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May 8-14, 2008
buzz@boulderweekly.com
Back to the future
Phil Lesh and Friends breathe new life into the complacent jamband scene by reinventing improvisational tradition
by Adam Perry
Fantastic or total crap
When Kathleen Edwards released her new album, she didn’t know whether it was the beginning of her career or the end
by Andy Stonehouse
Back to the future
Phil Lesh and Friends breathe new life into the complacent jamband scene by reinventing improvisational tradition
by Adam Perry
When it comes to modern jamband music (i.e. not the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, Santana, etc.), songwriting has notoriously suffered in favor of blissed-out noodling (i.e. String Cheese Incident, Moe., etc) in an effort to please hoola-hooping hippies. So if you’re really going to improvise, you better be damn good and also get dark and dirty on occasion, which indie bands who jam (like Comets On Fire and Sonic Youth) are almost frightfully good at. And thus I’ve always preferred jambands that actually take the out-on-a-limb approach to improvisation pioneered by Miles Davis’ electric period and late ’60s Grateful Dead circa Live/Dead. So when former Grateful Dead bassist and longtime jazz and electronic music-lover Phil Lesh finally started his own series of bands (each labeled simply Phil Lesh and Friends) at the turn of the millennium, it was a joy to see the most “out there” member of the Grateful Dead finally step into the spotlight and pull out tricks the Dead arguably became too stubborn and ossified to realize, like religiously starting each show with a 15 minute group improvisation rather than a crowd-pleasing rocker like “Touch of Grey” or “Hell in a Bucket.”
Whereas in the second half of their 30-year career the Grateful Dead ended up virtually quarantining their truly exploratory music to a 20-minute spot in the second set except in rare cases, the longest running version of Phil Lesh and Friends (with world-class musicians Jimmy Herring, Warren Haynes, John Molo and Rob Barraco) wowed audiences coast-to-coast by bravely plumbing the depths of raw improvisation while simultaneously (and creatively) doing justice to intricately composed Grateful Dead gems like “Terrapin Station” and Lesh’s trademark “Unbroken Chain.” They were even known to dive into classic jazz themes like “Milestones” and “A Love Supreme.” And all of the above is what fans of the more avant-garde side of the Grateful Dead had requested for years anyway.
But loving the music of Phil Lesh, one of the great bass players in the history of rock music (along with the likes of John Entwistle and Jack Bruce), also means loving unpredictability and change. And now Phil Lesh and Friends has sort of come full-circle, from an early run of seriously exploratory shows with guitarist Steve Kimock and members of Phish as his backing band to the enduringly interesting years with Herring and Haynes (both at times members of the Allman Brothers) on guitar to Lesh’s new group, which features longtime Bob Dylan guitarist Larry Campbell on various stringed instruments; the mighty John Molo (Lesh’s go-to guy for almost a decade) on drums; Steve Molitz of the L.A. electronica-influenced jamband Particle on keyboards; and (most surprisingly) the young San Francisco singer-songwriter Jackie Greene on vocals and rhythm guitar. Greene, who eerily resembles Dylan circa Don’t Look Back and is only 27 years old, has been on the road playing roots music practically since he was in diapers but has incredibly grown up to be Lesh’s vocalist/sidekick.
Amid rootsy versions of Grateful Dead classics and Jackie Greene originals, Lesh’s new quintet has been covering everything from the Beatles’ “Mean Mr. Mustard Man” to Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” So when I asked him recently about fans who are surprised by his shift toward more song-based material and openly long for the cohesively jammy days of Herring and Haynes, two dueling monster guitarists, he told me: “First off, if Larry Campbell isn’t, among his other sterling qualities, a ‘monster guitarist,’ I don’t know who is. That said, our approach has changed slightly. Since Jackie and Larry are both ‘roots’ enthusiasts, we’re incorporating more old tunes into the sets even though we still jam out as often as we can.”
Indeed they do, notably last fall in Glen Falls, N.Y., when surprise guest Trey Anastasio (who had been arrested a couple of hours north of Glen Falls less than a year before for DWI and holding narcotics and prescription drugs) sat in on lead guitar for a brutally rocking show that focused on songs with overt references to crime, such as “Viola Lee Blues” and “Bertha.” But as always, Lesh is not content to lean solely on Grateful Dead songs and classic rock covers. He wouldn’t ruin any surprises in our short interview, but mentioned that this tour (which starts at the Fillmore in Denver Thursday night) will include new covers, new Lesh originals and tunes from Jackie Greene’s original catalog.
As far as making the change from 30 years of supporting vocalist/guitarists Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir (whose songs Lesh pretty much does not touch), Lesh told me he tries to put his own stamp on the songs Garcia sang rather than imitating the legend:
“As a singer, one has to make the song one’s own or it won’t be credible. I try to do that to the best of my admittedly limited vocal ability. That said, every performance is a tribute to the music itself, underscoring the range of interpretations the songs invite.”
And one imagines that, as always, they will be treated to altogether unique versions of not only Grateful Dead songs but surprise covers when Phil Lesh and Friends hit the Fillmore Thursday and Friday. Asked about his 40 years of experience playing in Colorado, Lesh concluded:
“Six words: Red Rocks, Red Rocks, Red Rocks. Three more: Fillmore, Fillmore, Fillmore. Two of the very finest venues in the country, if not on the planet. The most enthusiastic fans outside of New York. What could be finer?”
On the Bill
On the Bill
Phil Lesh and Friends will perform 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, and Friday, May 9, at the Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson St., Denver, 303-837-1482.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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Fantastic or total crap
When Kathleen Edwards released her new album, she didn’t know whether it was the beginning of her career or the end
by Andy Stonehouse
After nine months of trans-continental travel to record the tracks that would eventually become her new CD, Asking for Flowers, Canadian musician Kathleen Edwards found herself in a bit of a quandary. She couldn’t, she explains, tell if the music she’d created in Los Angeles with producer Jim Scott (formerly of seminal alt-country heroes Whiskeytown) was fantastic or total crap.
“Random friends who listened to early versions of the CD were indifferent, and I got almost no response from the record company,” Edwards says. “It was a little scary, as I felt really emotionally invested in the project. Talk about a major rollercoaster. I thought I’d either made the worst record of my life or the best record of my life.”
To Edwards’ surprise, in the months following the release of the CD, everything has been… well, absolutely fantastic. The disc has garnered positive reviews in publications from Paste to Rolling Stone; Edwards has made appearances on Letterman; and audiences seem to be larger and more enthusiastic on every leg of her current U.S. tour.
And as she returns to Boulder, always a particular stronghold for Edwards’ exceptionally beautiful music about frequently depressing topics (think Ryan Adams meets Lucinda Williams, with a clearer north-of-the-border intonation), Edwards rolls along in that slightly giddy “I can’t believe you really like me” glow that’s been a major relief, in many ways.
“As my first CD in three years, I kind of made a record in a fashion that was completely oblivious to what the marketing and radio guys said. I thought, maybe I’d have a quiet couple of years and be able to go back to playing smaller venues, but the opposite has been happening. And that’s really validating, especially after making the decision to put out a CD with five- or six-minute-long songs that probably aren’t going to be played on the radio.”
Edwards’ chief partner in crime in what turns out to be a well-received experiment was Scott and a not unimpressive group of his L.A. music friends who stepped in to play on the Asking for Flowers sessions: Tom Petty sideman Benmont Tench, plus session players Don Heffington, Colin Cripps and Greg Leisz, whose credits range from Bob Dylan to Wilco.
Edwards says she’d long been a Whiskeytown fan, and when the opportunity arose to find a producer for the follow-up to 2005’s Back to Me, she contacted him and he was compelled by the opportunity.
“Jim was always my dream-name producer. And in a strange twist of fate, he was interested. He’d lived and worked in L.A. for so long, and maybe he hadn’t been around someone who was actually honored to meet him and work with him. But we made an immediate connection. We pushed each other’s buttons, in a good way, and he did a great job. He just asked me to come to the studio with some good songs, and we would work on the rest. He even said, ‘Usually I don’t listen to the projects I produce, but even now I’m still listening to your record.’ I also thought I would be totally afraid of playing with people like Benmont, but it all worked out great — he was so gracious.”
The breadth of material on Waiting for Flowers makes it the type of album that holds up under closer scrutiny. Edwards still dips her feet in the alt-country end of the pool, occasionally with intensity, but the back-stories to the material make the whole thing worthy of repeated listenings. There’s “Alicia Ross,” the first-person take on the tale of a 25-year-old Toronto resident murdered by her next-door neighbor, and there’s “Oh Canada,” an eye-opening swipe at the not-so-positive social changes under way in the Great White North.
Whether or not U.S. audiences fully understand the songs, Edwards can’t say. As was the case during the creation of the new disc, she’s happy to remain a bit enigmatic.
“I really try not to worry what people think about me or my music — I think that ends up just being a crutch to validate yourself. My only intention was to create songs that people would go, ‘Yeah, that really moved me.’ There’s no censoring going on in my life.”
On the Bill
Kathleen Edwards will perform with Last Town Chorus at 9 p.m. on Friday, May 9, at the Fox Theatre, 1135 13th St., Boulder, 303-443-3399.
Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com
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