this is a newly released box set that captures a compilation of shows that the band did over a span of five years at a music festival in northern california. the title comes from the name of the initial benefit concert, held at french’s camp on the eel river in piercy, california. the first show was from labor day weekend in 1987, and was in many ways a warm up for the string of broadway shows jerry and bill graham put together later that october. as such, it not only included the band doing two sets of electric material, but also an acoustic set before that. the latter is not included in the box set, but was available for a period of time on his website.

the band came back in 1989, and then a final time in 1991. culled from the original soundboard recordings by sound engineer john cutler, they have been remastered and sound great. my only small complaint is that jerry’s vocal and guitar on the 1989 show are not as far up in the mix as i would like, but it is a very minor issue. this is the final (and longest standing) lineup of the jerry garcia band, and so the members are the same on all three shows. maybe it was the laid back vibes of the festival, or maybe some other factors, but all of the material is exceptional and passionately played.

the set lists are very typical of this era, and highlight jerry’s love for good songwriters. following up on the heels of his diabetic coma in 1986 and his turbulent marital life, you could argue that the song selections might also be somewhat autobiographical. from dylan’s ‘i shall be released’ to allen toussaint’s ‘get out of my life woman’, there seems to be a theme to the choices. this is also a period of time where jerry was finding his band to be a relief from the stress of working with the grateful dead. ‘touch of grey’ came out in july of 1987, and brought with it the long overdue commercial success. but it also forced them to play in larger venues, losing the close connections to the audiences that gave them spiritual sustenance. jerry’s singing and guitar work sound particularly inspired here, all the way through. the two cuts below  – the only two officially offered – don’t really give justice to the overall production. it is my opinion that during this period jerry saved some of his best for this band, rather than the dead. this release is a good example of my thesis. listen to the ‘deal’ that closes out each first set, especially the 1991 show. i am not aware of a version of that song by the dead that is better. another fine release by the garcia family.

as i have mentioned many times before, my purpose here is to share with my friends musically related offerings that i think deserve a wider audience. i think can think of no better example than the artist i am about to introduce to you. most of the time, after burning a cd to my collection, i will hit play and then work in my den and listen to it in the background while i do other things. my real listening comes later when i am driving to and from work. last night, i put this in, got through about the first three songs while cleaning the kitchen, and then just stopped. although i knew nothing at the time about this young man, i could tell this was something special. i went downstairs, hooked up the real speakers in the man cave, fixed myself a cocktail, sat down in my big comfy chair, and then started the whole thing over again. and listened to it cover to cover. twice. i never do that. then i listened to it on the way to work and back today. this kid has some raw talent, beautifully captured here, and he has put together a very impressive first album.

j.s. ondara says he can trace his entire career back to a bad bet he made ten years ago in his hometown of nairobi, kenya. he and a friend were listening to ‘knockin’ on heaven’s door’, which he had never heard before. he thought it was by his favorite band, guns and roses. his friend won the bet by correctly noting that it was bob dylan. ondara immediately decided he needed to know everything about this ‘new’ artist, and became obsessed with bob. it partially inspired him to become a musician (he had already been writing stories and songs). when he won a green card lottery, he scraped up enough money to move overseas to minneapolis – partly because he had an aunt there, but mostly because it is the home state of the great bard himself. he taught himself how to play guitar, entered open mic nights, uploaded youtube videos of cover songs, and eventually was discovered by a dj on a minneapolis npr station.

produced by mike viola and recorded in los angeles, he gets some backing help from andrew bird and taylor and griffin goldsmith from dawes. the all acoustic selections are entirely written by ondara, and range from catchy pop stylings (‘getting good at saying goodbye’), to sparse spiritual arrangements. i was a third of the way into ‘turkish bandana’ when i realized that there were no instruments. his voice is his best instrument, usually a commanding but slightly androgynous tenor, which can occasionally slip up to a quivering falsetto. at times he almost sounds like an early tracy chapman, not only in the timbre but in his phrasings. he told his producers that he wanted the overall sound to be somewhere between ‘astral weeks’ and ‘the freewheelin bob dylan’, and i think he almost gets there, but in his own way. he is a wonderful songwriter – simple but sometimes profound lyrics that touch on current social topics without sounding preachy, much like his idol. readers of mine will know that i tend to get turned off by many of today’s songwriters’ attempts at political diatribes, but ondara has that unique capability of telling a story in a nuanced way that still gets his point across. there are also a few love songs, or more accurately, songs about relationships. his dialect sometimes makes the lyrics difficult to understand, so i would recommend getting the actual cd so you can read them in the liner notes. many of the songs deal with his experiences with immigration – certainly in the difficulty entailed in such endeavors – but just as importantly in the hope and promise and freedom that this country offers.

so listen below, and welcome this immigrant into your home. and remember, you heard him hear first.

if you read enough of my blog posts you will see that i listen to a large variety of music, but the dead still hold a dear and significant place in my heart (and soul). i have gotten to the point of my music collecting career where i will buy anything that the grateful dead organization releases. i do this for three reasons, in the following order of importance.

first, there are still a ton of great recordings in their vault, and i have found that the quality of both the material and recording to be almost always top notch. david lemieux, the dead’s archivist, has stated often that those are the two equally important criteria they insist on when considering a show for production and subsequent release. second, i am a collector, so i always love an opportunity to add to my inventory of shows. third, they hold their value. whether it is the box sets or my 7 year subscription to the dave’s picks series, they are for the most part all worth more on the secondary market than what i paid for them.

and so it was without hesitation that i jumped on this box set when it was first introduced earlier in the summer, and i am not disappointed. the artwork and packaging are outstanding. this is one my favorite periods of the dead, and all six shows included here are exceptional. the recording quality is surprisingly good, with the only issue being an occasional imbalance in the overall mix. they seemed to have some trouble with keeping the vocals up in the mix, but it gets corrected in due time. the three shows from 1974 of course feature their legendary ‘wall of sound’. the book that accompanies the box is replete with pictures, anecdotes, and information.  i have gotten through about half of the material so far, but can already give it my strongest recommendation. i didn’t want to wait to long to post on this, nor go into more detail about the material, mostly due to the fact that it might sell out and i wanted to make sure all of you had a chance of picking one up. they only made 15,000 of these things, and once they sell out, they will be gone. the price tag is around $190, but keep in mind that there are six full shows, 20 hours of music, and 19 fully loaded cds. i consider that to be a pretty good value. check out the two promotional videos they put out below, and then head over to dead.net and pick one up. if you don’t like it i will buy it off of you.

http://www.dead.net/store/music/new-releases/pacific-northwest-73-74-complete-recordings-boxed-set

this the the fourth album by the aptly titled band, folk soul revival. this is my first introduction to them, and i am fairly smitten. hailing from bristol, virginia, they have been local favorites there for over ten years. even though they play plenty of gigs and do some occasional touring, they all still hang onto their day jobs. they are not in it for the money, and they play and sound like it. as their press release says, these are tales told from ‘front porches, back roads and friday night football games, sketching a picture that is quintessentially southern’. daniel davis is the primary songwriter and lead singer. his voice tilts back and forth between jason isbell and tyler childers. recorded in nashville over a span of two years, the tunes are passionately played and well recorded. the songs sound original and familiar at the same time. i have been through it three times now, and i like it more each time. my only complaint is that, as far as i can tell, it is only available by download. call me old fashioned, but i still like the actual cd. i am an avid liner note reader, and like to see who plays on what tracks. the only way i found out that the mccrary sisters sang some backup was from reading a few reviews. but this is a minor bicker, and if it is cheaper for them to get their music out, then i will roll with that. this is a band worthy of a wider audience. if you agree with most of my musical musings on this site, then just trust me on this one. on ‘that’s life’, he sings ‘they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but what if no one sees it?’. indeed.

hat tip to bill vv from austin. keep the suggestions coming.