There have been a bunch of ’80s Jerry Garcia Band shows circulating lately, both acoustic and electric. I’ve been digging into 1984, not a year I’m particularly well versed in
Back in October, we spoke with Billy Nershi of the String Cheese Incident about the group’s Hulaween concerts and he broke the news that SCI would throw its own festival
While Phish has famously kept its lineup intact for the past 25 years, guitarist Trey Anastasio has tinkered with the lineup of his solo band frequently since first forming TAB in 1999. Twelve years after that first tour, Anastasio seems to have settled on his ideal ensemble as he returns to the road on Friday in Portland, ME backed the same set of musicians from last year’s TAB tour.
[Photo by Adam Kaufman]
Just as he did on that first tour in 1999, Trey will start things off with an acoustic set before welcoming the rest of his seven-piece band for a full electric set. Reaction from the fans to the tour has been enthusiastic as tickets to 10 of the 12 shows on the run sold out quickly, including the septet’s first-ever west coast dates.
For the next five days, we’ll dedicate one post a day to previewing the upcoming solo jaunt as part of Hidden Track’s Trey Week. Today, we present the first part of our two-part e-mail interview with Anastasio in which Trey shares his thoughts on the current lineup of TAB, the return of the acoustic set, the signs that have popped up at Phish shows and much more…
Hidden Track: The size of your band has constantly grown and retreated over the years, but for this tour you will keep the size of the ensemble at seven pieces as you did in 2010. What was it about the size and composition of this group that made you want to keep the lineup the same for this tour?
Trey Anastasio: That’s a good question. We need a minimum of three voices in the horns if we want arrangements that use any kind of rich chord voicings, (which we do). When the section got up to five horns at one point, it was a big full sound, but it was overpowering the rest of the band a bit. I really don’t feel the need for alto or soprano sax right now. I love throatier, lower, brassier horn sounds.
Russell plays baritone and tenor, Natalie plays trombone and Jennifer trumpet. It’s an ideal combination for three horns. We also needed two female singers, and Jennifer and Natalie sound fantastic together, like sisters. We can cover a lot of territory now with only three people. Russell also doubles – or triples – on flute, and the flute has always worked extremely well in this band. [Anastasio suggests checking out the flute solo on the title track of his 2007 release, The Horseshoe Curve]
The miraculous thing was meeting Natalie last year. It was like the final puzzle piece falling into place. The rest of us have been friends and playing together for many years, and Natalie fit right in, both musically and personally. She is just a wonderful person to spend time with. We all feel really lucky to be playing and traveling with her.
READ ON for more of our chat with Trey Anastasio…
Last night, the National Academy Of Recording Arts & Sciences hosted its 53rd annual Grammy Awards ceremony, handing out trophies in 31 categories ranging from Song Of The Year to Best Hawaiian Music Album to Best Album Notes. While we generally don’t take much stock in who they had hand out awards to, there were a handful of noteworthy performances from last night’s telecast – Cee-Lo dressed like Elton John circa 1973 with The Muppets, Mick Jagger honoring the late Solomon Burke and John Mayer, Norah Jones and Keith Urban paying tribute to Dolly Parton with a cover of Jolene.
HT’s most anticipated performance of the night though was the impressive trifecta of Mumford & Sons, The Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan. The two rising stars of the roots-Americana scene each got to show off just what makes them must see live acts, as Mumford & Sons tore through a raucous version of The Cave, while the Avetts delivered a powerful crescendo building take Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promises. The performance climaxed with both acts backing Dylan for a ramshackle, foot-stomping take on Maggie’s Farm, with Zimmy front and center…
We’d like to congratulate HT faves The Black Keys, Ray LaMontagne, Mavis Staples, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jeff Beck, Paul McCartney and Them Crooked Vultures for taking home Grammys, as well as Arcade Fire, who were the big winners of the night, walking away with Album Of The Year honors.
READ ON for a full list of winners from last night’s ceremony…
While the New Porns went with a fake biopic as the basis of their new music video, The Black Keys upped the ante with their faux-movie trailer inspired clip for
You can always count on Radiohead to buck the trend of spending months promoting the release of a new album. This morning, the British megastars announced that The King of
James Murphy recently announced that LCD Soundsystem would play their final show ever on April 2 at Madison Square Garden. Tickets sold out in literally seconds last Friday leading the
Showroom of Compassion, Cake's newest album, is no exception to this recipe. After a nearly seven year break (Has it really been that long?), McCrea and company have returned with another great—not mind-blowing—but great album. Which is totally fine—in today's "Make A Grand Statement" age, it's nice to know that Cake are still the great little band we've always loved, even if they aren't blowing anyone's minds. This time around, the band did decide to record with 100% solar energy, which is undeniably impressive, but outside of that press release-clogging tidbit, pretty much nothing has changed.
In last night’s Grammys, The Black Keys and Arcade Fire were among many of the big winners, along with many other surprises that included Esperanza Spalding knocking Justin Bieber out
A sold out show means fan support, great marketing, and most importantly – a great artist. It is obvious that Ryan Bingham and his band, The Dead Horses, already have a high level of both fan and industry attention. Their Academy Award win and Grammy nomination for the feature film soundtrack for Crazy Heart, are proof of that, as was this El Rey sell out.
