In 2010, when I first conceived of a holiday mix tape, the concept seemed like fertile ground — there were a number of much celebrated holiday takes from my favorite jambands, and all I had to do was  assemble them.  The playlist just sort of fell together A few leftover tracks turned into the seed [...]

Contributed by Gee Forjay (@312mrg) Afrobeat is a sound and a movement, music and a state of mind. It's the joyous awakening of a continent from a colonial nightmare and the crushing realization that the nightmare isn't over yet. It's anguish and happiness whipped together with traditional drums, cheap guitars, and even cheaper amps. For [...]

Contributed by Gee Forjay (@312mrg) If you enjoy live music, you live for those moments when you’ve felt a certain unity. It’s when that thing happens that everyone at the show has shown up for, crystallizing in time and space and in the middle of song, jam, note… whatever. This is what you pay for, [...]

Contributed by GeeForjay (@312mrg) I was jolted into a harsh reality during my work commute this week, suddenly realizing that the calendar has unofficially flipped from summer to autumn. Fall brews are on tap, the sun’s rising later in the morning and going down earlier in the evening. While fall is unequivocally my favorite season [...]

Every once in a while, a confluence of forces lead to a live music experience with so much potential, its legend begins to form even before a single note is played. Do you feel that?  It’s the sensation of the stars aligning for one such event.  This Friday (1/27), Strange Arrangement and Greensky Bluegrass convene [...]

The Barn’s 2010 Holiday Mixtape was subtitled A Very Jamband Christmas and justifiably so — it’s intent was to collect a CD length holiday playlist that showcased the style of improv-leaning bands on Christmas classics.  Though at the time I thought I had cultivated the cream of jamband holiday fare, it became obvious that more [...]

There are certain musical truths in this world.  One of them (as this Venn Diagram explains) is that everybody loves Pink Floyd.  Their fans are rabid and diverse and they’ve  inspired musicians across a large swath of genres and backgrounds.  And so, when I set out to put together another Barn Presents Mix Tape featuring [...]

While The Barn’s recent interview with Melvin Seals intended to shed some light on the Jerry Garcia Band catalog, Melvin made it clear that the Jerry tunes weren’t the only thing he’s been up to lately. I took this as an open door to explore some of the other projects Melvin has been involved with, [...]

During the Phish Jukebox Summer Tour of 1998, the “Terrapin Station” debut got all the press, demonstrably connecting Phish to the looming presence and influence of the Grateful Dead.  But I argue that it was the bust-out of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” that got the more intense and personal reaction from fans.  For many Phish [...]

Widespread Panic and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band are each a force to be reckoned with individually.  But, when these thirteen musicians step on stage and let it loose, it is the type of pulse-quickening, orchestrated chaos that can floor audiences and crumble the foundations of the venues that they play. There are two fine [...]