November 8, 2010

HT’s Dan Alford continues his look back at the Phil Lesh Quintet in which the Grateful Dead bassist was joined by John Molo, Rob Barraco, Warren Haynes and Jimmy Herring. Part One looked at the unit’s start in 2000, Part Two looked at the group’s rise in 2001, Part Three looked at the peak of 2002, while today’s finale looks at the group’s final days…

In the fall of 2002, Phil, Bobby, Billy and Mickey joined forces for another incarnation The Other Ones – featuring Jimmy Herring, Rob Barraco, Jeff Chimenti and Susan Tedeschi on backing vocals, playing arena-sized venues with some excellent results, but they were just getting started.

In the late spring of the following year, the group resurfaced with a new vocalist, a new name and a new confidence with the material. Joan Osborne may have seemed an odd choice initially, but in fact she was a denizen of The Wetlands in the early nineties, a road warrior in her own right and Americana soul singer of the first order. Plus, she didn’t hesitate for a second, jumping right into the fray and leaving a mark on the music; like others before and after, Sugaree became her show piece, and her Joan Moan became a staple of the spacey interludes.

• Phil Lesh Quintet: Year One, Year Two, Year Three

The group churned out plenty of killer music on its summer tour, including an especially great gig in Hartford, a slew of Dylan sit-ins across the Midwest, and a pair of nights at Jones Beach that boasted acoustic sets. But the band also kept the PLQ off the road until the fall of 2003 when the group returned for its final 20 dates. READ ON for more on the Phil Lesh Quintet ’03…

Last week, we hit on a few of the highest profile Halloween shows, most notably Phish and their Little Feat musical costume, but this week we wanted to tie in some of our other faves from around the scene and highlight some of their musical excursions outside the norm. Across the live music landscape, Halloween has essentially become synonymous with cover tunes, so we thought we’d dump out our collective pillow case filled with musical treats and have ourselves a taste.

Lotus – Iron Man, Roseland Theater, Portland, OR,  10/30/2010

Quickly becoming one of the most festive young bands to go big for Halloween, Lotus kept up the Halloween spirit for two nights this year as they worked in a whole slew of video game tunes on Halloween night, but also treated fans to a Headbanger’s Ball on the 30th as they celebrated the 40th anniversary of Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album. Get a load of this monster rendition of the ultimate Sabbath song, Iron Man.

READ ON for more goodies from Halloween shows…

The Drive-By Truckers continue their prolific as fuck ways with today’s announcement that the sextet will release a new album titled Go-Go Boots on February 15th via ATO Records. You

The Mike Gordon Band spent the last few days in California, where the group kicked off a month-long tour with a pair of sold-out shows and a free performance at the historic corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco.

On Saturday at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, Mike and his solo band tore through a number of songs from his recently released Moss album as well as cover debuts from the likes of Tower of Power (Down to the Nightclub), David Essex (Rock On), Little Feat (Sailin’ Shoes) and a new tune called I Miss My Mind plus an intense version of the GRAB-era chestnut Suskind Hotel.

Sunday found the ensemble moving up the coast to San Francisco for the previously mentioned free show – where the MGB performed five originals – and a sold out gig at The Independent. Cactus busted out his band’s version of Lit O Bit – a Rita Clarke & The Naturals song that Phish performed at Great Woods back in June – and debuted The Void off of Moss as part of the two set performance.

READ ON for Mike Gordon Band setlists and videos…

Conan O’Brien will launch his new TBS late-night show tonight at 11PM with some help from his old friend Jack White, who will serve as the musical guest for the