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Widespread Panic’s legendary stop in Montreal at Club Soda on September 8, 1997 will be featured as the fourth release in the Widespread Panic Archives series that hits stores on

Marco Benevento – Now They’re Writing Music

Phish bassist Mike Gordon and his solo band kicked off their September tour at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last night with a show that included a number of songs

We’ve been fans of David Schultz’s work on Earvolution since he started the site, so we’re honored to welcome him to the Hidden Track team.

In the late Eighties, at the height of the MTV era, Living Colour emerged from New York City and with songs like Cult Of Personality, Which Way To America? and Open Letter (To A Landlord) added their articulate voice to the populist response to the Republican politics of the Reagan/Bush era.

On the strength of Vivid and Time’s Up, Living Colour found themselves in heavy rotation on MTV, on the cover of Rolling Stone and opening up stadium shows for The Rolling Stones on their Steel Wheels tour. Shortly after the 1993 release of Stain, Living Colour abruptly disappeared until lead singer Corey Glover, guitarist Vernon Reid, bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun made their reunion official with a free concert in Central Park in the summer of 2001.

In Reid, Wimbish and Calhoun, Living Colour boasts a lineup in which each can lay a credible claim to being the best at what they do. It takes a charismatic personality to front this group and, in that, Corey Glover has never faltered. One of the more distinctive voices in modern rock, Glover also shines on the stage. He appeared in Oliver Stone’s Oscar winning Platoon and recently spent the last couple years playing Judas in a touring company of Jesus Christ Superstar.

On September 15, Living Colour will release The Chair in the Doorway on Megaforce Records. It will be their fifth studio album and first since 2003’s Collideoscope. Just before Living Colour embarked on their first United States tour in five years, Glover sat for an interview at the band’s rehearsal studio in Brooklyn, New York.

Schultz: Is Living Colour’s recent reemergence more of a reunion or a return?

Glover: It’s more like a return. Even before Collideoscope came out, we’ve been on the road and constantly playing. Every summer, we’ve been in Europe or South America. It was always an idea to keep playing and that was the impetus to keep us going. The Chair In The Doorway was actually made on the road. We did the first half of the record in Sono Studios in the Czech Republic, just outside of Prague.

READ ON for more of David’s chat with Corey Glover…

For the September edition of Track By Track, keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth tells us all about his second release since String Cheese Incident took a break from regular touring in 2007, Then There’s Now.

Due one week from today, Then There’s Now shows off Kyle’s penchant for writing catchy melodies, deep grooves and his ability to mix and match genres from song to song. Also, Hollingsworth welcomes friends Dar Williams, Speech and DJ Logic to add their talents to the new release. Let’s see what Kyle has to say about each Then There’s Now’s nine tracks…

Way That It Goes:
It’s written from the perspective of a bystander, by my wife and myself—she lived in Seattle for a long time and I was living in Boulder, both are kind of freaky towns with some unique individuals. So each verse is speaking about the quirkiness of that moment.

Musically it is intriguing with lots of little sonic treats.

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She:
This tune was created around a groove and a bass line.

Lyrically it is about trying to find inspiration. Sometimes when you’re not ready you can experience the most inspirational moment of your life, and when you sit down and try to make it happen, it can take forever.

READ ON for more from Kyle on Then There’s Now…

Initially created as part of a class project by Appalachian State University student Jimmy Hunt, Music on the Mountaintop has surpassed everyone’s expectations in just two years of existence. Held on a perfectly-angled hillside at an old fairground just outside the charming mountain town of Boone, NC, the one-day music and green living smorgasbord is on the verge of becoming a local institution and another feather in North Carolina’s musical cap.

The efficient, earth-conscious event requires relatively little land space, and the organizers strive and succeeded in making the festival one of the most environmentally considerate in the country. Volunteers combed the grounds all day encouraging garbage gathering and recycling, while a village of eco-conscious organizations and companies greeted the nearly 4,200 attendees upon entry.

Music on the Mountaintop has an impressive musical history for such a young event, and there’s already a legacy of artistry being established via repeat performances from headliners and local favorites alike. Luminaries like Sam Bush, Acoustic Syndicate and Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band have performed at both iterations, helping give the event an air of tradition waiting to take hold. READ ON for more from Bryan on Music On The Mountaintop…