is using this more electric platform to showcase his high octane Texas-twang-meets-high-country-wail style. As a songwriter and guitar stuntman, Hamer shows a wide variety of skill and dexterity in his playing and is sure to make your ear and your booty both jump up and get down. Keep your eyes peeled for great original tunes like American Way and Ride when you make it to a show or three, and don't be surprised when the Great American Taxi ride takes you further on down the line. This Band’s MySpace Page
Connecting traditional songs of yesterday with their own original and inventive sounds of today, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge create astonishingly powerful acoustic music rich in heritage, heart and hot licks! With a style that evokes both atomic rock energy and dynamic tonal purity, Keel and his ensemble are intent upon taking their instruments and their voices to their fullest potential for emotion and amazement. While paying respect to the legacy left by the forefathers of bluegrass, Keel bridges the gap between traditional and contemporary American Mountain Music. Larry Keel & Natural Bridge includes flatpicking guitar master Larry Keel (guitar, vocals), Jenny Keel (bass fiddle, vocals), Mark Schimick (mandolin, vocals), and, Jason Flournoy (banjo, vocals). Born and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Larry Keel is a young veteran musician who has always been immersed in the traditional ways and etiquette of playing mountain music. Both Larry’s father and brother (themselves skilled and versatile acoustic musicians) influenced the younger Keel to thoroughly master the foundations of acoustic guitar (tune, timing, tone) before venturing into his own original territory. From a very young age, Larry made it his goal to honor and preserve the discipline of the Traditional Bluegrass music he knows and loves, while expressing his own ideas through acoustic music. At 18 years old Keel became a contracted musician to play Bluegrass at the Tokyo Disneyland theme park in Japan for 7 months (6 shows a day, 6 days a week). Back in the States Larry joined up with like-minded Bluegrass pickers young and old to travel the festival and fiddler’s convention circuit of the entire east coast. Keel’s long time friend and banjo player Mark Vann (Leftover Salmon) encouraged him to travel to Colorado to attend the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and compete in its prestigious guitar competition. That year he won first place, and by 1995 he and long-time Bluegrass peer Will Lee (son of Ricky Lee from Ralph Stanley’s band) led their string band Magraw Gap to victory in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band competition. Moreover, Larry again competed in and won first place in the guitar competition at Telluride that year. In fact, the band and all its incredibly talented members won awards in the competitions in 1995. Over the years Larry Keel has become a world-class flatpicking guitarist, and that talent has earned him legendary status with fans and the highest respect amongst his musical peers. In recent performances Larry has led bands involving such industry icons as Tony Rice, Jack Lawrence, Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Curtis Burch (New Grass Revival), Vassar Clements, Joe Craven, Jim Lauderdale, Eddie Adcock; in addition he has played specialty sets with Darrell Scott and Sam Bush and guitar workshops along side David Grier and Norman Blake. Keel’s distinct style of flatpicking the guitar is the tool with which he creates his original brand of songwriting and his peers have taken notice. Both Del McCoury and Acoustic Syndicate have recorded Larry’s material. The Del McCoury Band recorded Larry’s ‘Mountain Song’ on their 2005 Grammy award winning release, The Company We Keep. Acoustic Syndicate recorded ‘Long Way Round’ as their title track for their 2004 release. Larry Keel has had for a very long time a very clear vision of what he wants to do with his musical talents, and the guiding principle is this: to nurture and preserve our American musical heritage while letting it inspire Keel’s own original writing and playing. As he pays his deepest respects to the masters who invented Bluegrass, Keel has become a master himself of Bluegrass, as well as of his own music. Larry Keel is a true heir to the Bluegrass legacy, and his talents as a guitar genius, as an innovative and expressive singer-songwriter and as a bandleader place him amongst the best of the purveyors of American Mountain Music.
This Band’s MySpace Page
25 years ago, Kyle Hollingsworth set out on a career in music. Since then, with a wealth of desire and an abundance of ability, Hollingsworth has established himself as a formidable and versatile music talent, with the ability to contribute, collaborate, compose, and communicate on a number of levels and within a vast spectrum of musical environments. Today, as a member of acclaimed jam masters The String Cheese Incident, Hollingsworth is revered by both peers and fans for his ability to write and perform in a mosaic of styles, from rock to classical, ragtime to bebop. Playing in SCI has allowed him unrestricted access to the world of music, and has bestowed on him the kind of fearlessness a composer needs to flirt with such disparate genres. Those who’ve seen SCI know that they can jerk from funk to bluegrass on a chord change. “In the jam world, where there are no set ways of doing things, we’re not afraid to move in and out of genres,” he says, “and because of that I’ve learned to be creative, not only onstage but in the studio. I can get on board with something pretty quickly. You have to.” Hollingsworth also has a good ear, which helps when you’re constantly immersed in unfamiliar situations. “I’ve always felt the instrumentals I create in my home studio are tailor-made for films,” he says. “As far as communicating musical passages, I write pretty good hooks and I know what it takes to get to the point.” He’s proven that already with a variety of work that he’s already done for advertising, television, film, and even video games. Kyle has developed soundtracks for EA Sports’ popular Sims 2007 and is currently dabbling in other video game projects. There are examples of his work on his website. He explains, “For video games, it has been fun writing in more of a classical vein. By utilizing timpani, strings and other classical elements, I am able to create tension beds and action sequences that help make the scenes come alive.” Most recently, Kyle contributed to the soundtrack of a Warren Miller film. “The key to good cinematic music,” he explains, “is to not overpower the visuals. My job is to add to the scene without making my music the focal point. I try to add emotion, not take it away.” While his versatility and quick-study nature have become his signature skills with SCI, they have also proved tremendously helpful on stage during collaborations with a bunch of major acts, including Paul Simon, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Weir, Little Feat, and banjo master Bela Fleck. One summer he toured with Phil Lesh in a band that also included Steve Kimock, John Molo, and Warren Haynes. In another amazing highlight, Kyle also toured with Mike Clark in a band that starred nearly all the original Head Hunters. These gigs prove that Hollingsworth is as unafraid to step out of the limelight as he is to step into it. “When I play with these performers it’s about showcasing them, to support the main role in the best possible way. Seasoned musicians can be tasty and laid back, too!” While the jam scene has brought him much exposure as a talent—a relentless tour schedule will do that for a guy—it’s also allowed him to meet some of the very best musicians in popular music. With all that ability floating around between acts, it’s hard to resist the temptation to form “side projects.” Hollingsworth’s current musical hobby is called soleside, and it features Speech from Arrested Development and turntablist DJ Logic. soleside is Kyle’s brainchild, but it’s a true collaboration. “I’ve been a fan of Arrested Development for a long time,” he says, “and Speech has a great message in his lyrics, they are inspired and from the heart. It goes well with the SCI vibe of getting outside, playing with nature and finding spirituality in one’s self. Logic was the first person I thought of to help bridge the gap between the hip-hop and jam band scenes.” Together, Kyle, Speech and Logic look to meld their experiences, in a place where their shared dialects—Sly Stone, the Staple Singers, the Brand New Heavies—have tripped upon exciting and funky ground to explore: “We’re looking for new musical adventures,” says Kyle, “and with a lineup as diverse as the three of us, there’s a lot of new ground to discover.” All this incredible experience has turned Hollingsworth into a fluid talent with a wide range of abilities: as a sideman, a studio session player, a songwriter, soundtrack composer, bandleader, arranger, and film scorer. Who knew it would come to this when he started this learning process 25 years ago? Back then, as a young kid sitting on his front porch, he’d immerse himself in the sounds of his older siblings’ records: the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Yes, and the Beatles. He started playing in bands at 12, and by last count, that total has climbed to about 30. His first real group, a psychedelic rock band called Black Friday, made waves in and around his Baltimore home base. In college, at Towson University in Baltimore, he took a sharp left turn; he chose to study jazz giants like Hancock, Corea, Peterson, and earn his degree in Jazz Piano Performance. Kyle’s first solo album release in 2004 reflected his jazz tastes. Titled Never Odd or Even, Joshua Redman and Robert Randolph guested, among others. Never or Odd or Even was the recording Hollingsworth had always wanted to make since he was a kid. In addition to his jazz influences, the album’s music demonstrates Kyle’s ability to seamlessly fuse genres. Kyle moved west to Colorado in 1993, and quickly gelled with a handful of Denver- and Boulder-based musicians. After his young band Durt opened for an early version of SCI, the band invited him into the fold for a tour they were doing. That stint led to a full-time gig and, consequently, a career in music. Today, 12 years after joining SCI, the learning process Hollingsworth began as a child is now flourishing into an impressive and rewarding career. “I’m always looking for challenges,” he says. “I thrive on the challenges posed by unique groups of musicians.” This Band’s MySpace Page
Melvin Seals has been a powerful presence in the music industry for over 30 years with a long-established reputation as a performer, recording artist and producer. He has played with legends such as Chuck Berry, Charlie Daniels and Elvin Bishop. But perhaps Melvin is most revered for his powerful and high-spirited Hammond B-3 organ and keyboards in the Jerry Garcia Band, adding his gospel-soul touches to the rhythm and blues base of the JGB. Melvin continues to treat music lovers to his unique brand of melodic flavor. The legendary Hammond B-3 wizard is introducing his new band along with a new CD release entitled, "Melvin Seals' and JGB" "Keepers of the Flame". Melvin is best known for his long friendship and musical partnership with cultural icon and guitarist Jerry Garcia and the smile of his that lights up the room. Melvin spun his B-3 magic with the Jerry Garcia Band for 18 years and in doing so helped pioneer and define what has now become "Jam Band Music". From blues to funk to rock to jazz, Melvin Seals serves up a tasty mix with a little R&B and gospel thrown in to spice things up. Melvin and JGB brings an intuitive, expressive style, soul, spontaneity and remarkable chops to the table. With acoustic and electric ingredients and unique combinations of guitar, mandolin, slide and lap steel with savory bass, hearty drums and, of course, a heapin' helpin' of the wizard's magic on Hammond B-3 Organ and keyboards, the result is a most satisfying blend of natural organic grooves that challenges genre boundaries. Their chemistry is the focus from which they create a spontaneous and high art where the sky is the limit musically. They offer an exciting, often psychedelic musical journey that keeps audiences dancing and smiling (and some staring in amazement) for several hours. Melvin is pioneering a path deeper into the musical territory he helped to establish. The Melvin Seals' performances are a must see, must feel experience!!! Their music is guaranteed to get into your soul, raise your spirit and get you groovin'!!! This Band’s MySpace Page
"Music is about the feeling you get when listening to good music. It comes from an emotional place in the performer and creates a succession of feeling states in the listener," Steve Kimock explains. "The mystery of this art, the paradox, and duality of its realization, lie in the translation between its creation as a unique and deeply personal statement from the performer, and its perception as common, universally held emotions by the listener." Like many people, Kimock at first, fell under the spell of The Beatles, but he also had an aunt, Dorothy Siftar, who played the Philadelphia Folk Festival with Pete Seeger, so his musical horizons were broadened at a young age. When a cousin came home from the service with a gold Les Paul, Kimock was hooked. He got a guitar and played it 12 hours a day, every day. He still does. "I occasionally put it down to take a shower or eat some food," he jokes, but he's still in love with the guitar and all its stringed relations. After the usual high school bands, Kimock joined the Goodman Brothers Band. The group moved to California in 1976. Kimock's first home was a cabin in Marin, directly behind the Ali Akbar Khan School of Music. Every morning he woke to the sound of sarods and sitars, inspiring the interest in the music of other cultures that still colors his own compositions. "I like music of cultures that predate the keyboard. I enjoy the natural temperament more than the 12 equal divisions of the octave. That's why I like the blues." For the rest of his career Kimock has balanced his own bands with freelance session and touring work. After a stint with Martin Fierro in The Underdogs, he joined The Heart of Gold Band with Grateful Dead members Keith and Donna Godchaux and drummer Greg Anton. Kimock and Anton split to start Zero, a project that lasted 15 years. "The music was eclectic, instrumental but not jazz fusion, mostly with a folk/Americana flavor, but open to anything." Steve Kimock & Friends was both more focused and less formal than Zero. "We were R&B and blues based, more likely to cover old tunes than create new ones. A bar band without a bar." KVHW was a collaboration with Bobby Vega, Alan Hertz and Ray White, a brilliant short-lived band with a set list of great covers and original compositions. Unfortunately, all the players were so busy that the band couldn't survive. Six years ago Kimock put together the Steve Kimock Band. He also collaborates with The Funky Meters' offshoot band PBS, and will be touring this summer with Bob Weir & Ratdog. It is also worth mentioning that when the Grateful Dead got back together as The Other Ones following the death of Jerry Garcia, the surviving band members chose Kimock to fill the rich lead guitar work that they were missing. Forty plus years into a rich and vibrant musical career, Kimock is the stuff that musical legends are made of. This Band’s MySpace Page
The driving force behind The Motet has always been one of musical exploration and innovation. After a line up change and months of collective song writing, The Motet has entered into a new and exciting musical territory. Fusing instrumental, indie-rock, and electronically textured improvisation, The Motet has been born again, exploring a vast musical landscape that can only be described as intelligent. "Our tendency to avoid being pigeon-holed is a reflection of who we are as musicians," said Motet founder and drummer Dave Watts. "We try to be open-minded about how we approach different genres and traditions." Open-mindedness and a desire to seek out fresh and creative music has always been the key driving force behind The Motet. When The Motet formed in 1998, Watts was the primary song-writer, but now every member of the band is contributing their compositions and arrangements to the group's repertoire. "I wrote and/or arranged just about all of the material on the new album, but now that the rest of the group is participating in song-writing, it's really becoming an exciting endeavor," said Watts. "I'm looking forward to a new era." The influences of bass player, Garrett Sayers in particular, represents a new paradigm for The Motet. "In regards to what I listen to, I'm drawn to songwriting and general emotion," he told Bass Player Magazine. "It's a reaction from playing and listening to jazz as a teenager. At one point, I realized that jazz didn't inspire me as much as bands like Radiohead and Boards of Canada. So I gravitated more toward song-oriented indie-rock and electronic music, which has been my focus ever since." Drummer Dave Watts remains the backbone of the Motet sound composing a tight rhythm section with bassist, Sayers who is complimented by guitarist Ryan Jalbert, keyboardist Adam Revell, and saxophonist Dominic Lalli. Together they collectively add a rich and organic texture to The Motet sound. Once again, The Motet has mastered the delicate task of reinventing their sound while staying true to their roots and fans. The band's vast influences and improvisational exploration have them headed in a new direction that is sure to please fans, both old and new. This Band’s MySpace Page
San Francisco’s rock quintet, New Monsoon, has been transforming audiences across the country into dedicated fans with a relentless touring schedule. Their exhilarating marriage of acoustic and electric instruments comes together in an irresistible blend of sophisticated songcraft, inventive musical exploration and down home rock-n-roll. The band’s just released album New Monsoon V was produced, mixed and engineered by John Cutler, best known for his production work with The Grateful Dead on the platinum album In the Dark (co-produced with Jerry Garcia) and Without a Net (co-produced with Phil Lesh) and the Jerry Garcia Band’s How Sweet It Is. Jambase raves that “New Monsoon V moves with muscular dexterity, avoiding overplaying at every turn, always serving the songs and one another in a way only thousands of shows and countless hours of woodshedding can produce.” New Monsoon was conceived when Penn State friends Bo Carper and Jeff Miller reconnected in northern California. Carper's rootsy acoustic finger style as foil for Miller's inspired melodies, the pair sowed the seeds of the New Monsoon sound. During the recording of the band's first album Hydrophonic, the band tapped long-time east coast friend Phil "The Pianimal" Ferlino for keyboards. Blown away by the project, Ferlino immediately moved to San Francisco and joined the band on-stage at the 2001 High Sierra Music Festival. Strong vocals and harmonies, electric and acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin, bass and keyboards, unify the musical styles of New Monsoon's influences, which are as diverse as rock gods Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Santana, bluesman Mississippi John Hurt and world music pioneers Tito Puente, Shakti and Peter Gabriel. New Monsoon's music is an experience of textures, rhythms, ideas and moods. New Monsoon V is the culmination of years of touring, collaboration, heart, soul and love and respect between the band and its fans. New Monsoon has played a laundry list of major music festivals, from Bonnaroo to Summerfest and in January 2007 they played to a sold-out Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. As Miller recently stated, “One thing about our scene is people are still going out to support live music. God bless them for it." In this age of digital music and file sharing, the fact the band’s live performances matter so much to the band and its fans is a testament to New Monsoon’s musicianship and passion. This Band’s MySpace Page
Onda (Spanish for "vibe") is a nine-piece Latin dance band that quickly made a name for itself as one of the best dance bands on the Boulder scene. Founded in 2000, it's music is a wonderful blend of traditional Latin songs and rhythms with funk,Latin jazz, cumbia, boogaloo and modern jam arrangements. Onda's repertoire is diverse and eclectic. Salsa to Sinatra to Santana and beyond, a wide range of Caribbean sounds that will move any feet, appeal to any ear. Frontman/lead vocalist Roberto Sequeira heads a crew whose members are veterans of the Boulder/Denver afro-cuban, jazz and Latin music scene. Since it's inception, Onda has been about more than just music; presenting the relationship between music, audience and band, the collective spirit of the whole experience, and the respect and corazon of the Latin American family. Onda's live performance is energetic and uplifting, tasteful and suave, informative and entertaining. Onda brings the vibe and something everybody can move to. This Band’s MySpace Page
Split Lip Rayfield plays bluegrass worthy of being blasted out of the windows of a Plymouth Barracuda with 451 Hemi engine. Their live shows are the stuff of legend. They will whip crowds into a sweaty frenzy--Jeff hunched over his homemade, gas-tank bass, Kirk breaking guitar strings by the dozen and changing them fast enough to ensure himself a place on any NASCAR pit crew, and Eric, looking the part of a Civil War re-enactor, doing things to a banjo that Eddie Van Halen wishes he’d thought of. Sadly, because their shows are so good, they don’t get the credit they should for their songwriting--time honored themes of bad cars, bad jobs, bad women, loss and longing, taken off the dusty shelves of the old-timey circuit and updated to make sense for those who don’t have shitty farming or mining jobs, but do have shitty jobs at Wal-Mart or Home Depot. They’ve got four part harmonies and wear their big hearts on their greasy sleeves. You will be surprised at how good they are. If these guys weren't so nice, we'd all be very afraid of them. They have more tattoos, break more strings, and drink more beer (almost) than any other band. According to SLR, the Garden of Eden is in some muddy Winfield, Kansas field--except it only surfaces for a few weeks each September. Early live shows featured a real chicken, but we guess they got hungry. Speaking of hunger, Jeff knows, like, 87 recipes for gar. This Band’s MySpace Page
Dave Johnston, born in Aurora, Illinois, spent his extra-curricular time at the University of Illinois learning banjo. One year after he started, he was out playing gigs. His first ensemble was a group called Giblet Gravy. Some of the members split off with Dave to form The Bluegrassholes which fell apart due to other members differing sense of priorities (i.e.finishing school). Dave decided that he needed to move to the Northwest in order to hone his banjo playing and was eventually drawn to Nederland, Colorado's acoustic music scene. Yonder Mountain String Band has created further opportunities for Dave to stretch out on the banjo and become an even more progressive and improvisational player. Dave's goal is to become an ambassador of acoustic related music as well as a respected player within the strict bluegrass idiom. This Band’s MySpace Page
John "Blackdog" Ridnell: During its first cross-country tour, in 1991, Black Dog was four songs into its set in a St. Louis joint called Blueberry Hill when a guitar player named Chuck Berry walked in. Soon after, guitarist John Ridnell coaxed the legendary Berry into doing a few numbers. Berry took Ridnell's guitar “and tore the house up” with Johnnye B. Goode, Roll Over Beethoven, and other classics. “He put these deep scratches in my guitar,” says John. “If anybody else did that I'd choke them. But I treasure those scratches.” Black Dog was working its way from New York City to Colorado, and when the band reached its final gigs in the Rockies, John knew he had come home. Certified guitarslinger John “Black Dog” Ridnell (the nickname is a long story, but harks back to days of teenage excess and has since stuck with the band) grew up in Bronxville, NY. By the age of 15 he was fronting homespun garage bands and playing what he calls Bronx River Delta blues and rock and roll—Clapton, Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd, whatever he could cut his chops on. He and childhood friend Matt Baxter (Jefferson Airplane's After Bathing at Baxter's —that Baxter) launched a band called the Crucial Jive, until one day a young kid said, “What's so crucial about your jive?” The band morphed into The Jive, doing the obligatory house parties and teen dances. John had taken lessons from several teachers when one day he discovered records by jazz guitarist Link Chamberlain. “I tried to imitate what he was doing, but just had no foundation for it,” says John. Chamberlain took the kid under his wing and turned his head around in terms of what he taught and what he expected of his pupil. “If you're not really going to do it, don't do it,” Link told John. “If you're really going to do it, you should be practicing six hours a day.” It took John a little time to work up to that level of commitment, but he did. But Chamberlain died two years later, and John moved to Ithaca, New York, to test the college scene. He stayed seven years. “There were so many colleges there, so many frats, that it really was like Animal House.” Now based in Colorado, John and a rotating roster of top musicians have released a half dozen studio CDs and several lives discs, while John has issued one solo CD. And as Black Dog continues to cover a lot of musical ground, John finds himself and the band busier than ever—over 300 gigs last year showcasing their on-your-feet, contagious blend of blues rock funk and jazz. “We write and play as many styles as possible,” John says. “The rock and roll and blues are always there, of course, and we have a lot of original tunes as well. But depending on the gig we might even throw in our versions of Miles Davis or Duke Ellington. Whatever gets you moving.” As one CD title says, it's “For the Sake of the Groove. Blackdog has been leaving audiences in awe with sheer musicianship and stage presence. This is no ordinary Mountain Ensemble! Incorporating any and all musical genres from funk, to smokin' blues, to reggae and calypso ballads, sometimes all in one song! Blackdog's tenure on the music circuit has brought the band to open for or share the bill with such greats as Taj Mahal, Derek Trucks, Phish, Blues Traveler, Mick Taylor, Duke Robillard, James Cotton, and Cracker among others. This Band’s MySpace Page
Since 1977, Sally VanMeter's slide guitar work has gained respect and recognition among peers and audiences for her commitment to staying true to playing music with heart and soul. She is well-known for her performances & recorded works ranging from solo work to collaborations with artists such as Jerry Garcia, Chris Hillman, Cyril Pahinui, Jerry Douglas, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Alison Brown, Taj Mahal, Peter Rowan & the Rowan Brothers, Yonder Mountain String Band, Tony Rice, Kathy Kallick, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Gerry O'Beirne, Maura O'Connell, the inimitable Leftover Salmon and more. On the Sugar Hill label,Sally's work on The Great Dobro Sessions (producers Jerry Douglas/ Tut Taylor) earned the 1994 GRAMMY AWARD certificate for Best Bluegrass Recording from NARAS as a featured performer; in addition, Sally’s solo album All In Good Time was a finalist nominee for IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year. Film, television and radio credits include the film Gather at the River, the celebrated CBS' Northern Exposure and TNN's Texas Connection. Sally has also been invited to perform for nationally acclaimed NPR show A Prairie Home Companion, and Nick Forster's popular NPR radio show, E-Town. In 1995, Sally joined with David Grisman and Jerry Garcia for a special project, The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers-A Tribute produced by Bob Dylan for Columbia Records. From 1977 -1996, Sally was a member of the Good Ol' Persons, a much-beloved San Francisco- based band. She has been an IBMA Finalist Nominee for Dobro Player of the Year from 1990-1997 and in 1996 won two IBMA awards, Best Instrumental Recording and Recorded Event of the Year (The Great Dobro Sessions). For nearly three decades, Sally's musical journeys have taken her from the US to the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan. These days Sally resides professionally in Colorado. She currently gigs with Hillman & Pedersen and The Jeff Finlin Band. Alongside touring, you can find her wearing the Producers Hat producing recordings for national touring acts that include The Yonder Mountain String Band and the Open Road Bluegrass Band; as well, Sally's love of teaching music has kept her a mainstay at festivals, music workshops & camps throughout the US/UK and Europe. This Band’s MySpace Page
From the very first moments of "Used," which opens Tony Furtado's new album, Thirteen, it's clear that the prodigious instrumentalist turned singer/songwriter is a man on a mission. This bracing rocker, with its galloping ZZ Top groove and restless Tom Petty vibe, establishes the album's interlocked themes of "good luck/bad luck/no luck" (as Furtado puts it) on both the personal and political levels, while a phalanx of fretted instruments provides a thrillingly visceral reminder of Furtado's prowess as an ax wielder of the first order. On Thirteen, this rapidly maturing artist fulfills the immense promise of his 2004 breakthrough These Chains, his initial foray into songwriting and singing. While Furtado's 2005 outing, the literally solo Bare Bones, pushed the technical envelope as he recorded his own one-man tour, the expansive Thirteen reveals an artist with a great deal on his mind and a full arsenal of skills with which to express his thoughts and feelings in a captivating way. "These Chains was my first serious attempt at songwriting," says Furtado, "so it was a trial by fire, with a bit of experimentation. This time I had the chance to go deeper." Recorded to 16-track, two-inch analog tape during the summer of 2006 at Tucson's Wavelab Studios (a favorite venue for Calexico, Neko Case, M. Ward, Iron & Wine and other cult heroes), the album features an all-star cast including keyboardists Sean Slade (whose production credits include Uncle Tupelo and Radiohead) and Jim Dickinson (producer of the seminal Ry Cooder albums that inspired Furtado to take up the slide guitar), bassist Dusty Wakeman (whose resume includes three previous Furtado LPs, Dwight Yoakam and Lucinda Williams), drummer Winston Watson (who has played with Dylan and Giant Sand) and Wavelab's own Craig Schumacher (Calexico, Case, Iron & Wine), who produced and engineered. Furtado admits the gathering of heavyweights gave him pause going in. "At first I was worried that it might be a clash of the titans," he admits. "But after we got together and started talking about the material, hanging out and playing, my fears quickly dissipated. Plus, that studio is packed with old instruments, and all the guitars hanging on the walls create a sonic aura. There are some bizarre instruments there that I threw on the tracks." On this project, Furtado's playing and the considerable acumen of his all-star studio band was fully focused on the 10 Furtado originals and three well-chosen covers that comprise Thirteen. The dreamlike "California Flood," which is "wrapped around old memories of weekends on a boat in the Sacramento Delta," deals in vividly metaphorical detail with a child's struggles to understand the mysterious workings of the adult world. For "Another Man," a bitter breakup song he confesses was based on personal experience, Furtado references the blues epic "When the Levee Breaks" (famously rendered by Led Zeppelin), in effect splitting the distance between emotional tumult and self-mocking irony. Furtado started the faux-confessional "The Alcohol" while living in L.A. and reading a lot of Charles Bukowski. "It's like a love song to drinking, almost," he jokes. "I noticed I was drinking more when I was reading Bukowski. And one night, after I came home from a drinking session on Ventura Blvd., I wrote a couple verses and a chorus. Months late, after I moved to Portland, I hammered out the rest of it with [acclaimed Nashville-based singer/songwriter] Amelia White." The album's title song and centerpiece is far more solemn. "Thirteen" recounts the January 2006 Sago mine disaster, which trapped 13 men, only one of whom survived. "I've heard so many mining songs in my folk history, and I've sung so many topical songs in the past, that writing and singing it felt natural to me," Furtado notes. By giving the song the textures, cadence and language of Appalachian traditional music, the artist places the Sago disaster in its proper historical context while also giving it the universal resonance of tragedy. Similarly, "Hurtin' My Right Side" is a modern-day take on another roots idiom with which Furtado is thoroughly familiar - prison work songs and field hollers. He adapted the traditional piece, which he describes as "spellbinding," expanding it with a bridge and chorus. Embracing female harmonies further enrich the overarching humanity in Furtado's understated, quintessentially Californian singing. The blended voices bring an intriguing new dimension to Furtado's renditions of the thematically apt "Won't Get Fooled Again" from the Who and "Fortunate Son" from Creedence Clearwater Revival. Further, given Furtado's thematic focus on luck in both the personal and political realms, these songs, which he'd discovered as a boy while working through his parents' record collection, lock right into place. A third cover, Furtado's whimsical take on Elton John's "Take Me to the Pilot," allows this musically and conceptually dense song cycle to catch its breath before soldiering on. Most of the songs took shape during an intensive period of reflection and creative outpourings in Furtado's present home in Portland. "The past year has been an interesting time of growth for me," he explains. "When I first moved back, I knew I wasn't going to be hitting the road for a while, so I set up a couple of local weekly gigs to try out new songs and keep my chops up, and I also got some watercolors and taught myself to paint. I used to be a sculptor, so I got a bunch of clay, set up a little shop in my basement and started working that side of my brain. At the same time I was reading poetry and fiction, and I got an iPod and filled it up with music from the Kinks, the Who, Tom Waits, the Band and Elliott Smith, whose music had a big influence on me - the abstract quality of his lyrics but also the catchy, Beatlesque melodies. And every day I'd pick up the guitar to see what would come out. I ended up having a lot of songs to choose from." He chose them wisely. Furtado, who grew up in Pleasanton, Calif., in the East Bay, took up the banjo at 12 and was hailed as a prodigy at age 19. As he was cementing his reputation as a banjoist extraordinaire, Furtado was also developing himself into an equally virtuosic slide guitarist. And now, with Thirteen, this restless artist makes an exponential leap into the wide-open spaces of mythopoetic America, a terrain inhabited by such personal heroes as Cooder, the Band, Creedence, Petty and Waits. No two ways about it – this heartfelt, multileveled work completes Tony Furtado's ascent from the folk circuit to the big leagues. This Band’s MySpace Page
Danny Shafer "is a songwriter in every sense of the word", said Tom Plant, owner of The Acoustic Coffee House in Nederland, Colorado. With over 100 shows a year, his performance varies from Troubadour Fingerstyle to Country Blues, to his Full Americana band, The Red Glory Ramblers. In every setting, Danny brings his acclaimed songwriting. Jon Henderson, music coordinator, writes "Danny's band always holds an audience and rarely takes a break". This reputation has brought Danny to esteemed venues as The Rocky Mountain Folks Festival, The Boulder Theater, The Fox Theatre, Swallow Hill, and also as a finalist in the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's Troubadour contest in 2004. Varied, yet consistent, the Colorado Daily writes "Danny Shafer does it all!" This Band’s MySpace Page
Bringing their unique sound to NedFest for a special acoustic 'tweener reunion slot, Shanti Groove provides a musical celebration of the 'groove' kind. They move along acoustical and electrical lines, combining the voice of jazz and rock with back porch bluegrass and funktified percussion. Stepping out with a strong selection of original compositions, Shanti Groove is an amplified acoustic band focusing on live improvisation; traditional Appalachian instrumentation framed by innovative drumming. The band has shared the stage with an all-star cast of musicians including: Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, Col. Bruce Hampton, Oteil Burbage, Ron Levy's Wild Kingdom, The Big Wu, Acoustic Syndicate, Steve Kimock, and the David Grisman Quintet. Recognized by the Denver Post as "a band clearly on the rise," and by JamBase as one of the twelve bands to watch in 2004, Shanti Groove spent the history together touring hard, performing nearly 200 sucsessful shows a year. Inciting high energy dancing, Shanti Groove was renowed for their candid live show which included interplay between electric improvisation and un-plugged jams with the audience itself. We are excited for this rare reunion performance. This Band’s MySpace Page
magicgravy, formed and born in the high deserts of Mexico's Baja California, is a hard-hitting, psychedelic improvisational trio which lays down the grooves to get you moving. These three classically trained, jazz rooted musicians are constantly on the search for the unknown, comfortably fitting grooves into jazzy pockets of sonic bliss. The freedom to expand beyond the roles each member assumes in their main project offers another side of these musicians, and the peaks are high and long. ALO's Dan Lebowitz's outrageous solos on his acoustic guitar, The Motet's Garrett Sayers' relentless and melodic interactions on the electric bass, and The Motet's Dave Watts' finesse on the drums combine for something powerful. This Band’s MySpace Page
