What We Know: Trey Anastasio’s Blue Ash & Other Suburbs

Record Store Day 2013 takes place on April 20th, exactly one week from today. Among the exclusive Record Store Day releases you’ll be able to find, if you’re lucky (there’s only 1,200 copies up for sale), at your local independent record store will be a 7″ from Phish front man Trey Anastasio dubbed “Blue Ash And Other Suburbs.” Ever since we helped break the news on this release, there’s been little known about the four songs included within. Let’s run down what we know.

Blue Ash And Other Suburbs, a limited edition picture disc vinyl, contains outtakes from the Traveler sessions in Fall, 2011. All in all there are four songs on Blue Ash And Other Suburbs, each of which were co-produced by Anastasio and Peter Katis. Only one of the tunes has been played by the Trey Anastasio Band and that’s Gone which was also performed by Phish and included on the quartet’s Party Time LP. Here’s the lyrics for Gone as well as a video from a live performance…

Gone (Anastasio)

Running from yourself
Come back from the dead
All those sleepless nights, all that pain
I’m sorry, You’re gone
But you’re gone

When hope is nearly lost
You’ll finally do what’s right
Stop bleeding from your head anymore
The devil has you down
So turn around
And rise into the light

Running from yourself
Spinning got you here
Come back from the dead
There’s no sun left in your eyes
All Those sleepless nights all that pain
You looked right through me
I’m sorry, You’re gone
But you’re gone

When hope is nearly lost
Pray with all your strength
You’ll finally do what’s right
Spoke with your eyes closed
Stop bleeding from your head anymore
I saw you dreaming like a child
The devil has you down
Cross the river with your friends
So turn around, and rise into the light

The title track, Blue Ash And Other Suburbs, was written by Trey and from the looks of the song’s listing on Trey.com, it’s an instrumental. Blue Ash is a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Tree was written by UVM alum and Traveler producer Peter Katis along with Burlington resident James Kochalka. James is not only a musician, but he’s also a well-respected comic book artist.

Here’s the lyrics for Tree…

Tree (Katis/Kochalka)

Trees
Shake your leaves
Wave your branches in the air
Tree
Shake your leaves
Wave ‘em like you just don’t care

Cause when the wind blows
We like to party down
Case when the wind blows
Every tree in town
Cause when the wind blows
We like to party down

Me
And all the trees
Me
And the trees
Feel the breeze
Feel the wind
That’s when the party’s gonna begin

Me
And the trees
Feel the wind
Feel the breeze
I just wanna party
like a mighty
Tree

And then there’s Can You See It. Many fans have speculated that the song is related to Traveler’s first single, Scabbard, which features a chorus of “It’s there, can you see it?” The lyrics on Trey.com don’t dispel that theory, although there’s not a comma and question mark in the repeated line “It’s There Can You See It” for the Blue Ash And Other Suburbs track. Here’s the lyrics from Trey.com…

Can You See It (Anastasio)

It’s There Can You See It
It’s There Can You See It
It’s There Can You See It

It’s There Can You See It
It’s There Can You See It
It’s There Can You See It

We can’t wait to hear what these tracks are all about as well as Page McConnell’s new LP.