In case you haven’t noticed there appears to be a resurgence in popularity of artists who are put into the jam band bucket lately. A term that once held a negative connotation to hipsters and casual music fans, “jam band” has gained a new perspective as a crop of young and old fans discover acts like Circles Around the Sun (CATS) and welcome them to the fold. The band made their second stop of their spring tour at Austin’s famed Antone’s Nightclub Saturday, April 27th to a nearly sold-out audience.
For those who are not yet aware, Circles Around the Sun was formed in 2015 to perform music between sets during the Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well tour. Naturally they found their own audience and kept the train running after the tour ended after the overwhelming response they received.
Led by Chris Robinson Brotherhood members Neal Casal (guitar) and Adam MacDougall (keys), the group creates Dead-inspired jams reminiscent of the interplay by the late Jerry Garcia and keyboard players Melvin Seals and Merle Saunders, who both performed with him as part of the Jerry Garcia Band. The pair are joined by bassist Dan Horne and drummer Mark Levy. Their band chemistry is unmistakable. These musicians should be performing together.
Saturday evening’s performance featured songs from their latest record, Let It Wander, which took over three years to record and produce after the release of their debut album in 2016. With a collection of long-format songs, the average CATS performance may include only a half-dozen songs as they’re often jams that stretch out around 15 to 20 minutes.
The setlist Saturday evening included likely their most well-known track, “One for Chuck,” from last year’s follow up record. The reference is to Chuck D of Public Enemy, who happened to be at Castaway 7 Studios in Ventura while they were recording the song. His reaction was surprising to the band.
“When the track was over, he [Chuck D] said: ‘You guys are real, organic musicians. You can’t be replaced. Don’t ever forget that.’ It was amazing to get that kind of encouragement from an artist we all love. We asked him to record an intro for the song and he was kind enough to do it. That’s how the song got its name.”
Not only did the legendary Chuck D like the track, all the fans at Antone’s (which may have included the bulk of the local Deadhead community) freaked out at hearing the first strains of the song, which includes a voiceover from the man himself introducing the tune. The recording is much more restrained than the live version, which felt like an honest-to-god dance freak-out. People were bobbing and moving along to the music at a frenetic pace.
Casal noticed, mentioning after the song, “Looks like you get the point, we’re here to make people dance.” He looked pleased at the audience response and later let fans know it was “Our first time in Texas. Seems like it’s going well,” with a hint of a smile on his face.
All photos by Stephen Olker.
