HT faves Barika, the Vermont-based band who blend Craig Myers’ Kamel N’Goni work with Western influences, are currently working on their second album. The group has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the rest of the recording process, mixing and mastering. Funders who back the project can receive t-shirts, albums and even a N’Goni lesson from Myers depending on how much they contribute. Barika hopes to release the album in early May.

Here’s six links to help you get over the hump this work week…

• The New York Times examines musician royalties gained from streaming
• There was a message behind The Lumineers’ performance on SNL
• Petty Fest is coming to San Francisco’s Fillmore at the end of February
• Check out Lowell George tracks from before Zappa and Little Feat
• The Strokes have announced a new album which is due out in March
• Charlie Hunter, Skerik and Steven Bernstein have put together a band

Finally, Eric Clapton has revealed details of new album, entitled “Old Sock,” which is due out March 12th. Old Sock features two new originals and a collection of covers that Clapton loves such as Further On Down The Road, Goodnight Irene and Peter Tosh’s Till Your Well Runs Dry. Special guests include Paul McCartney, J.J. Cale, Chaka Khan and Steve Winwood. CoS has more details.

Wilco front man Jeff Tweedy hasn’t been playing too many solo shows lately, and usually when he does they’re in his current hometown of Chicago. That trend will continue this March when Tweedy will play a pair of shows at The Vic on March 13th and 14th. Tickets go on sale this Friday at noon CST.

The February 16th episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live will feature a host and musical guest who both have never appeared on the show. Actor Christoph Waltz of Django Unchained fame will host, while HT faves Alabama Shakes will make their SNL debut as musical guest.

This marks yet another milestone for the Shakes, who just about two years ago were completely unknown. Now, they are up for the Best New Artist award at this year’s Grammys.

If you’re a hardcore Deadhead that seeks out the best recordings of that band, odds are you’re familiar with the work of Charlie Miller. Over the years Miller has taped and transferred thousands of tapes and you know that when he’s involved, it’ll sound good. Grateful Dead scholar Blair Jackson said it best, “My own rule of thumb with Archive Dead shows is I look for Charlie Miller’s name, and if it’s attached to a recording, I’ll usually check that out first, since his name is synonymous with the highest quality transfers and upgrades.” With that in mind we were excited a few days ago when we saw Miller’s name attached to a number of uncirculated Phish audience recordings popping up on bt.etree.org, so we reached out to Charlie to talk about his new found appreciation for the Vermont quartet.

Miller grew up and lived in Long Island for 25 years before moving west. “I saw every band in the ’70s at the Garden or Nassau,” he explained. How old was Charlie when he saw his first Dead show?  ”I walked into the show when I was 15, when the show ended I was 16. They started the encore at five after midnight,” the recording/sound engineer told us about catching the Dead on his birthday in 1979.

• BT.ETREE.ORG: Charlie Miller Phish Transfers

Now that he has his sights focused on Phish, how did he pick which shows to transfer? “I was asked to sort through my friend’s Phish collection and [etree Phish admins] Terry Watts and Jason Sobel went through the list and gave me a color-coded excel spreadsheet that indicated what shows were in circulation and what shows had unknown CD generation(s) (involved in their lineage). Since I have a DAT I can do a better transfer.”

Miller focused on the recordings that haven’t circulated. Those who know Charlie know that for a long time he wasn’t into Phish. “I got into Phish about a year and a half ago which is kinda weird because I worked with all the [band members] before then, but I never quite ‘got it,’” Charlie said. Miller, who is a longtime employee of Steve Kimock, worked with Phish bassist Mike Gordon during Kimock’s time with The Rhythm Devils in 2006. “We had a week of rehearsals at Trey’s barn and after the last night of rehearsals we went over to Mike’s house for a dinner party. I have this map that Mike drew for me from The Barn to his house. It’s so funny, he drew trees on the side – it’s just a funny map. We’re in the kitchen chatting and we were talking about a song when Mike mentioned a Phish song. And I had this blank stare and Mike said, ‘you don’t know this song?’ So I said, ‘you know what, you guys are really nice guys and really talented, but I just don’t get it.’ His response was something along the lines ‘I can understand, sometimes I don’t get it either.’”

[Image via Dark Star Palace]

Miller actually attended Phish’s last performance before starting an “indefinite hiatus” on October 7th, 2000 at Shoreline Amphitheatre. Though he was turned off by the crowd, he had a much different experience when he attended 10 shows during the Summer of 2011 while he was working for The Heavy Pets. “It’s funny because The Heavy Pets are Phish fans, so they designed their summer tour to follow Phish tour so that they could do some after show parties. On the first day, at the Phish show, we had handfuls of free tickets. There were about 10 Phish songs at that point that I knew and really liked and that night they played like eight of them. We went a few nights later and they played the rest of the songs I liked. And I was like ‘wow, this is kinda fun.’ I was having a good time. Some of it I get, some of it I don’t. I’m listening to more and more of it and i’m appreciating more and more of it,” Charlie explained.

In appreciation for his experience that summer, Miller has started to turn his attention to transferring and mastering Phish recordings. “I was going through this list of DATs that they sent me on this excel spreadsheet. Then, last night, Jason Sobel and I were talking on the phone and I said, ‘pick ten for me to work on right now’ and I worked on them through the night,” he said.

Over the past few days Charlie’s transfers of tapes from Phish’s 1996 and 1999 summer tour have been winning raves from fans. Personally, I attended the group’s July 13th, 1999 show at Great Woods and have never found a recording of that night which suited the music. His transfer hits the mark and listening to it was a revelation. He’s also just unveiled transfers of legendary December ’95 performances: 12/9, 12/29 and 12/30.

As we spoke, Miller had his hands full, “Right  now I’m transferring a DAT to a compact flash of a Phish show, I’m transferring a Grateful Dead soundboard cassette master from a crew member to a hard drive recording, I’m mastering a Dead show on the computer and playing Bingo on my iPad.” When I mentioned his skill at multi-tasking, Charlie responded, “Multi-tasking is an understatement.”

[Charlie @ Merriweather For Phish - Summer '11]

You’ll also notice Charlie’s name attached to hundreds of Steve Kimock recordings both official and unofficial. He told us about how he got his start with the guitarist, “I was following Kimock around and I couldn’t afford to do it anymore because I went to every show for a couple of years. So I got on the payroll and [now] they pay me to go.” As previously mentioned, he also worked for The Heavy Pets. “The Heavy Pets gig lasted about 15 months. I loved working for them because I’d sit at the board and dance and have so much fun. They’re such great guys and I love their music. It was a great experience overall.”

Charlie explained the transferring process to us, “I transfer the DAT to either a computer or solid-state compact flash and then if it comes from an analog source I make MP3s and I put them on this FTP site for my friend. He has perfect pitch, so he plays along to the recordings that I send him and he’s got a guitar tuner. If he has to start bending the strings to hit the notes, it’s off pitch. His CD player has a pitch adjustment, so he can adjust and he emails me the pitch corrections. I then go into my software, correct them, master them, patch them and it’s a process. Believe it or not, it’s fun, you can see me doing this all day.” With over 2,000 of his recordings/transfers on the Live Music Archive, we’d sure hope so.

Since he’s transferred so many Dead shows from every era we wondered if Charlie’s running out of Grateful Dead recordings to work on. “Oh gosh no. No, no, no. Crew members and band members give me their tapes, so there’s always upgrades and new stuff is always coming out. Some guy contacted me a week ago and told me ‘I taped over 100 shows between 1985 and 1988, I’ve got my cassette masters do you want to transfer them?’ I said ‘sure’ so he sent me a box of cassettes. Another guy who emailed me yesterday told me ‘I taped a million GD shows between ’92 and ’95 can you transfer my DATs?’ I said sure. There will ALWAYS be stuff to transfer,” Miller said.

[Charlie's Mics at Phish]

It takes Miller anywhere between an hour and 24 hours to transfer and master a recording. “It all depends on the quality of the source,” he explained. We look forward to seeing what else Charlie has in his bag of tricks in the coming months. Be sure to head over to bt.etree.org and look for “charlie miller” under “seeded by” to sample his work.

We’ve been enthusiastically touting the music of Rodriguez since his lost classic debut Cold Fact was re-released by Light In The Attic back in 2008. Last year, the singer-songwriter’s remarkable story got a major boost thanks to the fantastic Oscar-nominated documentary Searching for Sugar Man, which has earned heaps of accolades and has again revived interest in not only his recordings but also as a live act. Yesterday, Rolling Stone broke the news that the now 70-year-old Rodriguez will likely head into the studio for the first time in over 40 years and team up with Steve Rowland who produced his 1971 sophomore album Coming From Reality, when he wraps his upcoming world tour that includes a high profile appearance at Coachella and gig at New York City’s Beacon Theater.

• List Time: 16 Best Albums Released By Musicians After They Died
• Amoeba Music has launched a digital download service of rare and out-of-print vinyl
• Cover Alert: Dirty Projectors tackle Usher
• Duane Allman’s legacy will be celebrated with a massive 7-CD box set
• Download This: Townes Van Zandt -Minneapolis, MN – 1973
• Dogfish Head has recruited Bonnie “Prince” Billy to record a song for their new beer

Finally, normally you wouldn’t think that The Flaming Lips and football could be uttered in the same sentence, but come this Sunday the psychedelic-rock act will be featured prominently in an ad for the Hyundai Santa Fe during the Super Bowl. Earlier this week the Oklahoma City-based band, who will release their new studio album The Terror on April 2, dropped the non-album track Sun Blows Up Today, which soundtracks the irreverent commercial called Epic Playdate. Check it out…

Click here to view the embedded video.

In the early days of Saturday Night Live, the Grateful Dead were no strangers to the program. It didn’t hurt that two of the show’s main writers, Tom Davis and Al Franken, were big Deadheads. One of the group’s performances took place on April 5th, 1980 on an episode hosted by Paula Prentiss and Richard Benjamin as the Grateful Dead were promoting the soon-to-be-released Go To Heaven LP.

We’ve been searching for footage of this appearance, in which the Dead performed Alabama Getaway and Saint of Circumstance, forever. Turns out we should’ve just looked at DeadVids.com.

[Hat Tip - Chris DiLeo]

Femi Kuti and the Positive Force @ Paradise Rock Club – January 23

Words: Andrew Bruss

Femi Kuti and the Positive Force vamped through a nearly two hour set at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club that was so authentically Nigerian (minus the English lyrics) that one could almost forget about the sub-arctic temperatures outside the venue.

[Members of Positive Force on Jam Cruise by Dave Vann]

The eldest son of Fela Kuti, political dissident and founder of the Afrobeat genre, Femi is heir to the throne of the musical kingdom his father created. That means his music fuses funk, big band horns, African polyrhythm’s and political lyrics that make an audience member want to rise up and shed the chains of colonialism (where applicable).

Kuti had a tough time filling The Paradise on a Wednesday night, but the crowd he drew was enthusiastic and happy to participate in the call and response chants coming from the stage.

The set list was checkered with tunes from Kuti’s entire back catalogue but leaned heavily on material from his forthcoming April release. All of Kuti’s music is political, but on the unreleased material, Kuti’s disgust with the status quo is more direct than ever. Nothing To Show speaks to the frustrations Nigerians feel with the corruption in their fledgling democracy following the election of their first president, Olusegun Obasanjo. World Is Changing addresses the rising financial inequalities in the world (“When you see what is going on in the world today, you’ll agree that poverty is winning the game”). The most sped-up of the new tunes, Carry On, Pushing On, operates as Kuti’s own State of Humanity address (“The Arab spring never did bring roses/peace in the middle east won’t ever come easy”).

While Kuti’s lyrics are worth diving into, the best part of the night was the instrumental-ism. The Positive Force features a drummer, percussionist, keyboard player, guitarist, bassist, a three-man horn section and what can only be described as a pair of vocalists/traditional Nigerian booty dancers. As for Kuti himself, when he wasn’t doing his James Brown-meets-Bob Marley thing on the microphone he was rocking the trumpet, alto sax or clarinet.

Kuti’s work on the electric organ was less technically intricate than his use of the sax or trumpet but it was where he made the biggest impact. A Femi Kuti and The Positive Force show is all about the spirituality of music and the power this force brings. While working the organ, Kuti would literally hold down a single chord and let it swirl on top of a foundation laid by his band. The end result had all the high-energy release of “The Note” on a YEM jam but in place of fancy fretwork, a less-is-more philosophy prevailed.

While Kuti has a long way to go before viewed with the same prestige as his father, sets like the one performed at The Paradise proved beyond a doubt that he’s not just another performer with a famous father (looking at you Sean Lennon). Femi Kuti is a one-of-a-kind musically talented performer whose live show is the product of his mind, body and soul. Not his last name.

[Originally Published: October 6, 2011]

On Saturday night at Higher Ground [2013 ed. note - this took place on October 1, 2011], Trey Anastasio and his solo band debuted a song written by Trey and Tom Marshall for which there’s been some confusion about the song title. At first, it was thought that the name of the song was Winter Queen before LivePhish.com’s official recording labeled the track as Glacier. Yesterday, Glacier was renamed Winterqueen on LivePhish.com bringing us back towards where we started [2013 ed. note - Surprisingly, Winterqueen/Glacier has yet to be performed a second time]

The reason we mentioned that anecdote is that sometimes Phish or Trey debuts a song with one name only to change the title later to something else. For this week’s B List, we look at nine cases where that happened. Keep in mind, we shied away from cases where wholesale changes were made to the song that led to the name change, such as Black Eyed Katy becoming Moma Dance and Taste becoming Fog That Surrounds (before becoming Taste again). With that in mind, let’s look at ten song title changes in Phish history (with lots of help from Phish.net Song Histories)…

1. Knife -> My Friend, My Friend
2. In an Intensive Care Unit -> NICU

The first two entries on our list were debuted at the Portsmouth Music Hall at Phish’s first show of 1992 on March 6. At that performance, Phish debuted six (if you include the “fast” Rift) songs, some of which would go on to be released as part of the Rift LP one year later. Trey Anastasio mentioned the titles of most of the debuts that night and referred to what we now know as My Friend, My Friend and NICU as Knife and In an Intensive Care Unit respectively.

3. Windham Hell -> Faht

The Jon Fishman original Faht, which appeared on the album Picture of Nectar, was first known as Windham Hell. This sound effect-laden track had its title changed without Fish’s knowledge when the album came out.

The Phish.net song history, written by Ellis Godard and Mark Toscano, explains…

Arguably a parody of new age music, Jon labeled the tune “Windham Hell,” alluding to new age distributor Windham Hill Records. Fish was on vacation as the Nectar liner notes were being scripted, and the other band members elected to resolve potential conflict (legal or otherwise) with Windham Hill by changing the song’s title. What to change it to? Well, in the November 1991 Phish Update newsletter, “Fish’s Forum” included a misspelling, whereby the intended mock-Southern phrase “raht tuh the front door” lost its reputed meaning when “raht” became “faht.” Fish was annoyed with this gaffe, and his band mates, ever trying to get Fish’s goat, decided to change “Windham Hell’s” title to “Faht,” claiming that Elektra had misspelled the title he had chosen.

4. Microdot -> Mike’s Song

Most tunes written at the beginning of Phish’s career were penned by Anastasio, so when bassist Mike Gordon brought a song to the band they simply called it “Mike Wrote That” or “Microdot.” Trey announced this original title from stage on October 17, 1985 and at some point shortly after that the title morphed to Mike’s Song. The rest, as they say, is history.

5. Minestrone -> Purple Hugh -> Minestrone -> Inlaw Josie Wales

And now the most interesting story on this list. Back at Trey Anastasio’s tour opener of his first solo tour in 1999, Big Red unveiled a new instrumental during his acoustic set. Trey mentioned he didn’t have a title and said he’d go with whatever name was assigned by the person who first posted that night’s setlist on the internet. Jesse Jarnow called in the first setlist that was posted on rec.music.phish…

“In the first set there was an untitled instrumental. Trey said that whomever posted the setlist first got to name it. In deference to aLi’s [McDowell] misreading of the word “instrumental” on my setlist, we hereby request that the tune be named “Minestrone“.”

The next night Trey dedicated the song to Jesse and Ali but told the crowd that he decided on the title Purple Hugh instead. A few shows later, Big Red told an Asheville crowd that he felt bad about not living up to his promise and wanted the name returned to Minestrone. Eventually, at a 2000 Carnegie Hall show, Anastasio renamed the song as The Inlaw Josie Wales and that title has stuck ever since.

6. Hall In Solace -> Paul and Silas

We couldn’t resist mentioning the tale behind Phish’s cover of the traditional song Paul and Silas on this list. When Phish first started covering the bluegrass song in 1990, they sung the tune as “Hall In Solace” having mistakenly thought that was the actual name of it. It took until 1992 for someone to correct the newbish band and they have been singing “Paul and Silas” ever since.

7. Dog Gone Dog -> Dog Log

This soundcheck favorite, and in-show rarity, was originally titled Dog Gone Dog on The White Tape. The name quickly shifted to Dog Log and its appeared on all official releases since The White Tape as such.

8. Bake and Boil -> Mountains In The Mist

Another tune debuted at Trey Anastasio’s tour opener of his first solo tour in 1999, Trey mentioned this song was called Bake and Boil that evening, but decided to change the name to Mountains In The Mist by the next show.

9. Trust Fund Baby -> Prep School Hippie

Known to be played only five times in concert between September 27, 1985 and December 6, 1986, Trey told a Burlington radio audience that this timely piece was called Trust Fund Baby. That name didn’t stick as the band’s notes moving forward (as per Phish.com) call it Prep School Hippie. Regardless, this is one we don’t expect to see hit a Phish stage anytime soon.

Those are the nine songs whose titles have changed while the tune itself has stayed the same that we’ve come up with. Got any more?

Since its humble beginnings in 2002, Bonnaroo organizers have found all sorts of ways to announce the festival’s lineup. This year, they have enlisted Weird Al Yankovic to host a one-hour event on YouTube in which he’ll reveal the lineup.

Organizers haven’t let us know exactly when this one-hour event will take place, but they have announced that in addition to the lineup reveal, the broadcast will also feature classic Bonnaroo performances, live in-studio appearances and performances, surprises and giveaways. This should be interesting. We’ll let you know when we find any additional information.

Bob Weir has formed a new band which features two members of his long-running RatDog troupe. Dubbed “The RatDog Quartet,” the group will feature Weir performing with RatDog mainstays Jay Lane on drums and Robin Sylvester on bass. In addition, guitarist Jonathan Wilson will round out the band.

The RatDog Quartet will make their debut with a pair of shows at Weir’s Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, Calif. on March 3rd and 4th. Ticketing information is available at GDTSTOO.com.

’00s jam favorites RAQ have only played a handful of shows since they stopped touring in 2008, the latest of which took place in 2011. Guitarist Chris Michetti, bassist Jay Burwick, drummer Greg Stukey [Adrian Tramontano of Kung Fu/Breakfast will play drums at AURA for RAQ - Hat Tip Buquebus] and keyboardist Todd Stoops will make their return in just a few short weeks, when they take the Ampitheater stage at the AURA Music Festival on Friday, February 15th at 5:30PM.

We had RAQ on the brain, so we headed over to YouTube where we came across a playlist featuring 18 videos from the quartet’s November 14th, 2006 performance at the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia. RAQ mixed their Zappa-inspired originals with a batch of covers that include takes on the James Gang, the Allman Brothers Band and Living Colour before the night was through. The final clip contains a stellar version of the RAQ epic Carbohydrates Are The Enemy that’s infused with a bit of Dixie.

Set One: Funk 49*, Mollie’s Cule, The Down Low, Nasty, Late Night -> Guilty Pleasures, 15 Shakes, Cult Of Personality^ -> Late Night

Set Two: City Funk, Brother From Another Mother -> Reason, Clamslide, Brother From Another Mother, Back To The Head, Whipping Post%

Encore: Carbohydrates Are The Enemy

*James Gang
^Living Colour
%Allman Brothers Band

[Setlist via Hyperfunkalicious]

For those hoping the reunion will extend beyond AURA, a recent Facebook update from the band says they will have “some real special news” to announce on the 15th.

Televised Tune favorite Zooey Deschanel will visit The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight fresh off the announcement of a forthcoming She & Him album – Volume 3 (May 7) – and a summer tour. Deschanel and M. Ward, who comprise the throwback duo, will hit the road on June 13 for 18 shows in support of the new release which is comprised of 11 originals and three covers. Also this week, MMJ frontman Jim James visits Jimmy Fallon on back-to-back nights. Tonight he will be backed by Fallon’s house band, the Roots, and tomorrow James will sit in with The Roots as a special guest. Fallon also welcomes Local Natives to Late Night tomorrow.

[Photo by Neil Krug]

Monday, February 4 [All Times ET]

• Vintage Trouble on Conan [TBS 11PM]
• Anita Baker on Jimmy Kimmel [ABC 11:35PM]
• Zooey Deschanel on Craig Ferguson [CBS 12:35AM]
• Jim James on Jimmy Fallon [NBC 12:35AM]
• Curtis Peoples on Carson Daly [NBC 1:35AM]

Tuesday, February 5

• Ringo Starr: Live with the Roundheads and Colin Hay [AXS 5PM]
• Lianne La Havas on Jay Leno [NBC 11:35PM]
• Emile Sande on Jimmy Kimmel [ABC 11:35PM]
• The Roots w/Jim James on Jimmy Fallon[NBC 12:35AM]
• Local Natives on Jimmy Fallon [NBC 12:35AM]

Wednesday, February 6

• Jimmy Cliff: Live at the Ogden Theater [AXS 5PM]
• The Rolling Stones: Some Girls Live in Texas [VH1 Classic 9PM]
• Dirty Projectors on Conan [TBS 11PM]
• Gary Clark, Jr. on Jimmy Kimmel [ABC 11:35PM]
• Damien Jurado on Carson Daly [NBC 1:35AM]

Thursday, February 7

• Steve Vai: Live in Minneapolis [AXS 1PM]
• Hunter Hayes on Jay Leno [NBC 11:35PM]
• Tim McGraw on Jimmy Kimmel [ABC 11:35PM]
• Matt Pond on Jimmy Fallon [NBC 12:35AM]
• Styx: The Grand Illusion [VH1 Classic 1AM]

New York City’s Vampire Weekend came up with quite the original way to reveal the name of their third studio album. The band placed an ad in the lost and found section of the New York Times’ Classifieds reading “MODERN VAMPIRES OF THE CITY – May 7, 2013″ before launching their presale site. Modern Vampires Of The City is due out on May 7 and is available for purchase on vinyl and CD, with those who purchase the vinyl getting a download code.

VW also announced a lengthy world tour. Here are the dates…

April 12 – Chelsea Ballroom at the Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas NV
April 14 – Coachella – Indio CA
April 16 – Freeborn Hall at UC Davis – Davis CA
April 17 – Fox Theater, Oakland CA
April 21 – Coachella – Indio CA
May 8 – The Troxy – London UK
May 10 – Casino De Paris – Paris FRA
May 15 – Agganis Arena – Boston MA
May 16 – Sony Centre For The Performing Arts – Toronto ON
May 17 – The Fillmore – Detroit MI
May 19 – Midland Theater – Kansas City MO
May 20 – Red Rocks – Morrison CO
May 21 – Red Butte Garden Amphitheatre – Salt Lake City UT
May 23 – Keller Auditorium – Portland OR

The Spring Tour fan pre-sale starts this Wednesday at 10AM local venue time. American Express® Cardmembers can purchase tickets for the US shows (excluding SXSW and Coachella) before the general public, beginning Wednesday, February 6th at 10am local venue time through Thursday, February 7th at 10pm local venue time.

Here’s the tracklisting for the new album…

Tracklist:
Side 1
1) Obvious Bicycle
2) Unbelievers
3) Step
4) Diane Young
5) Don’t Lie
6) Hannah Hunt
Side 2
7) Everlasting Arms
8) Finger Back
9) Worship You
10) Ya Hey
11) Hudson
12) Young Lion

Check out a live performance of Unbelievers from last week…

Over the course of four studio albums Iron & Wine have gone from an intimate bedroom project to a full on folk-rock ensemble, replete with string and horn sections and back up singers. Last week it was announced that Sam Beam will release his fifth studio album Ghost On Ghost on April 5, via Nonesuch Records. The record will see Beam continue to build on the sounds from 2011′s Kiss Each Other Clean, re-teaming with his longtime producer Brian Deck, and recording with a number of the same musicians who appeared on that album.

Beam has given fans an advanced taste of what’s to come, by releasing the album’s lead single, Lovers’ Revolution, which fuses Beam’s smoky vocals through a wash of big band and avant jazz. Take a listen…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Iron & Wine – Lovers’ Revolution

[UPDATE 2/4: A Tracklisting For The Love For Levon Release Is Now Available]

Back on October 3rd, an unbelievable array of star power and musician’s musicians came together at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey to pay tribute to the late great Levon Helm. Dubbed “Love For Levon,” the marathon two-set concert was presented with the aim of raising money to pay off the mortgage on Levon Helm Studios. On March 19th official footage of Love For Levon will make its way to DVD, CD and Blu-Ray with the release of four editions of the instant classic concert: Blu-Ray & CD, Blu-Ray, DVD and DVD & CD.

According to the trailer, Love For Levon will feature two hours worth of the concert as well as two hours worth of bonus footage. This represents the entire show includes Warren Haynes’ The Shape I’m In, Jakob Dylan’s Ain’t Got No Home, John Hiatt and Mike Gordon’s Rag Mama Rag, John Mayer on Tennessee Jed, David Bromberg and Joan Osborne’s Don’t Do It, Eric Church on Get Up Jake, Joe Walsh and Robert Randolph teaming up for Up On Cripple Creek, Gregg Allman’s Long Black Veil, My Morning Jacket’s It Makes No Difference, Roger Waters with MMJ on The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and Grace Potter’s stunning version of I Shall Be Released. Check out the trailer for the Love For Levon video release…

Check out the tracklisting for Love For Levon…

Disc: 1

1. The Shape I’m In (Warren Haynes with the All Star Band and Rami Jaffee)

2. Long Black Veil (Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes with the All Star Band)
3. Trouble in Mind (Jorma Kaukonen and Barry Mitterhoff with Larry Campbell, Justin Guip, Byron Isaacs and Jaimoe)
4. This Wheel’s on Fire (The Levon Helm Band with Shawn Pelton)
5. Little Birds (Larry Campbell, Justin Guip, Amy Helm, Byron Isaacs and Teresa Williams)
6. Listening to Levon (Marc Cohn with the Levon Helm Band and Greg Leisz)
7. Move Along Train (Mavis Staples with the Levon Helm Band)
8. Life Is a Carnival (Allen Toussaint with the Levon Helm Band and Jaimoe)
9. When I Paint My Masterpiece (John Prine and Garth Hudson with the Levon Helm Band and Joan Osborne)
10. Anna Lee (Bruce Hornsby with Larry Campbell, Amy Helm and Teresa Williams)
11. Ain t Got No Home (Jakob Dylan with the All Star Band and Rami Jaffee)
12. Whispering Pines (Lucinda Williams with the All Star Band and Rami Jaffee)
13. Rag Mama Rag (John Hiatt with the All Star Band and Mike Gordon)

Disc: 2
1. Don t Do It (David Bromberg and Joan Osborne with the All Star Band)
2. I Shall Be Released (Grace Potter with Don Was and Matt Burr)
3. Tears of Rage (Ray LaMontagne and John Mayer with the All Star Band)
4. Rockin Chair (Dierks Bentley with the All Star Band, Jessi Alexander and Jon Randall)
5. Chest Fever (Dierks Bentley and Garth Hudson with the All Star Band, Jessi Alexander and Jon Randall)
6. A Train Robbery (Eric Church with the All Star Band)
7. Get Up Jake (Eric Church with the All Star Band)
8. Tennessee Jed (John Mayer with the All Star Band and Steve Jordan)
9. Up on Cripple Creek (Joe Walsh and Robert Randolph with the All Star Band)
10. Ophelia (My Morning Jacket)
11. It Makes No Difference (My Morning Jacket)
12. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (Roger Waters, My Morning Jacket and G. E. Smith)
13. Wide River to Cross (Roger Waters and G. E. Smith with the All Star Band)
14. Encore: The Weight (All)

[Tracklisting via Direct Current]

One of the best kept secrets in improv music is hidden in Boston: the huge rotating cast of characters performing under the guidance of bassist Mike Rivard, the collective known as Club d’Elf. The music is earthy, rhythmic, hypnotic, spacey, groovy, funkydubnasty, but while various formations of drummers, keyboard players, guitarists, horn players, djs, and if you’re lucky, Oud player Brahim Fribgane, make short tours every now and again, for the most part, that music is only produced at The Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. Luckily, Rivard is generous with his ever-evolving experiment, which will celebrate its 15th anniversary later this year, as Club d’Elf is extremely well represented on archive.org, with hundreds of shows available for streaming and downloading, the vast majority of which are stellar recordings from on-stage microphones.

[Photo via Club d'Elf Facebook Page]

Going back to the earliest days, one of d’Elf’s best and most noteworthy collaborators, one for whom the band has always been a excellent and influential outlet, is John Medeski. In fact, to truly known Medeski’s style and sound and approach, you really need to understand the music he produces with the band. The long-form, open-ended material gives him room to open up, but also room to sit back for long stretches  comping and adding background effects, playing the role of the best sideman around. There’s great patience and texture in his work with d’Elf, as much as there are explosive, funky, hold onto your hat throw-downs.

With all that in mind, this week we have the opening 45 minutes of a show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC from December of 2011. The setlist, Scorpion > Sand (for Mark) > Instar, is pretty classic for the band, but the performance is especially fluid and mesmerizing. LPR is a artier venue with jazz, singer-songwriters and even chamber music often booked there, so it has a nice baby grand on stage. Medeski plays wonderfully on it during the opening track – he’s almost always electrified when playing with the group. He also has a phenomenal organ solo half way through Sand. The rest of the show turns deeply toward North African sounds thereafter with a host of guests, but what begins the show is prime cut Club d’Elf. As always, enjoy.

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While there are certainly many out there who would whole-hardheartedly agree with The Dude about the Eagles, the fact still remains that they are one of the most successful bands of the last 50 years, having sold a staggering 150 million albums worldwide, including 42 million copies of their Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 alone. The initial incarnation of the band came together in Los Angeles in the Spring of 1971, when Don Henley, Glen Frey, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon were recruited to back Linda Ronstadt as her touring band. The foursome, who appear on Ronstadt’s 1972 self-titled album, played one live gig backing the songstress, after which deciding to form their own band.

Signed to David Geffen’s fledgling Asylum Records, the band – who named themselves Eagles after a peyote and tequila fueled night – found success right out of the gate with their Glyn Johns-produced self-titled debut. The record mixed country-rock with the sounds of Laurel Canyon’s emerging singer-songwriter movement and produced three Top 40 singles – Take It Easy, Witchy Woman and Peaceful Easy Feeling.

The band would go on to become one of the biggest bands of the 1970′s, with a string of three straight number one albums: One Of These Night, Hotel California and The Long Run. The career of the Eagles, who were infamous for their offstage antics and personal differences and have reunited a numerous times since 1994 for seemingly cash-grab tours and albums, is the subject of the new documentary simply titled The History Of The Eagles. The doc will air the over the course of two nights on Showtime, premiering next Friday, February 15, at 8:oo PM ET/PT, with part two following on Saturday night. Let’s check out the trailer…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Twenty years ago tonight Phish played the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, Rhode Island as the second stop of their cross-country Spring Tour. It’s a show that I’ve listened to often since I received a crispy recording of this memorable performance. The quartet debuted Sample In A Jar that night, but my listening sessions often focus on two fantastic pieces of music from PPAC.

[Photo via Nedstalgia]

Towards the beginning of the second set Phish embarks on what would turn out to be a 25-minute sequence in which they worked The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday and Avenu Malkenu into the middle of their traditional Mike’s Groove song suite. Dubbed “The Man Who Stepped Into Mike’s Groove” by fans, it would be the second time since 1988 that Phish didn’t follow Mike’s Song with I Am Hydrogen following the Mike’s > Auld Lang Syne from New Year’s Eve ’92-’93. Not only that, the band worked a bit of Ween’s Push th’ Little Daises, which had just been released as a single, into Weekapaug. Guitarist Trey Anastasio and drummer Jon Fishman both mentioned their appreciation of label mate Ween in interviews that took place around this time. Here’s remastered audio of The Man Who Stepped Into Mike’s Groove from the first Faux The Archives compilation…

Phish also delivered an exceptional version of Harry Hood that evening…

For a first-hand account of Phish’s performance at PPAC on February 4th, 1993, be sure to read HT contributor Aaron “Neddy” Stein’s Nedstalgia piece on it.

UPDATE 2/4 @ 4:15PM ET: Umphrey’s has just revealed that UMBowl IV will take place at Park West. Tickets will cost $99 (+ $3 fee donated to Rock The Earth) and will be available Friday, Feb. 8th at noon CT through etix.com or at the Park West box office. There’s a limit of two tickets per order. In addition, UMBowl IV VIP and travel packages will be available through UMTicketing starting Wednesday, Feb. 6 at noon CT

As has become tradition on Super Bowl Sunday, HT faves Umphrey’s McGee have announced their annual football-themed, interactive UMBowl concert. UMBowl IV will take place in Chicago on April 26th.

Over the next few weeks UM will reveal more information about the concert including the venue, ticketing details and what the theme will be for each of the event’s four quarters. This evening, they shared a look at how they came to a decision on whether to hold UMBowl this year…

For UMBowl I, which was held at Chicago’s Lincoln Hall on April 24th, 2010, the first quarter was an acoustic set, the second quarter was one of the band’s Stew Art sets, the third quarter was an all-request set and the fourth quarter was a “Choose Your Own Adventure Quarter” in which attendees helped guide what the band would do. UMBowl II was held at Park West in Chicago on April 2nd, 2011. “Choose Your Own Adventure” returned as the first quarter, Stew Art came back for the second quarter, the third set was a “Special Teams Quarter” that saw different lineups on each song performed and the fourth set was of the all-request variety. UM returned to Park West for UMBowl III on April 28th, 2012. The first set was an all-request quarter, the second set was a Stew Art event, the third set was a “Choose Your Own Adventure Quarter” while the UMBowl III finale was the “Raw Stewage Quarter” in which the band weaved together the top vote-getters from a list of past “Jimmy Stewart” passages distributed to attendees before the show.

Each year the organizers of the Summer Camp Music Festival hold “Late Nights” at the Red Barn on the Three Sisters Park property. These concerts are ticketed separately from the rest of the festival “due to the limited capacity of the barn.” The extra income these shows provide probably doesn’t hurt either. Recently, Summer Camp organizers have announced most of the acts set to play this year’s Late Nights during the three-day festival which takes place in Chillicothe, Illin. on May 24 – 26.

Jam stalwarts moe. and a band to be announced later will play the Red Barn on Friday, May 24th. STS9, Big Gigantic, Griz and Gramatik will perform at the Red Barn on Saturday, May 25th, while Thievery Corporation and Zeds Dead close out the fest will a late night on Sunday, May 26th. Late Night show tickets are available as part of the event’s VIP Upgrade packages. Pre-sales for individual Late Nights will be announced HERE closer to the festival. Other Summer Camp late night options, which are included in the price of a festival ticket, are Late Night Campfire Jams, the Late Night Vibe Tent and Late Night at the Soulshine Tent.

In addition to three days of moe. and Umphrey’s McGee, other Summer Camp ’13 headliners include Trey Anastasio, STS9, The Avett Brothers and Thievery Corporation.