With a handful of new deals and several high-profile live projects planned, Sanctuary Records is positioning itself as a major player in the burgeoning jam band scene. The New York-based label, which recently issued new albums by Widespread Panic and the Allman Brothers Band, has inked deals with Blues Traveler and Ween, and is in discussions with Galactic and G. Love & Special Sauce.
In addition, Sanctuary is preparing live CDs and DVDs capturing last weekend’s Bonnaroo festival and last fall’s third annual jam-band awards show, the Jammys.
The label will on Aug. 19 release its third album collecting live performances from Bonnaroo, which featured performances from Neil Young, the Dead, and James Brown. The double-disc set will be followed by a DVD in October. “We’re trying to capture the momentum of the festival itself,” says VP of marketing Cory Brennan, explaining the album’s rush release.
Last year, Sanctuary issued a two-disc set and a DVD chronicling the 2002 inaugural Bonnaroo. Earlier this year, the label issued yet another album of Bonnaroo performances, the single-disc “Live From Bonnaroo, Vol. 2,” featuring cuts by lesser-known artists that performed on the smaller stages at the first festival.
Sanctuary’s two-disc Jammys set is slated to arrive in October, although a track list has not yet been nailed down. A DVD will be issued in tandem with the album. Held Oct. 2, 2002, the seven-hour show featured performances by Trey Anastasio, the Allman Brothers Band, the Dead’s Bob Weir and his band Ratdog and many more.
On Aug. 5, the label issues new sets from Ween (“Quebec”) and Blues Traveler (“Truth Be Told”). Both artists were signed to the label in the past few months.
The label hopes to secure a deal with G. Love & Special Sauce soon. Frontman Garrett Dutton has more than 40 songs from which to pick from for his next, as-yet-untitled set, according to his management. The group recently parted ways with Epic after nearly 10 years.
Galactic is now mixing its next effort, which was produced by Dan “The Automator” Nakamura. Over the past year, Sanctuary has worked in tandem with the group’s management, New Orleans-based Superfly Productions, creator of the Bonnaroo festivals.
Over the past year, Sanctuary has also signed deals with Tricky, Morrissey, Kiss, Robert Cray and such lesser known acts as Buddahead and 4-Way Street.
Source Billboard.com.
