All Jam Bands Episodes

If you’ve been listening to this podcast for at least a year, you’ll know that we’re big fans of both Devon Allman and Duane Betts, and both have been on the show separately and together since we began. Last summer Duane joined Devon on the road, supporting the Devon Allman project. Things went well, and they collaborated on writing some tunes, recorded them, and got a band together in time for a tour, and today on June 28th, the Allman Betts Band has released their debut album, Down to the River. For more on the Allman Betts Band, visit allmanbettsband.com. 

Next week the band will be releasing their highly anticipated Bring on the Music live at the Capitol Theatre package in various CD and DVD packages. You can check out all the configurations at mule.net. Aside from front man and guitar wizard Warren Haynes, Gov’t Mule is made up of 3 other extremely talented musicians including founding member Matt Abts on drums, Jorgensen Carlsson on bass, and keyboard and frankly multi-instrumentalist Danny Louis. Together this quartet makes genre and mind bending music rooted in blues, hard rock and Americana. Our affinity for this band has been well documented, and we’ve been on the Mule train since day one. So with the release of Bring On the Music forthcoming we thought it would be fun to talk to Danny Louis about not just this awesome musical package, but also about life in Gov’t Mule more generally and indeed the intangible ingredients he brings to the table.

It's been a decade since Perpetual Groove put out a record, and in that time, they've had some line-up juggling, a tour year performance hiatus, and well just general music industry malaise and stuff. But they are back, and their self titled record due out May 17th is everything you'd expect from the guys. We recently caught up with Matt McDonald to talk about the new record, and the bands plans moving forward. For more on Perpetual Groove visit pgroove.net.

As we gear up for this summer’s 10th edition of the the Werkout Festival, being held back in Thornville, Ohio August 1st through 3rd 2019, we wanted to hear more about what the Werks are all about and indeed what they are up to for this event and overall. So we tracked down drummer Rob Chafin and our conversation started when I asked how while they fly below the jamband radar, they still have a huge fan base, and a successful career to this point. Based on what we’ve heard from the Sonder (Encounters) EP we can’t wait for new music from The Werks as well. Their terrific blend of rock, livetronica and funk give us cause to get up and boogie to psychedelic dance music. For more on the Werkout Festival visit werkoutfestival.com and for more on the band check out the werksmusic.com.

It's an interesting time for Dopapod after a year long hiatus. They are set to get back at it, publicly, and on stage April 27th at the Capitol Theatre. We've been following them quite closely and are a fan of their electronic-ish, progrock-ish, jamband sound, so we were excited to hear that the boys were getting back together to make it work once again. I caught up with Rob and Eli a few weeks back, and at the time, the focus was on the April 27th show, and we didn't even know Emit Time was coming out, even though, as you'll soon hear, we poked and prodded for any information. For more info drop in to dopapod.com. 

For those that don't know, or remember, Percy Hill were a band out of New Hampshire who met in 1991 at University studying jazz. They would in fact become part of that neo-jamband 2.0 scene of the 90s, and continued to tour through the oughts. They sort of fell out of the scene for a bit, but came back with some appearances in 2016 and have recently recorded at least one new song Great White Shark, which we totally dig. They do have plans to record more and tour a bit. We sat down with three members of Percy Hill recently, Aaron Katz, Yahuba Garcia and Joe Farrell. Our conversation started when I asked what prompted getting back in the studio to record "Great White Shark". You can follow their story at percyhillmusic.com a site which is being renovated. You can also follow them on Facebook for more up to date information.

For the uninitiated, Electric Beethoven is a project initiated by Reed Mathis, a west coast bass playing legend, who thought it would be interesting to improvise over Beethoven’s work. While Mathis has been involved in several projects the last few years, I get the impression, this one, is the most meaningful to him. So it’s with that sentiment that I was intrigued to hear that Electric Beethoven was releasing new material on a new label Color Red. In fact the plan is to release new songs once a month until an entire new record is ready. So it’s with that renewed interest in the project, that I caught up with the fascinating and talented Reed Mathis. It’s all very exciting, and we’re pretty excited for this month’s new release on March 12th. You can get all the details on this ongoing project at reedmathis.com or at color-red.co.

We go back to 1968 in today’s episode with a central figure in Grateful Dead mythology, a member of the groups road crew, Big Steve Parish. Of course, if you’re any sort of historian on the Grateful Dead you are very aware of Steve’s place and role within the band. As you’ll soon hear, he not only was on the crew, but served as Jerry Garcia’s road tech, bodyguard, and eventual manager of the Jerry Garcia Band. Steve has a regular show on SiriusXM’s Grateful Dead channel, “Big Steve Hour”, and he is taking that storytelling format on the road, for more fun and frivolity. This guy loves the road. For dates and more visit bigstevehour.com.

Guitarist Steve Kimock has long toiled in the jamband scene, with bands like Zero, KVHW, Ratdog, and as hired gun playing with virtually a who’s who of this scene and others. His son, John Morgan though a drummer is following in Dad’s footsteps now, playing mostly with Mike Gordon but also dabbling in a few other bands like Oteil & Friends and of course with dad in Kimock. The Kimocks will be playing a series of shows in Alaska this week, but before they left, we caught up with the pair to talk about releasing new music, playing with several different people and more. For more on what Steve et al are up to, visit kimock.com.

You no doubt have heard the buzz not just in the larger community for Ghost Light, but from us here at The Sound Podcast. The quintet, made up of Tom Hamilton Jr., Raina Mullen, Holly Bowling, Steve Lyons and Scotty Zwang is exciting to all our ears, because it offers up something completely different than anything currently in our consciousness. So when we hear something fresh and exciting, well, yeah, we’re psyched. Up until now, Ghost Light’s music, in one form another has only been available through live performance. So this is a band, who’s fandom is totally built on word of mouth, and the reputation of its members. Frankly, they probably didn’t need to put out a record in a world of singles, and streaming services, but we are so glad that they have. I caught up with Tom Hamilton Jr. in Madison, WI, on tour with that other monster band he’s in Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, to talk about Best Kept Secrets, Ghost Light and a bunch more. You’ll definitely want to pre-order Best Kept Sec…

What’s so remarkable about our scene is how many musicians are part of it, that we don’t unfortunately readily know. Like other genres or other scenes, or indeed in life, there are those that toil in near obscurity, honing their craft, and occasionally making “big league” appearances. Such is the case for Marcus Rezak who has played with a list of jamband scene types that is too long to list here. In fact because Marcus is such a phenomenal player, who’s style is hard to define much like his hero’s Frank Zappa, we thought it might be interesting to catch up with him and learn more about his record Gateway to the Galaxy and all the various projects he is in.To learn more about Marcus Rezak, all his gigs, and news from the various bands he plays in, visit marcusrezak.com.

Back in September of last year we sat down with Mike and Dave from Aqueous on Episode 134 to talk about their album Color Wheel. It was their first in many years, and they were both really excited about their work on the record and were eager to go out and play their new material. Some 6 months later they released a compendium of live versions of Color Wheel songs, as part of the Element compilation series. While live shows have been available through nugs.net, this third volume of Elements showcases their favorite live versions of Color Wheel tracks. We caught up with Mike Gantzer on the road, to talk about the release of Element 3, the Color Wheel tour and more. For more on Element III, Color Wheel, tour dates and more, visit aqueousband.com.

We’ve been big fans of Galactic dating back to 1998 and Crazy Horse Mongoose. They’ve always been a band that’s hard to describe blending New Orleans funk with R&B, soul, rock and several other sounds. In fact it’s almost impossible. What we appreciate most, aside from the music though, is the ambassadorship for New Orleans this band has taken on, no matter where they go, or what they do. They not only share the passion for the music from that town, but they’ve put their name behind the notion of curating music from all around North America with their recent acquisition of the famed Tipitina’s. With Already Ready Already Galactic continues to push both music boundaries while maintaining a very authentic funk sound. Stanton Moore the drummer of the band, who himself comes with a great degree of pedigree and prowess has always been one of our favorite personalities in the scene. Luckily we had the opportunity to chat with him about Already Ready Already, and way more. You can check out…

I’ve had a chance to listen to the forthcoming Signs from the Tedeschi Trucks Band, multiple times, and it’s definitely eclectic and very strong. Their fourth album might be their finest collection of tunes to date. It’s a deeply personal album, and this band, has been through quite a bit the last few years…. The album is dedicated to Col. Bruce Hampton, and when our conversation started with Derek Trucks, I asked if tragedy, loss, and change, ultimately fuels the fire to make inspired music, full of hope, celebration and love. You can pre-order Signs in various configurations with cool swag at tedeschitrucksband.com where you will also find upcoming tour dates.

Truthfully until The Higgs reached out We had no idea about them, or their sound. Since then we’ve listened to whatever music we could find, and have been impressed with what we’ve heard. Their jams have purpose and their more slightly less goofy songs are well written. We recently caught up with The Higgs frontman John Lovero and our conversation started when I asked him to take us back to how it all started. You can learn more about The Higgs by visiting thehiggsmusic.com, or following them on social media where they are quite active.

We’ve all been listening to the Disco Biscuits forever. We always keep an eye out for Marc Brownstein’s work, since we appreciate his work on bass, and he has similar taste in music. So when we read that he started this new project called Star Kitchen, a Funk type thing, we were jonesing to hear exactly what was going on. Luckily there is some music floating around, and we’re fortunate that tapers like Eric McRoberts who make awesome live recordings was at Stageone in Fairfield, Connecticut to catch Star Kitchen last week. Once we heard the music, we had to get Brownie on the line, to ask what was going on with Star Kitchen.

It would be nearly impossible for me or the rest of the team to be aware of every band out there that somehow in some way fits into the community of music we bring you. So it’s nice when a band reaches out to us to tell about their project and what they are up to. We can’t feature all of them on the show, but there was something about The Alpine Camp that really intrigued us. Probably the blend of musicianship, song writing and fun, that caught our attention.

Scott Metzger is like crazy busy. Aside from the Showdown Kids, he has own trio Wolf! that plays surf/soundtrack rock, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, and like 4 other projects that he appears with. His 2018 could be an entry on its own in Wikipedia under Jam Bands. Truth is, Scott is supremely talented and thats why he either wants to play with other musicians or gets too because well, as soon you’ll soon hear, everyone loves playing with the guy. We caught up with Scott to reflect on 2018 and hear about his upcoming plans for 2019.

While I’m not generally a Jamtronica fan, when Frames Per Second hit my inbox I gave it several spins before reaching out to the Lotus team to get someone on the show. Actually, Frames Per Second was somewhat of a surprise for fans of this band, since they released it without the typical fan fare, build up, or hype that is assumed for new releases. I caught up with Luke Miller to talk about the new record and their plans for 2019. For more on Lotus check out lotusvibes.com.

John Kadlecik has been on the show before and we always enjoy welcoming such a talented guy. We were absolutely blown away by his new solo record On The Road, not only because of the tunes but because the time and care John put into tracking the record. The whole record is tremendous, and I would encourage you to grab it at johnkmusic.net.

Way, way, way back in the day, I was obsessed with a band from Vermont called…. Strangefolk. There was something at the time that I really dug about the gentile voices of the singers, the great playing and indeed the messages of the songs. I felt their sound was a throw back to other sounds I was digging at the time, like American Beauty from The Grateful Dead and Music from the Big Pink from The Band. It was 1997 as I recall, and I was a tie-dyed, Jew-Fro hippy, and I sought music that none of my classmates knew or cared about. I would read Relix, to learn more about The Grateful Dead, Phish, and once in a while, new bands like Strangefolk. I kept an eye on them, but they would eventually break up. Reid would later emerge as a solo artist and then founded Assembly of Dust. This is all to say, that this guy, no matter what else is going on in his life, is a musician, a very talented one. I’m fortunate some 21 years later, to reminisce with some of my favorite musicians and bring their…

California Kind is a jam band super group from the Bay Area in California mostly. The sounds and playing may all sound vaguely familiar, since their sound in many ways, is reminiscent of other San Francisco based jam bands. More to the point though, this super group comprised of Katie Skene along with Barry Sless, Pete Sears, John Molo and friend of the show Rob Barraco all have been stalwarts of the psychedelic, jam band scene forever. Together they make beautiful music, that you no doubt will enjoy. Katie is the young lead vocalist of the troupe, who all take this project very seriously. In fact, each time that I met Rob during the summer at DSO shows, he mentioned this pet project. He told me that he was having an amazing time playing with this group. So it was quite a treat to sit down with Katie Skene to learn more about her specifically and about how the California Kind project came together and their plans for the future.

Keller is one of those guys we’ve been dying to have on the show, because he is so unique in his musical approach, while performing so many different types of music. He is an artist in the truest sense of the word, and we’re always impressed when we see him play, or hear what he has to offer the community. We were particularly intrigued by his latest effort, an album, without words, and for an artist that has a lot to say, well, its quite the feat. While some of the work on Sans is a rework of some of older material, the album, is very fresh and exciting. With a packed tour ahead and lots of great music on board, you’ll want to check out kellerwillams.net.

Been So Long is the title of Jorma’s recent autobiography available from St. Martin’s Press. The memoir is filled with delicious stories from this one time Jefferson Airplane guitarist, who now, 77 years young continues to perform with his pal Jack Casady in Hot Tuna, and as a soloist. Jorma’s life is fascinating and his anecdotes match the great stories of his very early days to more contemporary ones. I should mention that we recorded this interview, a week before Jefferson Airplane co-founder Marty Balin’s passing. I can tell you, that he was exuberant to talk about his book and story even before we started to record. You can learn more about Jorma at his website, which also houses his blog at jormakaukonen.com.