Mickey Hart Band – 1st night of Winter Tour 2011
Mickey Hart, Gawain Matthews, Tim Hockenberry, Ian INKX Herman
Crystal Monee Hall, Sikiru Adepoju, Ben Yonas, and Dave Schools
Yoshi’s Jazz Club
Oakland, California
November 28, 2011
Let There Be Light
Supersonic
Cut the Deck
Time Never Ends
Starlight
Slow Joe
Endless Skies >
Drums n Dave >
Endless Skies >
Fire On the Mountain
Encore: Brokedown Palace
The band started pretty close to the 8pm time – Yoshi’s does not allow shows to go late so it had to be. I was outside, waiting for my friend Adrienna to arrive – she had one 2 tickets on the radio!
As the door within the club creaked open I could here a few sounds begin, and I made out what sounded like “Let There be Light”, one of the newish Robert Hunter/Mickey Hart tunes. Several people in and out the doors of the club, so I could hear enough to confirm it, and also that the song was jamming. I stepped outside to enjoy some of the local harvest, and there were a handful of ticketless hopefuls, waiting for a miracle, of some sort, for this sold out show. I stepped back in… still LTBL (close to a 15 minute version).
As I waited, it seemed a number of the ticket-less did find a way in.. and when she did arrive, we were only into the beginning of the second song, “Supersonic”. As with all the Mickey Hart band songs, it was lush and dripping with sounds. The band has a very fresh approach, combining the instruments, and voices. It’s the best synthesis of all Mickey has done over the years, groove and rhythm, sound textures and moods, vibration and intention.
Very small club, Yoshi’s, usually for Jazz and other artists, where people politely sit at tables, small dance floor jammed with people! Groovin’ and movin’ this space was gettin’ hot as the band moved into “Cut the Deck” (which I tweeted as “Build this House” -oops! When you hear the song, you’ll know why). This song has Tim Hockenberry singing with a Peter-Gabrielesque flare.
“Time Never End’s” and “Starlight”, “Slow Joe” and “Endless Skies” – the songs all had a cosmic-ness about them, magical lyrics, galactic jams, and spacey moods. And always that groove. Laid down in all nimble heaviness by Dave Schools (from Widespread Panic) on bass, Sikiru Adepoju on talking drum and djembe, Ian INKX Herman at the kit, and of course Mickey Hart on percussion of every sort, including the Beam. The short break during “Slow Joe” I have dubbed “Drumz N Dave” and I hope they expand upon this jam every night of the tour!
Most of the set was new material, I know Mickey wants to share it, and it is all worth sharing. No complaint either, for $20 (okay, my friend won free radio tickets, but still, it woulda been worth the $20…) it’s a great show, worth seeing. Of course, Deadheads would love a escond set, and more Grateful Dead songs, and other Mickey Hart material could fill out the set. The band did have a short time to play at Yoshi’s; hopefully they will explore more at their other dates.
“Endless Skies” goes into “Fire On the Mountain” with Tim singing the leads. Set over, Mickey thanked us. He semmed really happy all night. The band came out for an ancore, a lovely BrokeDown Palace, with Crystal Monee Hall taking the lead, Quite beautiful.
Crystal was sweet after the show, she said she wanted to do well by such a beloved standard, and we told her her version was beautiful (it is!), and we were glad she made it her own. I think most Deadheads will like it, very sweet, and heartfelt rendition of the Grateful Dead’s treasured song.
Fun after the show, hanging out we got to thank and say hello to most of the band (where was Mickey?) Dave is always a great guy, he took a moment for a picture with Andrienna – even though his wife was waiting for him.
So the suggestion from me for most deadheads is… go see the Mickey Hart Band! It’s a great little show, fun to dance too, great musicians (leads from Gawain Matthews were swirling melts of sound!) – and most of the shows are pretty inexpensive.
Jesse McReynolds and his brother Jim debuted on Capitol records in 1952, though they recorded for many labels since. “Cotton Mill Man”, “Diesel On My Tail”, “Are You Missing Me”, and “Paradise” are a few songs regarded as Jim & Jesse classics.
Magical vocal harmonies, Jim’s guitar playing, and Jesse on mandolin, backed by their band The Virginia Boys, always a crew of top notch musicians. They toured the world, had Radio and TV shows, and in 1964, they joined the Grand Ole Opry.
Jesse had his first exposure to Rock fans playing on The Doors Soft Parade album, on the track “Runnin’ Blue”.
In the 70’s they did a bluegrass take on Chuck Berry’s music, that was a big hit for them.
They continued to play through the 80’s and 90’s, and get awards and honors, even getting a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, presented by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jane Alexander at the The White House, September 23, 1997.
In 2002, both brothers were diagnosed with cancer. Jesse was able to beat his, and sadly, Jim did not. He passed away on December 31, 2002, ending the longest active professional brother duet in country music history – 55 years.
Jim carried on, and has played around the world with new incarnations of The Virginia Boys.
A few years ago…. Jesse learned from Sandy Rothman that Jerry Garcia had been a fan of Jim and Jesse, and used to tape them off the TV! Jerry and Sandy went to see them play even, but Jerry was too shy to do much more than ask for an autograph. At Sandy’s urging, and as a gift to his wife Joy, a longtime Deadhead, Jesse started this project…
Plus – one of the biggest treats on the album is a new song – by Robert Hunter and Jesse McReynolds! “Day by Day” – this alone makes the album a must have!
Jesse will be playing this weekend at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa California. In addition to playing a Jesse and Friends set on both Friday and Saturday (sure to be full of Grateful Dead songs and bluegrass standards, and a few of Jesse’ own songs too!) – Jesse will also participate in the special tribute performance to Jerry Garcia and Bear (Owsley Stanley) – along with David Nelson, Steve Kimock, the members of Moonalice and many others, they will be performing the classic album History of the Grateful Dead Volume 1 (Bear’s Choice). NOT TO BE MISSED!!!
~
I recently had a chance to talk with Jesse on the phone, about the record and the upcoming show. He was a great guy to talk with, and I look foreword to meeting him in person this weekend at the Harmony Festival! Here is the interview:
DEADHEADLAND: Hello, Is this Jesse McReynolds? JESSE MCREYNOLDS: Yes it is,
DEADHEADLAND: Well this is Brian from Deadheadland, good morning! Jesse: Hi Brian how you doing?
DHL: great! I guess it is afternoon for you in Nashville? Jesse: Well, yes it is, though we have a little sunshine for a change
DHL: good, we had the sun break through a bit today in the SF Bay Area Jesse: good! I look forward to being back there soon
DHL: I look forward to seeing you at the Harmony Festival. Jesse: Last time I was there was for the Rex Foundation show… good times there!
DHL: Were you familiar with the music of JG and RH before you started preparing for your CD? Jesse: Oh yes, and I had heard quite a bit of it, really, and I almost had the opportunity to work with them on time in Texas, they had a big festival near Austin Texas, I got to play over their sound system, that’s really the closest I ever got to meeting them that one time… back in the 60’s or 70’s some time, I don’t really remember what dates… we were playing in a quite a few different venues at that time with a bluegrass band, of course we had done the Chuck Berry tunes back then, and it had done pretty good for us, so it got us booked on a few different types of shows than just bluegrass festivals
DHL: Jerry sure exposed lots of Rock and Roll fans to bluegrass as well! Jesse: yeah I was honored when I found out from Sandy Rothman, he (jerry) was a fan of ours and he and Sandy used to come to our shows a lot, before he had started the Grateful Dead band. And Jerry was into bluegrass as much, or wanted to be, back then.
DHL: Since you’ve made this recording you have been performing for a lot of Grateful Dead audiences, performing with Dark Star Orchestra and others… Jesse: Yes, I played with them in Nashville, then I uh, I did the Philadelphia folk festival, of course they had a variety of people on that and then I did the Rex Foundation, I did that with David Nelson. David played with me on the album, gave a big boost to the whole thing.
DHL: I look forward to hearing you play with David Nelson! Jesse: Yeah, David’s got a great band, and I really enjoyed playing with them at the Rex benefit, so I look forward to being with them again.
DHL: How do Deadheads compare to the Opry fans? Jesse: Well I think the Deadheads are more dedicated to the music. The people in Nashville, they haven’t went to over-enthused about the project, I can’t get them to play it on the radio here, they say the songs are too long. Of course we have a variety of artists come in, tourism, for the Opry, so um, we have a lot of Grateful Dead fans come into Nashville, and they know about the project. And I do a few songs from the project. But otherwise they don’t really go over great. Opry fans come from all over, they come from every state, and every type of music, and they come on tours, and the Opry is part of the tour.
DHL: Do you like to jam or improvise? Jesse: Oh yes, I do that with David – when we did the Rex Foundation show, I did “Standing on the Moon” and they said let’s really jam it out at the end and I really enjoyed doing that. In fact I always listen to a lot of Grateful Dead, I like the channel on the TV there, the Grateful Dead Channel (Sirius XM), and I’ve heard so many styles of music that they have done, and when they do some of the jams, it is really amazing how well they do it and how well it is arranged. So, yeah, I do that quite a bit!
DHL: the variety is one of the reasons deadheads love them so much! Jesse: Yeah, I think heard it said on the XM channel, when they did songs like “Deep Elem Blues”, and songs we consider bluegrass standards, like “Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad”, yep, that one, I sorta grew up listening to those songs. Probably some of the reason is those songs aren’t very complicated to do. Though some of their songs, they get pretty deep into it, the chord progression on everything. Of course when I grew up, the music I played, bluegrass, is pretty straight you know. So it’s a little different, when I get into some of their music. But I try and work it out in a way where um, it will be accepted. That’s why I enjoy working with David, because he knows those songs, and how they’re supposed to go, and he gets the band to really do it right.
DHL: at Harmony Festival, you’ll do your own set, and then you are part of the Tribute to Jerry and Bear Jesse: yeah, I’m gonna be part of the tribute band, they got a bunch of people, it’s gonna be a long jam!
DHL: How are you preparing? Jesse: I’m here, and when they want me to do something, I’m just here learning the music, and they sent me some of the songs they want me to learn. One of them was “Black Peter” I think, and they sent me a list a few songs they want me to do. I think I ordered the CD’s with the songs on it, so I know what is happening pretty much. Though they’ll probably come up with songs I am not too familiar with, I can sit in on a jam pretty good, easily play along pretty well.
DHL: I’m sure you have the chops to jump right in! Jesse: Yeah, I‘ve played a few different things, I did the soft parade with The Doors back a long time ago, that was when I heard that kind of music, and I just listen to a lot of it, and try to not stay in the box, y’know. I like all sorts of music, so I am really looking forward to jammin’ with these folks out there.
DHL: I didn’t realize that was you on The Doors album. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard it. Jesse: Yeah, I was on the song “Runnin’ Blues”; I think they re-released it a few years back, I got a lot of calls from people who saw my name on it, they said “I can’t believe you played with The Doors!” Yeah, I never turned down anything I’ve been offered to do!
DHL: What’s next? Jesse: Well I’ll just wait and see what happens, this is the best project I’ve done in years, and so, I’m not sure what I’ll do next. I’ll play this one as long as it holds up, as long as people enjoy it. And hopefully I’ll get to play a lot of festivals, I did Del Fest, and the Appalachian Uprising in Ohio, and then the Harmony Fest [next weekend] – then back to Maryland to play with Professor Louie & the Crowmatix in July sometime. I got quite a few coming up where I’ll be playing things from the album.
DHL: Are you playing all Jerry/Hunter songs? Jesse: No no, I’ll be mixing up different things, and I’ll do some things that they’ve done, with the acoustic band like “Sittin’ on Top Of The World” – we did our arrangement on that, and “Going Down The Road Feelin’ Bad” and “Deep Elem Blues” and some of the old standards that Jimmy did.
Jesse: Y’know me and my wife, my wife’s a devoted Grateful Dead fan. I tell people out here my wife’s a Deadhead and they don’t know what I mean, but like I told ya, Nashville is sometimes a little behind! But I’m getting a few more shows here in Nashville, featuring the Grateful Dead music, hopefully I’ll get them to recognize it, be more familiar with the music
DHL: Did your wife being a Deadhead encourage you to do this project? Jesse: Oh yeah, she helped me pick some of the songs. We used to travel a lot together, and when we were going on the road, we listened to a lot of Grateful Dead music, so I was really exposed to a lot of it then.
DHL: Good road music! I look forward to seeing you out here at Harmony! it’s been real nice talking with you… Jesse: I appreciate you callin’ – am I gonna see you at the Harmony Festival?
DHL: Yes! I’ll be the guy with long hair in a tie-dye t-shirt Jesse: (laughs) oh yeah, I think we’ll have some shirts there, from the Rex Foundation; I’m trying to support the organization, y’know. They’re nice people.
DHL: Thanks for taking the time to talk with me Jesse! Jesse: Thank you, I appreciate it, look forward to seeing you!
JUNE
Fri. & Sat. 10 & 11 Sonoma County, CA (Harmony Festival – Jesse to appear with David Nelson!) www.harmonyfestival.com
Sat. 18 Bean Blossom, IN (Bill Monroe’s Music Park: Bluegrass Festival) www.beanblossom.org
Wed. 22 Summersville, WV (Bluegrass Festival) www.aandabluegrass.com
July Sat. 10 Westminster, MD (Jesse to perform with “Professor Louie & the Crowmatix”)
Th. 14 Mineral, VA (Bluegrass Festival) www.aandabluegrass.com
Sat. 30 Gallatin,TN (3rd annual Pickin’ For Pets! ~ fundraiser for Sumner Humane Society ~ at the Pick Inn) info
September Tues. 13 Owensboro, KY (Bill Monroe 100th Birthday Celebration at RiverPark Center) www.bluegrassmuseum.org
Th. 22 Bean Blossom, IN ( Bill Monroe’s Music Park – Festival) www.beanblossom.org
The Glee cast has done it again, and also defied the expectations of their fans – except a small subset of their fans, Grateful GLEEk’s. After the huge success of their star themed shows, including Madonna, Elton John and Lady Gaga, the cast of Glee will be singing an episode that is chock full of songs written by the songwriting duo of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter – songs that have primarily been performed by the legendary psychedelic San Francisco band, the Grateful Dead. The episode is slated for the 2011-2012 season.
Glee executive producer of music Adam Anders said that the entire production is really excited about this short strange trip into uncharted space. “We wanted to do something different, go a little further than we’ve gone before” said Anders in an exclusive phone call with DHL, “And the answer was around the corner just waiting to meet us. A fan group wrote a letter, and Viola! We we’re searching for a sound. It feels like a stranger… but Glee will survive!”
Anders explained that there is a group of Glee fans called the Grateful GleeKs, and they even have their own Facebook group where they track the “set lists” of each episode of the show.
The group was started by Lindsay Weir, who is not related to Grateful Dead rhythm guitar player Bob Weir. Weir is a single mom who works as an ER Nurse, and she is also a self proclaimed Deadhead and GleeK.
“I discovered the music of the Grateful Dead in high school,” shared Weir, “I even ran off on Dead tour one summer in a Volkswagen bus, though my parents thought I was going to scholars camp or something like that! I was turned onto the Dead by my guidance counselor of all people – he was an old hippie, kind of a geek, but cool, and a good influence on me. I love how on Glee, music is shared between the teachers and students, everyone get into the act, and explore different genre’s of popular music. It reminds me of my high school years, except we listened to more hard rock. At least my friends did, though I think we were kind of the freaks of our school.”
Lindsay says the Deadhead style of keeping track of the set lists was her inspiration to start her Grateful Gleek’s page, and while most of the fans of the page are not Deadheads like her, they share her enthusiasm for knowing what songs were played each night Glee is on. Deadheads for many years have written down and shared set lists of the music their favorite band played. With every Grateful Dead concert being a different set list than before, these set lists were each unique, and Deadheads would actively want to know “what the boys played last night”.
“I started keeping set lists, because it is something to do, I almost always have a pen and a little notepad handy. I write down set lists for everything, any music I see, and even song lists from movies and TV shows.” While she admits to this being a little obsessive, Weir giggled that the habit helps her “get her space together to enjoy the show.”
Glee is a phenomena similar to the Grateful Dead – in that there are obsessive fans, called GleeK’s, who love everything the show and it’s cast does. Lindsay started watching the show with her young daughter Monet, but admits it immediately became her favorite show. “I think I wrote out the set list for the first episode, and I realized there was a simple profundity to it; the order of the songs meant something. After a few weeks, I started my Facebook group to share the set lists with other Grateful GleeK’s.
“When they started doing episode’s based on individual artists, I so wanted them to do some Garcia/Hunter tunes. There are so many good songs, and I couldn’t wait to hear Finn do ‘Sugaree’ or Rachel do ‘It Must’ve Been The Roses’. I really want to see Puck do ‘Black Peter’ too. I started a petition, “Please do an episode of Glee featuring the songs of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter”, and then it started to snowball like 900,000 tons of steel coming down the track! Well we didn’t get that many signatures, but I knew one way or another… I knew it had to give. Sure didn’t know what I was going for… maybe going on a feeling.” Weir stated that she much prefers the songs of Garcia and Hunter to those of her namesake, Bob Weir, who wrote songs with John Barlow for the Grateful Dead.
While most of the cast is not familiar with the songs, cast member Jane Lynch (Sue Sylvester on the show) has actually been to a few Grateful Dead concerts in the past. When asked what her favorite Garcia/Hunter tune was she replied “ “Scarlet Begonia’s"” of course!” She thinks the song “Foolish Heart” could also be a great one, perhaps sung by her character to Will Schuster (played by Mathew Morrison).
Mark Salling, who plays “Puck” the mohawked football player turned Glee Club singer, says that he is not a big fan of the Grateful Dead. But he hope’s this will open a door to some other music. “I love Widespread Panic. I hope they let us do some Panic at some point. ‘Love Tractor’ is a great song. And I really like to watch Dave Schools play bass; he has the coolest hair too!”
Asked how Deadheads might respond to this episode, producer Anders was certain that the episode will honor the spirit of the Grateful Dead, and that he hopes the fans start to watch his show. “If the Deadheads get into it, we hope the Glee cast tours can go on and on, and the fans of the band can follow us”.
When asked if it was hard to make the deal go down, Anders said that while there was no easy answer, the Estate of Jerry Garcia was waiting for a deal like this to come around. “I can’t tell the future, just looked at what was in my hand.”
7 WALKERS
FEATURING BILL KREUTZMANN AND PAPA MALI
ANNOUNCE SPRING / SUMMER TOUR DATES
BILL KREUTZMANN LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE, RELEASES LIVE MUSIC AT NUGS.NET, AND SPEAKS OUT IN SUPPORT OF PRESERVING THE GRATEFUL DEAD ARCHIVES. LOOK FOR 7 WALKERS’ NEW STUDIO ALBUM TO BE RELEASED LATER THIS YEAR.
Legendary drummer and co-founder of the Grateful Dead, Bill Kreutzmann, together with funky bluesman and voodoo electronic pioneer Papa Mali, officially unveil 7 Walkers’ spring plans. 7 Walkers, which also features bass virtuoso Reed Mathis (Tea Leaf Green, JFJO) and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard (Willie Nelson and Friends), will stop at select markets and festivals through out the country, all in anticipation of a new album release. The complete list of currently confirmed tour dates is included below.
7 Walkers recently spent time at an Austin, Texas studio, recording an album to be released later this year. In addition to a brand-new batch of Robert Hunter (Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan lyricist) originals that were co-written with the band, the new album offers up favorites from the Grateful Dead repertoire, Papa Mali originals, and some New Orleans and Southern songbook interpretations. Overall, the result is a fiery and funky collection of tunes that quite brilliantly capture the unique collaboration between these two very different musical shamans.
Bill Kreutzmann (who played every show in the Grateful Dead’s illustrious 30 year career as well as The Dead incarnations since), first met funky Papa Mali at a festival in 2008. Bill recalls in a recent interview, “We first met at the Oregon Country Fair last year. He was the headliner on the main stage, and I sat there and watched him and went, ‘This guy’s for real man, I like this guy.’ Then we met, after that he came over to my trailer that I was staying in and you couldn’t separate us, we talked for hours. It was just one of those natural things, you know? You can’t plan it; You can’t make it happen. And then we started playing together.”
Live audio recordings of the 7 Walkers can be heard at the newly re-launched www.billkreutzmann.com.
Meanwhile, at nugs.net, fans can now download live BK3 recordings from their 2009 Colorado shows. Another potent Kreutzmann musical project, BK3 first toured in 2008 and featured a rotating lineup including such players as guitarist Scott Murawski (Max Creek) and bassists James “Hutch” Hutchinson (Bonnie Raitt), Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers), and Mike Gordon (Phish).
Bill Kreutzmann is also working to support the efforts of University of California at Santa Cruz, who has committed to helping to archive all things Grateful Dead. As Kreutzmann explains, “I am incredibly happy that the kind archivists at UC Santa Cruz understand the social value of [the Grateful Dead’s] priceless archive, and its hallowed meaning to our most beloved ‘Dead Heads.’ Without the care it is now going to receive, these treasures would be lost.”
7 Walkers Spring/Summer Tour Dates:
(*Please note guest bass player George Porter Jr. will perform these dates with 7 Walkers)
Tuesday, April 6 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Big Room Chico CA
Wednesday, April 7 Red Fox Eureka CA
Thursday, April 8 Crystal Bay Club Crown Room Crystal Bay NV
Friday, April 9 Great American Music Hall San Francisco CA
Saturday, April 10 Moe’s Alley Santa Cruz CA
Friday, April 16 Spirit of Suwanee Music Park Live Oak FL
Saturday, April 17 The Salt Lick Driftwood TX
Friday, April 30 Mahalia Jackson Theatre New Orleans, LA
Thursday, June 3 Wakarusa Festival Ozark AR
Friday, June 11 Sonoma County Fairgrounds Santa Rosa CA
Three 7 Walkers shows added to tour! April 20, Flytrap Music Hall, Tulsa, OK
April 23, Granada Theater, Dallas, TX
April 24, Wired Live, Houston, TX
The band started pretty close to the 8pm time – Yoshi’s does not allow shows to go late so it had to be. I was outside, waiting for my friend Adrienna to arrive – she had one 2 tickets on the radio!
Most of the set was new material, I know Mickey wants to share it, and it is all worth sharing. No complaint either, for $20 (okay, my friend won free radio tickets, but still, it woulda been worth the $20…) it’s a great show, worth seeing. Of course, Deadheads would love a escond set, and more Grateful Dead songs, and other Mickey Hart material could fill out the set. The band did have a short time to play at Yoshi’s; hopefully they will explore more at their other dates.
one summer
