All Jam Bands Episodes

The funk band Lettuce have been out on the road and will continue to be all Summer and Fall so I wanted to catch up with someone from the band to talk about their latest release Unify, working with the great Bootsy Collins, the band’s trip to Europe in the Fall and much more. Luckily we caught up with drummer Adam Deitch to talk about it all. First song: Keep that Funk Alive (ft. Bootsy Collins) Second song: Waffles See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s incredibly difficult to describe the awesome music Dopapod makes. Is it rock, funk, progressive rock? I honestly have no clue anymore and the forthcoming self titled release the band’s 7th is a pot pourri of sonic goodness. This new album due out a May 27th has been in the works for a while now, probably dating back to when the band came off their self imposed layoff that ended in late April of 2019. Needless to say, the COVID pandemic created another break but at that point the band was al...

Entering their third decade now, Railroad Earth have solidified their position in the jam world as a Bluegrass tinged Americana outfit. With their notoriety and hustle, also sadly came change in 2018 with the passing of founding member Andy Goessling. So when they went to make their new record, All for the Song due out April 22nd, they headed to New Orleans and recruited singer songwriter and producer Anders Osborne to help at the dials. I caught up with drummer Carey Harmon to talk about the ma...

You gotta dig everything about Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. They are fun, have amazing shows and are supremely talented. Though their music is based in funk, they explore a lot more sonic territory in what seems like an effortless way. Like many of the bands in our community, the pandemic meant the Pigeons were grounded for almost two years. The band though used the time to create more great music and have just released their 6th album, Perspective. So I caught up with frontman Greg Ormont and gui...

Back in the summer of 2021 The Greyboy Allstars decided to create a four part series of live music they made available via stream on nugs.net ; Soul Dream. On April 1st they’re releasing Get a Job: Music from the Original Broadcast Series Soul Dream a 10 song set of some of the tunes they performed for that live event. The record specifically features covers which have all been part of the quintet’s live repertoire but never before available on any official release. I caught up with guitar wiz ...

Even during the pandemic Spafford managed to play some dates including one of the first drive-in shows, but aside from a recent fall tour, for the most part things have been relatively quiet for the boys. At least professionally. On the heels of releasing a live compilation of tunes recording on the road in 2020 called Hindsight, Spafford opened their late winter early spring tour in Colorado last week and we were due for update. First song: Fünkenseven Second song: Radio See omnystudio.com/list...

Get Yourself Outside is Yonder Mountain Strinband’s latest release, their first since 2017s “Love. Ain’t Love”. Since that time, there has been a personnel change, a global pandemic, and a coming of age for a band that has been at the bluegrass, jamgrass thing for over two decades. I caught up with Adam Ajala and newest member Nick Piccininni to talk about the new record and more. First song: If Only Second song: Into The Fire See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If there is a silver lining to what has been a very difficult couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s likely all the great music that’s been made by some of our favorite musicians and bands. In fact, some bands like the Infamous Stringdusters took that concept to the extreme, with each member contributing a solo project and album. With the release of band’s last album Toward the Fray, out today, we’ve noticed a culmination of all of the work the guys have put in individually and colle...

Earlier this year, Dead & Company drummer Bill Kreutzmann had to bow out of the band's performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Filling the kit so to speak was noted and accomplished drummer Jay Lane. So just who is Jay Lane. Well, to start with, the San Francisco native has been drumming since the tender age of nine while attending the Blue Bear School of Music in San Francisco. Since then, he has gone on to great acclaim performing first with several local now defunct bands, but then with the l...

Tom Hamilton Jr. recently MORE! Live from the Ballroom a 6 song set that you have to hear. This project isn't a new one for Tom Hamilton Jr. of Ghost Light, Lacuna and Joe Russo's Almost Dead, but instead a rebirth if you will, as he reassembled members of the original Brothers Past line-up to jam in his newly minted studio nicknamed the Ballroom. I sat down with Tom to get the skinny on MORE! and as per usual with Tom, our conversation went everywhere... First song: Silent Lady, Artful Dodger S...

As this pandemic and it’s multiple waves hopefully slowly wind down, we’re finding out what artists in our community have been up to. Aside from zoom performances and playing small acoustic gigs, Rob Derhak of moe., was quietly creating an album of songs commissioned by fans. The 8 song collection is very different from what you’d imagine the moe. bassist would be a part of, so we tracked him down to talk about “Songs for Other People” and a few other things on our mind. See omnystudio.com/liste...

If you know Winnipeg, Manitoba, the thought of that city producing an instrumental psychedelic jazz infused rock band is pretty crazy. Located in central Canada, Winnipeg is generally known for two things; cold winters and buggy summers. It was where Neil Young got his start and where The Guess Who began their iconic careers but those are rock artists, not Psychadelic Jam Bands. So when I heard that ostensibly a Jam Band born out of the tundra of Winnipeg were releasing their third EP A Relatio...

Lacuna, is as much an ambient LP as it is a journey into raw improvisation from pianist Holly Bowling and guitarist Tom Hamilton Jr.. Sure, tracks on this new LP from the Ghost Light band mates could certainly be featured on one of your meditation apps, but in truth, these jams are far more exciting as a distinct piece of music that came together organically. You see Holly was visiting Philadelphia last summer while pregnant with her first child. With Tom’s new studio The Ballroom just recently ...

Explaining The Slip and their sound is quite frankly near impossible. They are a trio made up of Brad Barr on guitar, drummer Andrew Barr and bassist Marc Friedman. In simplest terms, they are an avant-rock outfit that’s been playing music since 1996 in this configuration. But please don’t let that label fool you. like many of their contemporaries, they are a genreless band. The Slip, were a big part of the Jam Band scene in the late 90s and early 00s and have long been considered favorites of t...

For the next album, Gov’t Mule have produced their first real blues record, Heavy Load Blues arriving on-line and in store November 12 on Fantasy records. It’s a 13 track masterpiece with both Warren Haynes penned originals and a bunch of great cover songs, which Mule have of course transformed and turned into their own. While the record isn’t out for another few weeks, I caught up with the frontman of Gov’t Mule, Warren Haynes to talk about the record, how it came to be and what’s next for the ...

Just a few weeks ago, Larkin Poe and Nu Deco Ensemble released the collaborative effort Paint the Roses (Live in Concert) The pairing is an interesting one with roots rock sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe being joined by members of the Nu Deco Ensemble, an orchestra led by conductor Jacomo Bairos and Artistic Director Sam Hyken. Together the larger ensemble performed songs from Larkin Poe’s 2020 release Self Made Man and a few other tunes in December of 2020 in Miami. I sat down w...

Little Feat are, without a doubt one of the pioneering bands of the jam band scene. They’ve managed to keep going after key personnel have passed, and remain one of the most influential bands in rock music. The list of bands they’ve influenced is too many to list. Their style is unique, their sound a blend of many genres, and their performances, legendary. So it was with great pleasure that I was able to catch up with founding member Bill Payne to talk about the band in its current formation and...

Like you, we’ve been following the Midnight North story for a while now. For the uninitiated though,they are a roots rock Americana quartet out of the Bay Area. While there have been personnel changes over the years, the constants have been Grahame Lesh, Elliott Peck and Conner O’Sullivan who have been joined more recently by Nathan Graham. I purposely didn’t mention what each member contributes to the fabric of the band, because they all play a part in vocals and instruments besides their main ...

Umphrey's McGee’s forthcoming record is entitled “You Walked Up Shaking in Your Boots but You Stood Tall and Left a Raging Bull” and is due out July 17th. The instrumental album features 12 walk up or intro song the band has played, but now the tunes are codified and more structured. These are the sorts of projects you get to work on during a pandemic when the band can barely play or meet. I was and still am quite curious about what the band was up to the last 18 months. So when I sat down with...

While many touring musicians found the pandemic a great time to chill out, spend time with family and re-charge, Reed Mathis was busy as we’ve already in part 1 of our interview with him. In part two we explore all the projects he worked on, including a solo album and a great experience in Hawaii with Billy & The Kids for Bill Kreutmann’s birthday. First Song: 00:14: Looking West Interview Begins: 06:28 Extro Song: 43:12: The Ladder See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Winterwood out now on Royal Potato Records and available wherever you stream music, is one of the latest releases from Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. What’s interesting though, is this album was buried and not even thought of since 2008. It’s an interesting story how this album and an additional 4 live albums have come to life. In fact, one could argue that if it weren’t for the global pandemic of the past year and a half, they may not have ever seen the light of day. I caught up with Reed Mathis, JFJ...

It’s not terribly shocking that a band like the Infamous Stringdusters would go back to their roots, and put together a compilation of Bill Monroe tunes. I get it, he’s the founder of Bluegrass, and they are part of the group that is carrying the torch forward. What is confusing though, is that Monroe was a mandolin player, and the Dusters are without a mandolin player, opting for other cool instruments like the dobro and fiddle. I mean being a quintet is limiting. At any rate, a Tribute to Bill...

Marcus Rezak is a classic rock n' roll cowboy. A man out on the plains, a gunslinger, well in this case, guitar slinger, with dreams, ambitions, and tons of talent. You know his name because of all the guest appearances he does on the Jam Band scene most notably with Umphrey's McGee. Aside from being an artist-at-large, Rezak also fronts Shred is Dead a Grateful Dead tribute band, and is a member of Digital Tape Machine and many other little bands. He does however take time to carve out solo rec...

Magic Beans are a different kind of modern jam band. Aside from blending funk, soul and electronica, they even blend bluegrass into the mix. They recently released Slice of Life, a 14 track double record which gives a very clear audio indication of who this band is. The record was made over the pandemic during the slow down of touring. I sat down with guitarist Scott Hachey to discuss the new album and our conversation started when I asked how excited the band was about this new material… First ...