By: David Schultz

As the ostensible frontman for the String Cheese Incident, bluegrass-loving guitarist Bill Nershi is largely responsible for bringing a certain amount of honky tonk to the Colorado based band. As part of Honkytonk Homeslice, one of the many SCI side projects, Nershi teams up with his wife, Jilian Nershi, and Scott Law. Feeding his inner folkie, he leads the group through a number of original selections whose roots stretch back to traditional Americana. While far from the Coen brothers' depiction of the Soggy Bottom Boys singing into "yonder can," Honkytonk Homeslice was recorded in a style mirroring the music's old-timey roots: everyone sat in one room with open mics so that there would be no separation between the voices and the instruments.

More homestyle than honky tonk, Honkytonk Homeslice is simply a fun, old-fashioned set of acoustic style offerings from three singer-songwriters sitting around a proverbial campfire. Rarely rowdy, the three do get bluesy on "Bear Creek Blues" and "School Bells," which features an appearance on bass by Nershi's String Cheese compadre Keith Moseley. The album centers on well-crafted harmonies and acoustic guitar arrangements, most successfully on "Shot In The Blue," but not to the point of submerging the album in excessive strumming; Law's mandolin, Bill Nershi's lap steel and Jilian's pretty, peaceful voice add color and standout on the relatively straightforward tracks. Though lacking the bluegrass or countrified vibe the title seems to promise, Honkytonk Homeslice delivers enough conventional melodies to satisfy the traditionalists and include a few modern wrinkles to please those who expect as much from any Nershi project.

Labels: Bill Nershi, Honkytonk Homeslice

By: David Schultz
Photo Credit C. Taylor Crothers via Madison House Publicity

Last summer String Cheese Incident helped organize the Jammy award winning Big Summer Classic, headlining a series of festival-like shows that featured Michael Franti and Spearhead, Umphrey's McGee, New Monsoon, Keller Williams, Xavier Rudd and the Yonder Mountain String Band. While savvy purveyors of the jamband scene were already familiar with String Cheese's touring partners, more casual fans, drawn by the Cheese, received gifts as glorious as Williams' one-man-band stage show and Franti's obsessive-compulsion for asking the crowd how they're feeling. As SCI's fans are well versed in the Grateful Dead, the Colorado sextet finds their roles reversed on their current summer tour with Bob Weir and Ratdog: getting a chance to play for Deadheads who can finally match the Cheese's music to their indelible name.

The sensibility of pairing Ratdog with String Cheese goes beyond the two bands' affinity for extended improvisational jams: String Cheese's traces its origins to the same Americana based music mined with great success by the Grateful Dead. Where the Dead mixed their bluegrass influences with folk, blues and psychedelia, String Cheese keeps their bluegrass heart front and center, often bringing in elements of calypso, Latin music and funk in the same manner the Talking Heads worked those same rhythms into their later work.



Anyone expecting straightforward rock and roll will be initially puzzled by String Cheese Incident's distinct style; probably spending a good third of the show wondering from where the band's plaudits derive. However, once SCI finds their groove, usually within the last third of their shows, they dispel all doubts. Their fusion of seemingly incompatible genres has slowly but steadily attracted a loyal following who thankfully leave the Cheesehead appellation to the Green Bay Packers. Their idiosyncratic sound results from the union of an unlikely group of musicians. Acoustic and lap steel guitarist Bill Nershi makes an unlikely frontman, possessing the skills but not the overblown charisma of your typical band leader. In the absence of a traditional lead guitarist, the versatile Michael Kang fills the role of the virtuoso, primarily playing mandolin and violin. Michael Travis and Jason Hann conjure up a variety of tribal beats and intricate rhythms, teaming up with bassist Keith Moseley to take over a sizable portion of some String Cheese shows. When Moseley's not keeping the beat, he pairs up with keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth to take the Incident into decidedly Cheese-y directions.

More than just receiving equal billing, String Cheese shared opening duties with Ratdog, even though seniority might dictate that the descendants of the Grateful Dead serve as the headliner. Weir, Nershi and company came to New York City's venerable Radio City Music Hall recently for a pair of performances. A delightfully wonderful venue for jambands, Radio City's cavernous arena has an enormous stage and a breathtaking array of colorful lights installed throughout the hall. For the Thursday evening show, String Cheese began the evening with a lengthy two hour opening set, making great use of Radio City's more spectacular attributes: inviting a pair of artists to paint on stage while skillfully incorporating Radio City's lights within their own to create a trippy, psychedelic atmosphere.

String Cheese opened the Radio City run with some appropriate selections: a cover of Bob Dylan's New York-centric "Just Like Tom Thumb Blues," and the timeless jazz standard "Birdland." The middle portion of the set belonged to Hollingsworth's crunchy, techno-style keyboards and Moseley's pulsing bass, hitting high notes on "Water" and a "Mouna Bowa" which seamlessly (of course) segued into "Eye Know Why." In finishing off the show with "It Is What It Is" and a rollicking, delightfully hillbillyish "Can't Stop Now," Nershi and Kang, who generally plays mandolin and violin, joyously traded guitar riffs; Kang demonstrating a deft proficiency for laying down a catchy guitar riff.

The styles of the two bands meshed well, as did the musicians themselves. Over the course of their dates together, guest appearances were the norm, not the exception. While Thursday's show saw only one small bit of overlap - Michael Travis hurriedly running on stage to join Ratdog drummer Jay Lane on an instrumental segue between "Cassady" and a cover of "Dear Prudence" - Friday night's featured members of both bands popping up left and right during each other's sets. The inclusive spirit embodied on stage spread into the audience; possibly to the disconcertment of Radio City security who may not have been entirely prepared for the single-minded focus of overly-dedicated fans to get close to the stage. After being thwarted by ticket checkers at the aisle, many quickly figured out that they could simply climb over the seats and get as close as they liked. Some may bristle at the ingenious tactics employed by some of the jamband scene's more dedicated participants: muttering the dreaded epithet "hippie" under their breath; for most though, it's simply part of the fun of a show and the reason why a jamband show, even one in such venerated a hall at Radio City, will always remain an experience or as the String Cheese fans would say - an incident.

Labels: Bill Nershi, Bob Weir, Ratdog, String Cheese Incident

By: David Schultz

Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Marco Benevento and Joe Russo Join Lesh For A Jamming Night On Long Island

While Deadheads worldwide prepare to honor the memory of Jerry Garcia on the 11th anniversary of his passing, Phil Lesh & Friends, the eponymously named band led by the Dead's bassist, and Ratdog, guitarist Bob Weir's longtime band, are doing more than simply keeping the Grateful Dead's legacy alive; they are adding a satisfying afterword to the band's storied career. Despite the lack of any significant new material since Garcia's death, both Lesh and Weir have proven to be consistently successful touring attractions by using the same simple, battle tested formula: play Grateful Dead songs for Grateful Dead fans. The old fans still turn out in droves but it's the new fans, most too young to have experienced the Dead in their prime, if at all, that are keeping this franchise afloat. This past week, both Lesh and Weir brought their respective "second acts" to New York: Phil & Friends playing an outdoor show on the Long Island Sound at the Nikon at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York; Weir bringing Ratdog to New York City's world-famous Radio City Music Hall.

Since gathering his friends around him, Lesh's Friends have included musicians of All-Star proportion, including such notable names as Steve Kimock, Warren Haynes, Derek Trucks, Trey Anastasio, Mike Gordon, Al Schnier and current Lesh fave Ryan Adams. His current group of Friends is comprised of musician's musicians: singer Joan Osborne, guitarist Larry Campbell, keyboardist Rob Barraco, pedal steel guitarist Barry Sless, drummer John Molo and saxophonist Greg Osby. Osborne may be Phil's most recognizable Friend, having had a moderately successful solo career highlighted by the 1995 radio success of "One Of Us." The versatile and multi-talented Campbell handles lead guitar duties, coming to the Dead bassist's side after spending much of the past decade touring with Bob Dylan. Campbell, one of the newer members of the band, joins longtime Friends Barraco, Sless and Molo. Veteran saxophonist Greg Osby rounds out Phil's latest batch of acquaintances, braving the often troublesome brass-unfriendly winds of Jones Beach. As Phish's Trey Anastasio and Mike Gordon and the Benevento/Russo Duo (unofficially referred to as G.R.A.B.) have been opening a good number of Phil & Friends' summer shows, Anastasio, a former Friend himself, has been regularly joining in the fun, usually replacing Sless during the second set. For their Jones Beach show, Anastasio did not disappoint: without fanfare, he returned for the second set to the unabashed delight of the crowd.

Even though his name is on the marquee, Lesh hardly conveys a sense of superiority or entitlement because the songs on the setlist are primarily Grateful Dead chestnuts. Instead, he disperses the leads of the various songs, smartly matching each Friend to the proper song: Barraco's voice perfectly suited the evening-opening "Playing In the Band" and the encore of "U.S. Blues;" Larry Campbell handled vocals and fronted the band on an extended run through "Big River" and Osby replaces the distinctive guitar runs of "China Cat Sunflower" with weighty saxophone licks. When not dancing sultrily along with the music, Osborne delivered bluesy vocals, standing out on a lengthy trip through "Stella Blue." Even Anastasio got into the act, his voice and guitar a perfect match for second set's opening couplet of "Scarlet Begonias" and "Fire On The Mountain."

In 2005, when Lesh co-hosted the Jammy Awards, he joined temperamental guitarist Ryan Adams for a sterling performance of "Wharf Rat" and "Bird Song." Since then, whether present or not, Lesh has incorporated an Adams song into most of his shows. On this temperate evening at Jones Beach, he included Adams' Cold Roses track "Let It Ride." In contrast to the crisp first set, Lesh & Friends' second set consisted of spacey, drawn-out instrumentals. The effect may not have been entirely intentional: too often, Lesh seemed to be singing without realizing that his voice wasn't making it to the audience. When Lesh's microphone did work, he struggled with the words to "Dark Star" and "The Other One," replacing the ones he forgot with a sheepish grin that brought laughter from the crowd.

Admirably, Lesh and Weir are doing more than just fostering interest in the continually thriving Deadhead scene: having inspired numerous other bands with their psychedelic improvisational live performances, the two are exposing their fans to bands and musicians that are carrying on the Grateful Dead tradition. While Lesh pairs up with Anastasio, Gordon and The Duo, String Cheese Incident, fronted by the bluegrass loving Bill Nershi, will receive equal billing with Weir's Ratdog. The cross-pollination of the Dead's older fans with Phish's and String Cheese's younger fans has resulted in exceptionally full and wide-ranging evenings of music. In contrast to String Cheese, G.R.A.B. comes with a more complex subplot. Similar to how Lesh and Weir have moved forward in the post-Dead universe, G.R.A.B. have been drawing interest as an intriguing chapter in the ever-developing post-Phish saga. This episode: how will the Phish duo interact with the Duo?

Their lengthy opening set at Jones Beach encompassed the balmy early evening, consisting of a nice mix of Anastasio's solo material, a couple Gordon compositions, a Benevento/Russo Duo tune (the gorgeous "Something For Rockets") and a pair of wonderfully eclectic covers. The sharing endemic to the jamband scene spread comprehensively throughout the foursome: Anastasio and Gordon's fame, experience and recognition providing the rub to the Duo; Benevento and Russo's freshness, youth and innovative energy spreading to the veteran musicians. At 5:00, while most of the audience obliviously tailgated or remained stuck in the Friday evening morass known as the Long Island Expressway, The Duo performed an all-too-brief opening set focusing primarily on material from their new album Play, Pause, Stop. Those who made it into the amphitheatre early quickly learned why Benevento, an inventive keyboard player, and Russo, a masterful drummer, have drawn the raves they have received, including the 2005 Jammy Award for New Groove Of The Year. Strutting their estimable stuff much earlier in the afternoon freed the Duo to fill less prominent but still significant supporting roles for Anastasio and Gordon.

Even though G.R.A.B. had a couple weeks together under their belt, they were still finding their comfort zone with each other. Benevento and Russo are adept at predicting what directions each will go in; obviously, so are Anastasio and Gordon. As a foursome, they seem to be in the final stages of finding a true comfort zone, resulting in some wandering instrumental interludes. On the opener, "Plasma," they engaged in some traditional jamming; offering more distinctly Phishy jamming later in the set on "Suskind Hotel" and "Dragonfly." The shrewdness of the group's decision to cover Wings' "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," which segued nicely into Stealers Wheel's "Stuck In The Middle With You," wasn't matched by the actual performance; a trait shared by a number of Phish's covers (e.g. "Tubthumping," "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It"). The reaction of the audience to the familiar tunes, especially Gerry Rafferty's Reservoir Dogs classic, indicated that they appreciated the effort. In closing with Anastasio's "Shine," G.R.A.B. finished on the highest of notes, even if the bespectacled singer's voice seemed to give out during the set closer.

Lesh & Friends, along with Ratdog, are continuing a legacy that began in the sixties, extending their reach to a newer generation of fans. Towards the end of Lesh's show, he guided the band into an old Dead set-closing standard, a percussion-heavy, thumping version of "Not Fade Away." The classic Buddy Holly song seemed sharply poignant: anyone boating on the Sound that night surely heard the honest and heartfelt exhortation of Deadheads, both young and old, joyously proclaiming a truth that has become self-evident over these many years: "No, our love will not fade away."

Labels: Benevento/Russo Duo, Bill Nershi, Bob Weir, Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia, Joe Russo, Marco Benevento, Mike Gordon, Phil Lesh, Ratdog, Trey Anastasio

At roughly 4:15, Umphrey's McGee, the Indiana based jamband took the stage at the Prospect Park Bandshell as part of the 2005 Big Summer Classic. The crowd, which was baking in the late afternoon sun, greeted the band by producing numerous beach balls and took great delight in batting them about while the band started to groove. The largest, a globelike green beach ball, made its way towards the sound booth and came to rest in an empty row. A squat bald overweight man came over and grabs the ball but rather than send it back amongst the crowd calmly pierces it with his lit cigarette. Fans O the Jamband: Welcome to Brooklyn!!

The Big Summer Classic is this year's top touring jamband festival. Finding its roots in Monterey and Woodstock, the Summer Classic's proper progenitor is the H.O.R.D.E. festivals of the mid nineties. Following the success of Perry Farrell's Lollapalooza concerts, John Popper and Blues Traveler created Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere. Gathering their musical comrades like The Spin Doctors, Widespread Panic and the Samples, the H.O.R.D.E. festival toured the country spreading good vibes everywhere.

Jamband festivals have maintained their link to their 60's ancestors by fostering social awareness and political activism. War protestors, environmental activists and marijuana decriminalization supporters gather with the purpose of rallying their brethren to support their cause and using the momentum to achieve social change. The politics and beliefs of the crowd were usually echoed back to them by the musicians on stage creating one big communal atmosphere of peace and love. It is in this respect that the Big Summer Classic separates itself. Despite an unpopular ongoing war in Iraq, Michael Franti was the only one to even mention it much less denounce it. The 2005 jamband crowd doesn't seem to want to their groove disturbed by the outside world.

That is not to say that there weren't some relics of the old hippie festivals. Concert goers were encouraged to proceed through the "Karma Wash" in which Karma technicians would ward off the bad vibes from your person through their proficient use of feathers and goodwill. Relix magazine had a prominent presence with spontaneous drum circles erupting between sets by their tent. Most entertaining were the twenty foot high inflatable Sumo wrestlers, the symbols of the tour, that towered over the back of the park grounds. Although there was a good smattering of tie dye, the clothing of choice of today's concert-goer seems to be a simple T and shorts.

Oh yes, there was also some music -- a lot of good music. With the sun beating down on the stage, the early arriving fans fell into two groups: those crushing up against the stage to get as close to the band as possible and those laying back on the lawn in the shade with a beer. As the concert progressed and the sun set, more and more people abandoned the lawn to the get closer to the music.

San Francisco based New Monsoon opened the show to an enthusiastic response. Possibly owing to its brevity, the band's 4 song set, heavy on percussion and middle Eastern rhythms, was the tightest of the day. Amidst band staples Blast and Daddy Long Legs, the band covered Pink Floyd's Echoes in its near 18 minute entirety, creatively employing a balloon and the sides of their drums to achieve the spacey interlude.

Umphrey's braved the mean spirited beach ball popping troglodyte but still played an underwhelming set. Distracting everyone from the music, the band marred their set by bringing out a horde of dancing girls in ill fitting bikinis and fishnet stockings to writhe around arythmically and unsexily.

Michael Franti and Spearhead attempted to enlighten as well as entertain. The Umphrey dancing girls were put to better use as they paraded throughout the crowd with placards containing aphorisms from the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, Alice Walker, Ghandi, Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Spearhead's set also contributed the only mention of the Iraqi war with Franti exhorting "Bush War 1, Bush War 2, Got a war for me and a war for you" during Everyone Deserves Music's We Don't Stop.

Musically, Spearhead brought the crowd to their feet with reggae infused socially aware songs like Yes I Will and Yell Fire. String Cheese Incident's Michael Kang joined the band halfway through the set, notably contributing his violin to a rousing version of Everlast's What I Got. In a stranger accompaniment, a large muscular gent with black militant shades joined the band -- for a flower arrangement solo, which didn't last long enough as it seemed there were some lilies to add to the mix.

Playing barefoot, Keller Williams brought his unique blend of acoustic guitar mastery and backing audio loops. Onstage, Williams is an overgrown child having fun with all his various bells, whistles and theremin. Like a talented and funnier version of Carrottop, he brings the instruments out at random intervals and adds them to the backing loop. The one drawback to the loops is that it is difficult to tell when Williams is playing and when you are listening to a recording.

Williams uses his technical and musical acumen to great effect and his "one-man band" is truly unique and something to see live. Quite likely, someone will eventually outdo Williams at his own game and gain a larger audience with a similar act. Hopefully, they will have the humility to acknowledge Williams as the progenitor of this inventive mix of man and machine. Until that time though, there is noone else doing this better

His set included his normal batch of eclectic originals as well as covers of Gin and Juice, Candyman and Fly Like An Eagle. The set also contained another standard of the jamband festival -- the seamless transition with the next act. As Williams wound his set down, he was progressively joined by members of the Yonder Mountain String Band. With the whole String Band finally on stage for the Steve Miller closer, Williams finished up, waved goodbye and without stopping the YMSB took off with an hour of their brand of bluegrass and country. The collaborations between the bands continued as String Cheese's Bill Nershi joined the band for last third of their set.

With the sun set, the show was closed by the undisputed headliner of the Classic, String Cheese Incident. While most of the Brooklyn crowd came to see the Cheese, a theory supported by the multitude of enraptured spasmodic arhytymic dancers, they failed to enthrall the entire crowd. String Cheese's studio sound is grounded in bluegrass but onstage their sound is reminiscent of Graceland era Paul Simon fused with an inspired jamheavy Miami Sound Machine with the whole conglomeration seeking Harry Belafonte's approval to use calypso.

This night, the band made some odd choices. In the musical equivalent of sitting LeBron James in the 4th quarter of a close game, Michael Kang, an amazing and inventive violin player, played mandolin and guitar for most of the set. The band was also ill-equipped to tackle their cover of Stevie Wonder's I Wish. Missteps aside, String Cheese does have moments where they command attention and did so during the closing tunes One Step Closer and Search. Frustratingly, the frequency of those moments pales in comparison to their predecessors like the Grateful Dead and Phish.

Bringing back members from Umphrey's McGee and Spearhead, SCI appropriately ended the show with an encore of the Beastie Boys No Sleep Till Brooklyn. Michael Franti came onstage mid song for a little free style before being joined by dancing trees who helped lead the crowd in a chant for MORE - TREES -- IN -- BROOKLYN!

Labels: Bill Nershi, Keller Williams, Michael Franti, New Monsoon, Spearhead, String Cheese Incident, Umphrey's McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band