:: Oskar Blues :: CD Release show ::

:: June 11 ::

:: Gold Hill Inn :: CD Release show ::

:: June 12 ::

:: Lefthand Brewery ::

:: June 14 ::

:: Louisville Summer Concert Series ::

:: June 25 ::

:: Draft House (Boulder) ::

:: June 28 ::

By Joe Kovack

Kort McCumber has been musically reborn. Again.

The Colorado-by-way-of-Florida based singer/songwriter has, for years, been turning out bluegrass tinged Americana, but with his latest album, Aint the Same as Before, McCumber takes a hard left from the style of his last few albums toward a more rock and blues-fueled one. But that’s just McCumber, throwing away his preconceptions of what his music should sound like, and letting his songwriting dictate its fate.

“This is my seventh record, sixth solo record and I put out a DVD in 2007,” McCumber said in a recent interview with The Marquee. “So I’ve done a lot since my start in 2000 and each one was cut a little different. The early ones, I cut everything separately, but the last three records I cut my guitars and vocals together for a more live feel. This time I wanted the rhythm section and my stuff cut live, and it was super rewarding to pull that off. Being able to work with seasoned musicians who after about two or three takes and it was done was really impressive, to be able to create that in a studio setting was really rewarding.”

Born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Kort McCumber began his musical career by studying classical piano and cello from his mother. Though temporarily leaving the pursuit of music and following in his father’s and uncle’s footsteps as a Division I NCAA golfer, the love of music never fully left.

Having moved to Nashville early in 2000, it was after attending the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival in Lyons, Colo., McCumber realized it wasn’t golf that was his passion, it was playing and creating his own brand of music. On his website, McCumber states that he didn’t choose to become a musician, rather it was the music that chose him. And it was his love of playing and the naturalness of it that kept that fire alive. Living and playing in Nashville, he realized that his true potential wouldn’t be reached in “Music City,” but rather in the mountains of Colorado, where a few of his respected contemporaries were playing their diverse brand of folk and Americana to more receptive fans.

“I loved the music community out here; I loved the camaraderie about it.  I wanted to be a working musician, and in Nashville I was only playing a few gigs a month while working odd jobs. But what I wanted to do was play 15 to 20 shows a month, and when I came out here I was able to find a large number of great little mountain towns that were open to my kind of music,” said McCumber.

In 2003 McCumber moved to Gold Hill just outside Boulder, for good, following his dreams to be engrossed in these majestic mountains and to be a part of an eclectic musical region. “I’m such a fan of being in the mountains and not really being in big cities, and being in the mountains and in the remote has had a positive influence on my writing,” said McCumber.  “But what really affected me was that the musicians out here wanted to be here —wanted to play music here. And the audience here is so open to genre-mixing, where as in Nashville you almost have to stick to the more traditional formulas.”

A talented multi-instrumentalist, McCumber plays everything from guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica and piano in his brand of Americana that’s one part rock and blues, two parts country-bluegrass and all parts McCumber. But it is his songwriting abilities that have made him a Colorado favorite, and garnered him national and international recognition. A winner of last year’s Flat Rocks Festival Songwriting Competition in North Carolina and a finalist in this year’s International Songwriting Competition, McCumber has been humbled and inspired by the achievements, which only adds to his passion for touring and sharing his music with every town he visits.

Playing roughly 175 shows a year across the country, McCumber posts about 40,000 miles to his odometer annually, and is no stranger to the pleasures and perils of the road. “There’s so many things that happen. There’s breakdowns, accidents, but the great thing about touring is you get to meet a lot of great people and a lot of great musicians that I’ve been able to stay in touch with, and that has ended up shaping my music as well,” he said.

On June 11 at Oskar Blues in Lyons, Colo., McCumber will be celebrating the eighth anniversary of his first show in Colorado, which not coincidently was at Oskar Blues — fitting that it will also be a CD release party for his latest. The show is just one of many that McCumber will be playing in the next few weeks, and that’s the way he likes it. “Touring and being a tour musician is something I love to do, and my goal is to do it for a long time” he said. “I feel really lucky to live in Colorado and have this community of musicians and listeners, and to be around it is pretty special.”

:: Kort McCumber ::
:: Oskar Blues :: CD Release show ::
:: June 11 ::

:: Gold Hill Inn :: CD Release show ::
:: June 12 ::

:: Lefthand Brewery ::
:: June 14 ::

:: Louisville Summer Concert Series ::
:: June 25 ::

:: Draft House (Boulder) ::
:: June 28 ::

Recommended if you Like:
• Todd Snider
• Peter Rowan
• Brett Dennen

Dave Matthews Band

Live At Mile High Music Festival

RCA

3 out of 5

Let’s get something straight: Dave Matthews Band is not a jam band. They are a rock band and their fans mistakenly categorize them as a jam band. Their live jams are structured and there is very little real “band” improvisation going on anymore.

Ask any hardcore DMB fan and they will tell you exactly when the solos are coming and how they will end. I was a pretty big fan back in the 1990s. I saw my fair share of shows and still have a place in my heart for the group. I was at this show and it is always nice to have an official CD copy of a show you attended. However, this 3-disc set is a rock band, delivering more of the same.

Nothing really new here, except for two new cover songs which include a note-for-note rendition of Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” Sly & The Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” and “So Damn Lucky” from Matthews’ solo release, Some Devil. Every other song has appeared on an official Dave Matthews live release and a staggering 11 of the album’s 21 songs were just released on Live At Piedmont Park last year.

Recorded on July 20, 2008 in Commerce City, CO as the closing set of the inaugural Mile High Music Festival, this 3-disc, 2-1/2 hour, multi-tracked set truly does sound amazing. This is clearly the best sounding live Dave Matthews Band release since 1999’s Listener Supported, although crowd noise can be a bit high in the mix at times for my taste.

Live At Mile High Music Festival is the first DMB release without saxophonist Leroi Moore, who died this past August, and the first to feature saxophonist Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck & The Flecktones), who stepped in for Moore after he was killed in an ATV accident.

I am a dear member of the Leroi Moore fan club (he was one of my favorite members of the band) and while at this show and in listening to the CDs I must say: Moore is dearly missed. Yes, Coffin has chops and yes, he is a very technical player, but a certain amount of slickness is added to the band’s sound with Coffin’s tone. Just listen to his synthesized saxophone solo at the end of “#41”; I would rather listen to a Moore saxophone solo any day.

The band also features guitarist Tim Reynolds — who stepped in after keyboardist Butch Taylor unexpectedly left the band — and Rashawn Ross on trumpet. Reynolds takes his fair share of solo duties and turns in some fine solos on “Proudest Monkey” and “You Might Die Trying.” I don’t really know what happened in his solo at the end of “Jimi Thing,” but let’s just say things were obviously uninspired as he simply reverted to playing as many notes as possible over the grumbling groove.

Highlights of the set include the aforementioned cover songs, “You Might Die Trying,” a 14-minute “Two Step,” and an interpolation of The Flecktones’ “Sojurn of Arjuna” in “#41.”

Dave Matthews Band has made their name on constant touring and their high energy concerts. Simply put, they are one of the biggest touring bands in the world. I just wish they’d take more time off to write songs and give the fans a steady batch of studio albums (their last was released over three years ago). I am sure fans who were at this show will love this recording. For the fans who weren’t there, you didn’t miss much.

— Jonathan Keller

Phish

At The Roxy

Jemp Records

4.5 out of 5

Having been on hiatus for the better part of four years, Phish has released their fair share of archived live recordings through their Live Phish and their Live Downloads series during the break.

But the just-released 8-CD boxed set, At The Roxy, is easily one of the better releases thus far and deserves to be part of any jam head’s collection.

Recorded over a three-show run at The Roxy Theater in Atlanta, Georgia from February 19 to February 21, 1993, these six sets clearly show a band in transition — honing their improvisational skills which would soon guide them into arenas. If the late 1990s saw Phish bring the heavy funk, the early 1990s were clearly an improvisational extravaganza.

Take Disc Five for example, which is the second set from the February 20 show. Phish plays a staggering 18 songs which all seamlessly transition from one to the other and back again — over 60 minutes of non-stop music. The first half of the set is anchored by “Tweezer,” the middle floats in and out of “Mike’s Song,” and the end of the set uses “Weekapaug Groove” as its launching point.

While the February 20, second show, is clearly the highlight of the boxed set (it probably could have been released on its own as a Live Phish release and is rated as a Phan Pick #3 in The Pharmer’s Almanac), the other two shows still hold their own.

The February 19, first show (which was on John Fishman’s 28th birthday), features a 15-minute “David Bowie > Moby Dick > David Bowie” and also features a guest appearance by Jimmy Herring (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Phil & Friends, Widespread Panic) at the end of the second set on “Funky Bitch,” “My Sweet One,” “Hold Your Head Up” and “Llama.”

The February 21, third show, is pretty typical of the era with a 12-minute “Run Like An Antelope” and 11-minute “Lizards,” however, the guest appearance of banjoist Jeff Mosier (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Blueground Undergrass) throws quite a loop into the four-song encore. The band turns into a bluegrass band as they plow through Led Zeppelin’s “Good Times, Bad Times” into “Paul & Silas > Pig In A Pen.”

If anything, At The Roxy is a snapshot of a growing band that had just reached their first peak of improvisational creativity. As many Phish fans know, there would be many more moments in the years to come.

— Jonathan Keller

Johnny Cash

Remixed

Compadre Records

1.5 out of 5 stars

What a shame and what a waste!

As Johnny Cash’s famous Folsom Prison concerts turned 40 this year, coupled with the obvious boost in popularity from the Walk The Line film, Cash releases have been dropping like crazy. Of all of them however, this could be the worst.

The concept of this album (and accompanying DVD) seems like an acceptable idea, take some rappers and producers, including the legendary Snoop Dogg, and have them remix Cash’s hits. The result, however, misses the mark terribly.

Snoop starts off the album with a remix of “Walk the Line” and it’s nothing short of horrible. The majority of the track features Cash performing the track as we all know it, while Snoop’s contributions include adding a verse or two of freestyle rap with a few “yeah, yeahs” and “huh-huhs” over the top. It’s damn near unlistenable.

Other tracks are much more true to the remix nature with dance beats thrown down and around Cash’s tracks, and some are better than others, but not a one is something that’s worthy of a release.

All in all, the question as to why a remix hasn’t before been made of Cash’s songs is answered again and again. They don’t need a remix. The songs are fine they way they were written. Does “Doin’ My Time” really need drums and bass and re-done vocals? No.

What’s really surprising is that Snoop, and Cash’s son, John Carter Cash, are two of the executive producers of this bomb.

Sorry Snoop. I still want to puff with you, but this disc is a sacrilege and should have been left as a funny, middle-of-the-night, stoney concept.

— Brian F. Johnson

Joey Cape

Bridge

Suburban Home Records

I dropped this CD in because the cover looks like a screen print of a guy at my favorite tattoo shop (Bolder Ink, if you’re wondering). But the music on this CD isn’t something you’d hear in a tattoo shop, at all.

Joey Cape is a great singer/songwriter who avoids the pitfalls of lots of young musicians in his genre. His lyrics aren’t ultra-heavy and he doesn’t get too emotional, but his songs still make an emotional connection — and Cape does this simply with an acoustic guitar (and sometimes keyboard).

The stripped down nature of the songs shows the craftsmanship behind them. If they can sound this good in such a simple format, then those songs can only grow when Cape melds them with his bands, of which he has several — Lagwaong, The Playing Favorite, and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

— Brian F. Johnson

Kort McCumber & McCumberland Gap

Live Licks from the Boulder Theater

Lucky Nugget Records

4 out of 5 stars

This is a really well done video of a really well done country set at the Boulder Theater. McCumber harnesses the power of Colorado’s former country-fried artists and blends it with a Todd Snider-esque delivery that is sincere and professional. Having Greg Schochet on guitar and mando certainly doesn’t hurt either.

McCumber has been churning out Colorado country for several years now, and this video confirms that he’s getting better and better with age — like an old pair of boots.

— Brian F. Johnson

www.southparkmusictour.com

Dates: June 26-29

Location: Fairplay, CO

The South Park Music Tour is the highest festival in the country, according to its promoters, and that’s not just a nod to the fact that Fairplay is just under 10,000 feet in elevation. Hell, even the zip code ends in 420.
But beyond that, the South Park Music Tour is a gem for discovering bands and the lineup is made up predominantly of emerging artists. If each week you look at the local calendar and wonder who a lot of the local bands are, this is the festival to check out. Lots of Colorado bands play the festival and the ones who aren’t local regularly tour the region.

TRAVEL TIME:
(As calculated by mapquest.com from Denver, Colo. to Fairplay, Colo.)

Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 35 minutes

Total Est. Distance: 85.95 miles

YOU NEED TO KNOW: The old saying in Fairplay is “Come on vacation, leave on probation.” So, if you must break the law while in Fairplay, be very, very discreet about it.

PRICE: $

CAMPING: No

Artists:
VIP Kickoff Party
Larry W. Johnson & Richie CR Parsons
Gilli Moon
Sabrina Taylor
Breaking Laces
Caribbean Posse

Thursday, June 26
Sight Unseen
Kort McCumber
Holden Young Trio
Moose Knuckle

Friday, June 27
(die) PILOT
Propane Daises
B.L.A.C.K.
Brewed to Perfection
Chuck Lawson
The Quills
PAINT
Inelement
L-Toka
Rebecca Owen
Noctornal Tomatoes
The Last Seen
Gray Haven
Ebeneezer
Thomas Pace

Saturday, June 28
Anne Zimmerman
Bottoms Up Blues Gang
No-Longer Boys
AbleMonk
Y825
Mark Wayne Glasmire
Sene Africa
Dean Station
127
Buckner Funken Jazz
Amy Clark
Andre Comeau
Chris Burton Jacome
Intervision
Lunic
JD Feighner
Brethren Fast
Gigi Love
Sabrina Taylor
Hypernova
Tim Miller
Jiva Train
Walter Alias
Caribbean Posse
Gilli Moon
Nicole Torres
Logans Heroes
Dova Grove
Cari Dell
Saluting the Rockies
Breaking Laces
Switchpin
Anchondo
Ruby Dee & The Snakehandlers
The Trampolines
Olio
Strive Roots
Fina Dupa
Kelly Aspen

Sunday, June 29
Cody Crump
Amy & the Rock Sisters
Roger Falters
Motorhome
Gaia Rhythm Project
Dale Robertson
Gilli Moon
The Hobo Nickels
Debajo del Agua
Larry W. Johnson & Richie CR
Jennifer Lane
Stray Dog
Rosin Coven Caberet
Lion Vibes
Eric Roberts
Devastating Karate
Holden Young Trio
Jason Vigil
Martini Shot

Radiohead - In Rainbows
(TBD Records)

3.5 out of 5

Anyone who was even half-heartedly listening to the industry buzz last fall heard about Radiohead’s crazy idea to offer their newest album, In Rainbows, as a pay-what-you-think-it’s-worth-price download in October, months before the official release was to hit the streets.

The hype was so frantic (and loud) that we chose to wait on giving our take until the official release dropped, which it did on Jan. 1, 2008, to incredible success. It debuted at #1 in North America, and is the fifth consecutive Radiohead album to go to #1 in the U.K.

Now that we’ve waited though, we’re disappointed. The music we were enthralled with in the fall is a passing blip now, still worth a listen, but we feel it was the excitement of the release, and not the release itself that originally made us put this on repeat.

The music is very good, and as Rolling Stone raved, “Radiohead haven’t sounded this aggressive and infuriated — so rock and roll — since OK Computer.” The album received (and arguably deserves) four- and five-star reviews from Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, the L.A. Times, Picthfork Media and NME.

But when all is said and done, as great as an album as In Rainbows is, ultimately, it was the hype that was so worthy of all the accolades.

When it comes down to it, In Rainbows is a really, really good album, but it’s not the mind-blowing piece of musical work that everyone has hailed it as.

Several reviewers have commented that while Radiohead is well known for building to a climax and rewarding their audiences with massive payoffs once that climax is reached, In Rainbows feels like a big build with little orgasmic reward in the end.

Even as the songs grow on you, as we’ve had the chance to allow them to do for several months now, it’s still not an album that we’re reaching for on a daily basis. Yeah, sure, if the shuffle in iTunes picks it up, I won’t skip over it, but I’m also not seeking it out — which brings me to my point about In Rainbows. But in all honesty, it’s not my point, it’s actually the aforementioned Tiny Mix Tapes’s reviewer Mr. P. He wrote, and I agree wholeheartedly, that “any aesthetic critiques of the album will be surely overshadowed by what it will represent culturally 10 years down the line.”

A lot of folks were very quick to predict that by doing an early pay-what-you-want on-line release, Radiohead had made the new model for a music industry without record labels; that releases done this way would be the new way of doing things across the board.
I think Radiohead did an amazing thing here and I hope it sets the groundwork for things to come in the future, but the fact of the matter is that very few bands in the world have the clout or the resources (and most importantly, the fan base) to pull this model off. What Radiohead has done, however, will be remembered for years to come, as the industry still fights to find its footing amidst a new way of doing things. It’s tremendous, a glimmer of hope, and just downright fun, but it’s the release idea that are all of these things, not the album itself, and that’s where the disappointment lies.

A few other artists have tried (some successfully, others not so) to pull off this type of record industry coup. Wilco did something remotely similar with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Years later, though, when I stand in front of my CD rack, I grab that album because the music really was the most amazing thing about the release. So I hope the story on In Rainbows continues to be told over and over, because it is awesome. But I’m afraid that when people forget about the release hype, they may also forget about this release.
— Brian F. Johnson

Kort McCumber
Lickskillet Road
Lucky Nugget Records
4 out of 5

Kort McCumber is one of those guys on the local music scene that is, simply put, one hell of a nice guy. So it’s no wonder that when he sat down to record his latest album, Lickskillet Road, that he had a ton of fellow Front Range musicians who offered their help.
McCumber is joined by Danny Shafer, Greg Schochet, Sally Van Meter, and other Coloradoans, but McCumber also goes a little Nashville with the help of Vince Gill, who plays on a couple tracks on the album.

McCumber presented the CD at a release party in early January at the Boulder Theater to a packed house, and once you get the album on your stereo, it’s no wonder that so many folks showed up for the release.

Ten years ago this album would have been labeled straight country, but these days, the more discerning palette can easily detect the Americana, bluegrass, folk, singer/songwriter and, yes, country influences that permeate the entire album. It’s not like McCumber has a song from each genre. He has found a way to blend them into one, and does so with an effortlessness that’s truly amazing.
— Brian F. Johnson

:: Kort McCumber :: St. Julien ::

:: February 6 ::

Gashead
The Isolationist
FistMusic/Hapi Skratch Records
3.5 out of 5

Since 2003, GasHead has set the standards for instrumental speed metal, but with this latest release, Gashead has finally added something to their band that they’ve never had before, in the studio or on a stage — a mic stand.

The Isolationist is the band’s first full-length vocal album, produced by long-time Front Range guitar bad-ass Dave Beegle. Three of the vocal cuts are completed by local singer, James Brennan, while GasHead lead vocalist Josh Purdy holds down the majority of the tracks.
The addition of vocals has been carefully handled by the band. They add a lot without taking away from the hard-driving Satriani-style guitarwork that has always been the band’s cornerstone. It’s a slippery slope that so far the band has traversed miraculously. If the lyrics continue to be as strong in the future as the ones on The Isolationist, the band will have hit a stride that could carry them for some time.

— Brian F. Johnson

Kristina Ingham
The Sun I Built In You
Independent
3 out of 5

Kristina Ingham is a singer/songwriter, but her newest CD The Sun I Built In You has this hard-to-describe edge to it, that goes way beyond the aforementioned singer/songwriter genre. A good part of that sound may come from Boulder producer/musician Todd Ayers, who always manages to add extreme depth to the recordings he works on. But take away the sonic soundscape that Ayers adds and The Sun I Built In You stands on its own as some really strong, even aggressive acoustic music that is deep without being depressing and light-hearted without being flaky.

— Brian F. Johnson

:: Kristina Ingham ::

:: Hatch Cover :: February 7 ::

:: Crown Hill taphouse :: February 9 ::

:: Hatch Cover :: February 14 ::

:: Niwot Tavern :: February 16 ::

:: Hatch Cover :: February 21 ::

:: Waterloo Icehouse :: February 24 ::

Carbon Choir
EP
Independent
4 out of 5

Boulder’s own answer to Radiohead, Carbon Choir, has just released its debut EP, which was recorded at Coupe Studios in Boulder and engineered by John McVey.

The EP is excellent, there’s only one problem with it: It’s just an EP and not a full album. Otherwise, the three tracks that are on it are excellent, melodic indie rock.
— Brian F. Johnson

:: Carbon Choir ::

:: Toad Tavern :: February 7 ::

:: Hi-Dive:: February 21 ::

Ominous Words
Kill The Static
Independent
3.5 out of 5

Ominous Words has been around for several years in California, but with Kill The Static, Ominous Words throws its hat in the ring with other articulate and intelligent rappers like Sage Francis, Aesop Rock and others who are bringing brains into the rap game.
Ominous Words is Steve Caprio, and on this album Caprio preaches about the wrongs and the rights of our country. He even gives a huge plug to the marijuana lobby NORML and its founder, Keith Stroup, who I’ve met and is worthy of more plugs on more albums.
— Brian F. Johnson

 By Damon Ruckel

 As alt-country continues to come of age and defines its place nationally on the musical landscape, The Unknown Americans are, locally, melding traditional country melodies with rocking backbeat and beautiful harmonies, unveiling a cleaner, “poppier” side to Colorado singer/songwriter Danny Shafer’s writing and performing.

During his fifteen year tenure as a musician on the Front Range, Shafer has built a reputation as one of Colorado’s most prolific singer/songwriters, often playing several gigs a week with different line-ups under different band names. He might have been playing with The Danny Shafer Band, Danny Shafer & The Red Glory Ramblers, The All-Night Honky Tonk All-Stars or, most recently, with The Unknown Americans. 

Kort McCumber, bassist for The Unknown Americans, knew Shafer by reputation before moving to Colorado from Nashville three years ago. “Danny’s name was known around Nashville as a guy out in Colorado who booked singer/songwriters at a place called Penny Lane. I sent him my stuff,” McCumber said in a recent interview with The Marquee.

“Yeah, I didn’t book him,” Shafer chuckled and looked over at his recent collaborator, “but when I met Kort on the Colorado music scene I thought that I had met my stunt double. We were both working musicians, and we were regularly playing all the same venues. Pretty soon people started suggesting that we play together and so we did.”

These two share a musical connection that is as evident when they are relaxed talking about music and The Unknown Americans as it is when they are smiling at each other on stage trading off vocal duties on soaring harmonies.

“I haven’t heard anyone here or in Nashville writing songs as good as Danny,” McCumber said.

Apparently he isn’t the only one who thinks so.  According to Shafer, Hit and Run Bluegrass recorded two of his songs last year. “They have been playing them all over the country. Those guys are really great,” Shafer said.

Last fall Shafer wrote 15 songs for a new project that later became The Unknown Americans.  Shafer and McCumber got together and Jason Pawlina on drums rounded out the trio. “Jason is a great drummer. We have played together off and on for the past 10 years,” Shafer said. “He is steady and strong.”

McCumber added, “He is the perfect drummer for our singer/songwriter style. We are really enjoying being a three-piece. If you add a pedal-steel to our mix then we take on a country sound.  If you add a fiddle then we take on a bluegrass sound, but as a trio we have a certain freedom.”

Trading conversation as effortlessly as they do verse on stage, Shafer chimed in, “All three of us sing, which allows us to put together some amazing three-part harmonies. The Unknown Americans have a cleaner, ‘poppier’ sound than anything else that I have done. The vocals are more featured, more out front.”

Shafer and McCumber represent the original singer/songwriter work ethic, so when the trio got together this past January they didn’t waste any time. “It’s not like we spent three months wood-shedding this material. We had these songs. We were all out gigging solo for a living, so we just started playing the material in front of audiences, and the audiences really seem to be enjoying it,” Shafer said.

“Danny would be playing one side of town. I would be playing the other. Afterward, we would meet in the middle and play together,” McCumber added.

McCumber, who grew up playing piano and cello in Florida before moving to Nashville to be a professional musician, has certainly taken to his new surroundings. “Nashville is really competitive. There is more of a sense that you are ‘working’ as a songwriter and that you are in Nashville specifically for that purpose. I love being a musician in Colorado. People want to be here,” he said.

“You see people pushing the envelope and really helping each other along,” he continued, “There is the expectation that we are gonna play a lot of covers at the kind of gigs we get. It can be a real challenge to get people out of their seats for original music, but I work hard to get them out of their Friday night, after-work element. When you see them start to smile, then stand up, then start to dance, it is worth it. It is really rewarding.”

Spectate if you Gravitate:

• Whiskeytown

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

• Flying Burrito Brothers