VA- Dear Jerry : Celebrating the Music of Jerry Garcia [2016] [24-48]

On Thursday, 2015, May 14, an extraordinary collection of music stars came together at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, for the concert event of a lifetime, DEAR JERRY: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF JERRY GARCIA, to honor one of the most influential musicians and cultural icons of our time. The concert event featured performances by: Phil Lesh & Communion, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann’s Billy & the Kids, Buddy Miller, David Grisman, Eric Church, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Frampton, Jorma Kaukonen, Los Lobos, moe., O.A.R., Grace Potter, The Disco Biscuits, Trampled By Turtles, Widespread Panic, and Yonder Mountain String Band.

1. Phil Lesh & Communion - The Wheel Uncle John’s Band 17:00
2. Allen Toussaint & Bill Kreutzmann - Get Out of My Life Woman 3:43
3. David Grisman - Shady Grove 4:42
4. Peter Frampton & Bill Kreutzmann - (I’m a) Road Runner 4:40
5. Buddy Miller - Deal 3:29
6. Jorma Kaukonen - Sugaree 7:30
7. Jimmy Cliff, Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann - The Harder They Come 3:33
8. Jimmy Cliff, Bob Weir, Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann - Fire On the Mountain 6:53
9. Billy & The Kids - Help On the Way Slipknot Franklin’s Tower 10:14
10. The Disco Biscuits & Billy & The Kids - Scarlet Begonias I Know You Rider 12:36
11. moe. - Loser 7:11
12. O.A.R. - St. Stephen 5:38
13. Los Lobos & Bob Weir - Bertha 6:54
14. Trampled By Turtles - Brown-Eyed Women 5:42
15. Yonder Mountain String Band - Shakedown Street 8:28
16. Bob Weir - Days Between 10:19
17. Bob Weir & Grace Potter - Friend of the Devil 6:55
18. Eric Church & Bill Kreutzmann - Tennessee Jed 5:53
19. Widespread Panic - Morning Dew 12:06
20. Bob Weir, Mickey Hart & Bill Kreutzmann - Touch of Grey 6:49
21. Full Ensemble - Ripple 5:29

Dave McMurray - Grateful Deadication 2 (2023) [24-96]

Saxophonist Dave McMurray returns with Grateful Deadication 2, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2021 tribute album which once again finds the saxophonist reimagining the songs of the Grateful Dead with his gritty and soulful Detroit sound which draws upon jazz, pop, rock, soul, reggae, R&B, gospel, and more.

The album features McMurray’s Detroit band plus special guests Jamey Johnson, Oteil Burbridge, Bob James, and Don Was on a collection of Dead favorites including “Truckin’,” “Scarlet Begonias,” and “China Cat Sunflower.”

1. Playing In The Band

2. China Cat Sunflower

3. Bird Song

4. To Lay Me Down (feat. Jamey Johnson)

5. Truckin’

6. The Other One (feat. Bob James)

7. If I Had The World To Give (feat. Bob James)

8. Scarlet Begonias (feat. Oteil Burbridge)

9. Crazy Fingers

Paul Gilbert - The Dio Album (2023) [24-48]

Nobody sensible would argue with Paul Gilbert's credentials, or indeed his enormous talent. Whether raising the bar for heavy metal with the perennially underrated RACER-X, conquering soft rock radio with MR. BIG or simply being one of the most technically gifted and creative guitarists on the planet, he is a certified walking benchmark for six-string artistry. He is also still more than capable of a surprise or two. Rather than paying tribute to another legendary guitarist from the past, as is so often the case with projects like this, Gilbert has made the laudable move of exploring the greatest hits of Ronnie James Dio, thus revealing both excellent taste and a gently subversive streak. On "The Dio Album", he casually becomes the late vocalist, albeit playing those glorious melody lines on the guitar, with his customary virtuoso flair and an often-startling amount of aggression. In truth, it's a slightly bizarre idea that sits somewhere between outright genius and goofy novelty, but Gilbert plays with such joy that only the most insular and petulant DIO fans could possibly take exception to it.

01. Neon Knights

02. Kill The King

03. Stand Up And Shout

04. Country Girl

05. Man On The Silver Mountain

06. Holy Diver

07. Heaven And Hell

08. Long Live Rock 'N' Roll

09. Lady Evil

10. Don't Talk To Strangers

11. Starstruck

12. The Last In Line

Big Band Of Brothers - A Jazz Celebration Of The Allman Brothers Band [2019/FLAC]

  

New West Records released Big Band of Brothers: A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band. Released in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Allman Brothers Band’s debut album, the 10-song set of jazz interpretations of Allman Brothers Band favorites features Marc Broussard and Ruthie Foster on vocals on two songs each. Big Band of Brothers: A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band also features Jack Pearson on guitar, who performed as a member of the Allman Brothers Band from 1997 to 1999. The celebrated trombonist Wycliffe Gordon of Jazz at Lincoln Center fame is featured as a soloist on “Don’t Want You No More,” and wrote the arrangement for “Statesboro Blues.” Gordon is consistently ranked among leading trombone players in the Downbeat critics poll and has topped the list at least five times. The 15-piece Big Band of Brothers was produced by Mark Lanter, Charles Driebe & John Harvey and was recorded & mixed by Eric Bates at Bates Brothers Recording in Hueytown, AL.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Dirt Does Dylan (2022/FLAC)

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band have released Dirt Does Dylan, a 10-track album highlighting songs from Bob Dylan’s catalog. The recording, which arrived on May 20, 2022, features three new band members alongside founders Jeff Hanna and Jimmie Fadden, and Bob Carpenter, who joined in 1980: fiddler Ross Holmes; singer-songwriter and bass player Jim Photoglo (who wrote one of the Dirt Band’s biggest hits, “Fishin’ in the Dark”) and Hanna’s son, singer and guitarist Jaime Hanna.

Produced and recorded by Ray Kennedy at Room & Board Studio in Nashville, Dirt Does Dylan, says a Apr. 7 press release, “finds a generation-spanning Dirt Band paying an appropriately great tribute to arguably the greatest songwriter of the 20th century with the help of friends like Jason Isbell, the War & Treaty, Steve Earle and Rosanne Cash.”  

 

VA- Day of the Dead [3 CD, 2016/320+FLAC]

 

Day of the Dead is the twenty-fifth compilation release benefiting the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for HIV and AIDS. Featuring fifty-nine exclusive recordings of covers of Grateful Dead songs by a number of independent artists as a tribute to the band and creation and curation by Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National.

 

VA - Rattlesnake Guitar : The Music of Peter Green (2 CD, 1997/FLAC)

 

Tribute album to one and only Peter Green.

Disc 1

01. Black Magic Woman (3:57) { Larry McCray }

02. Love That Burns (6:13) { Dave Peverett, Rod Price }

03. Stop Messin' Round (3:08) { Savoy Brown, Kim Simmonds }

04. Looking For Somebody (7:14) { Snowy White }

05. Cryin' Won't Bring You Back (5:17) { Luther Grosvenor, Mike Kellie, Jess Roden }

06. Leaving Town Blues (6:49) { Rory Gallagher }

07. If You Be My Baby (4:35) { Dave Peverett, Rod Price }

08. Ramblin' Pony (5:19) { Harvey Mandel, Wilbur Bascomb }

09. The Green Manalishi (5:07) { Arthur Brown }

10. Hellhounds On My Trail (3:16) { Ken Hensley }

11. I Loved Another Woman (4:58) { Larry Mitchell, Jay Aston }

12. The Same Way (3:46) { Nick Abrahams }

13. Drifting (6:12) { Top Topham, Jim McCarty }

14. The Supernatural (3:22) { Clas Yngstrom }

15. Man of the World (2:54) { Ian Anderson }

Disc 2

01. Oh Well (7:42) { Billy Sheehan }

02. Rattlesnake Shake (5:29) { Vince Converse, Innes Sibun }

03. Fleetwood Mac (2:44) { Stu Hamm, Jonathan Mover, Larry Mitchell }

04. Watcha Gonna Do (4:01) { Zoot Money, Bobby Tench }

05. Showbiz Blues (6:53) { Rory Gallagher }

06. Merry Go Round (4:39) { Luther Grosvenor, Mike Kellie, Jess Roden }

07. Albatross (4:41) { Paul Jones, Bobby Tench, Max Middleton }

08. Closing My Eyes (4:59) { Naked Blue }

09. Evil Woman Blues (2:04) { Ray Gomez }

10. Lazy Poker Blues (2:50) { Troy Turner }

11. Watch Out (4:29) { Harvey Mandel, Jon Paris }

12. Long Grey Mare (4:52) { Harvey Mandel, Wilbur Bascomb }

13. A Fool No More (4:29) { Kim Lembo }

14. Baby When The Sun Goes Down (4:48) { Southside Johnny & The Uptown Horns }

VA - Exotic Beatles Vol.1-4 (1993-2011)

 4 CD series of the most bizarre and unusual covers of Beatles tracks ever recorded - featuring artists from all over the world. 

Gov't Mule, Allman Brothers Band, North Mississippi All-stars - Another One for Woody - 11/22/2010 New York, NY (FLAC/320)

 Ten years after One For Woody, late bassist Allen Woody’s musical family re-assembled at New York’s Roseland Ballroom for Another One For Woody. The emotional high point of the evening came when Woody’s daughter, Savannah, came out with Gov’t Mule to sing Soulshine…

One of Woody’s closest friends and musical companions, Warren Haynes, kicked off the show with a brief acoustic set joined by Kevn Kinney and Edwin McCain. Luther and Cody Dickinson, billed as the North Mississippi Allstars Duo, followed leading the way for guest-laden sets from Gov’t Mule and the Allman Brothers Band. A singalong, instrumental take on Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here closed the show some time around 1:30AM.

 

Billy Sherwood & Friends - Back Against The Wall: Tribute to Pink Floyd (2 CD, 2005/FLAC)

 Back Against the Wall is an album released in 2005 by Billy Sherwood in collaboration with a number of (mostly) progressive rock artists as a tribute to Pink Floyd's album The Wall. 

Disc 1:

1. In The Flesh? - feat. Adrian Belew, Alan White & Steve Porcaro

2. The Thin Ice - feat. Ian Anderson & Tony Levin

3. Another Brick In The Wall Part 1 - feat. Steve Morse & Billy Sherwood

4. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives - feat. Billy Sherwood & Vinnie Coliauta

5. Another Brick In The Wall Part 2 - feat. Fee Waybill, Ronnie Montrose & Mike Porcaro

6. Mother - feat. John Wetton, Adrian Belew & Alan White

7. Goodbye Blue Sky - feat. Steve Howe & Billy Sherwood

8. Empty Spaces - feat. Billy Sherwood & Robby Krieger

9. Young Lust - feat. Glenn Hughes

10. One Of My Turns - feat. Tommy Shaw

11. Don't Leave Me Now - feat. Robby Krieger & Tommy Shaw

12. Another Brick In The Wall Part 3 - feat. Steve Lukather & Tony Levin

13. Goodbye Cruel World - feat. Billy Sherwood & Tony Levin

Disc 2:

14. Hey You - feat. John Wetton, Steve Lukather, Tommy Shaw & Alan White

15. Is There Anybody Out There? - feat. Adrian Belew & Billy Sherwood

16. Nobody Home - feat. Rick Wakeman

17. Vera - feat. Tommy Shaw & Steve Howe

18. Bring The Boys Back Home - feat. Billy Sherwood & Jay Schellen

19. Comfortably Numb - feat. Chris Squire & Alan White

20. The Show Must Go On - feat. Adrian Belew & Vinnie Coliauta

21. In The Flesh - feat. Billy Sherwood, Steve Porcaro & Vinnie Coliauta

22. Run Like Hell - feat. Jason Chefe, Dweezil Zappa & Tony Kaye

23. Waiting For The Worms - feat. Billy Sherwood, Tony Levin & Vinnie Caliauta

24. Stop - feat. Billy Sherwood

25. The Trial - feat. Malcolm McDowell

26. Outside The Wall - feat. Billy Sherwood 

VA - The Celebrating Jon Lord - The Composer & The Rock Legend (3 CD, 2014/FLAC)

  

On April 4, 2014, some of the best-loved musicians in the world assembled at the Royal Albert Hall to pay tribute to one of the most-missed musicians of them all: Jon Lord.

The passing of Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord in 2012 was sad for the obvious reasons, but also because he was about to release a just finished re-imagining of his "Concerto for Group and Orchestra," a piece Deep Purple first played live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1969, and one that is often cited as the first true meeting of classical and rock. Lord was a big part of the heavy orchestral prog rock sound of Deep Purple, and he could rock when needed, or take center stage and play pretty as the soundtrack for a majestic autumn wind. He played with other bands as time went on, including Whitesnake, but in his later years he increasingly pursued his aspirations as a classical composer. Which brings us to this set, one of two volumes derived from a historic tribute concert held April 4, 2014 at Royal Albert Hall that marked the 45th anniversary of when Lord's "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" first debuted there. Surviving members of Deep Purple were on hand for the tribute, as well as Paul Weller, Whitesnake's Micky Moody, Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, and many others, including the Orion Orchestra conducted by Paul Mann. The evening opened with a classical set from the orchestra, which is what we have here, then went to a more rock-oriented second act, before concluding with a set by Deep Purple -- the rock and Deep Purple portions of the evening are available as Celebrating Jon Lord: The Rock Legend, the other volume of this tribute set. Among the highlights of this opening classical portion are the majestic "Fantasia" (from Sarabande), complete with horns, and a beautiful "All Those Years Ago," which features vocals from Micky Moody and illustrates just how much vision Lord really had for a classical/rock fusion, and in retrospect, how Deep Purple personified that vision.

VA - A Life In Yes - The Chris Squire Tribute (2018/FLAC)

 

A heartfelt and masterful musical salute to the longtime bassist of prog rock legends YES, Chris Squire! Produced by Squire’s friend and frequent collaborator Billy Sherwood with amazing contributions from Todd Rundgren, Steve Porcaro (Toto), Annie Haslam (Renaissance), John Wesley (Porcupine Tree), Sonja Kistina (Curved Air), Patrick Moraz (YES/The Moody Blues), Steve Stevens, Dweezil Zappa, and more!

Includes two bonus tracks: one from the prog supergroup The Prog Collective, and one from the massively popular Pink Floyd tribute album Back Against The Wall.

Chris Squire was best known as the bassist and a founder member of the progressive rock band YES. He was the longest-serving original member, having remained in the band until his death and appearing on every studio album released from 1969 to 2014.

David Mansfield - Grateful Dead's Workingman's Dead: Solo Mandolin (2017/FLAC)

 David Mansfield is an award-winning film and television composer with many major credits and has played with a diverse range of major artists over the years including a four-year stint in Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. A founding member of Bruce Hornsby and the Range, David was awarded an RIAA platinum album and a Grammy Award for "The Way It Is," as well as as RIAA gold albums for Bob Dylan's "Desire" and "Hard Rain."

"'Workingman's Dead' was released when I was a teenager and was one of my first exposures to country and folk music. I tried to keep my performances in the spirit of the originals as much as possible — not so much re-invention, but simply enjoying those great feelings again from so long ago."

VA - Looking Through A Glass Onion (The Beatles' Psychedelic Songbook 1966-72) (3 CD, 2020/FLAC)

 

A 3-CD set, “Looking Through A Glass Onion” assembles these disparate strands into one cohesive package, with the studio day trippers, the cultural pranksters, the genre-benders, the folk club stalwarts and the hair-down-to-his-knees prog-rock brigade all grooving up slowly to the starting line.

The result is the proverbial Magical Mystery Tour, a Fab Four parallel universe, a Looking-Glass world in which ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ can be an Elizabethan garden party madrigal or a churning slice of Fudged-up sludge, where a spaced-out Duffy Power takes the lyrics of ‘Fixing A Hole’ perhaps a little too literally, ‘Penny Lane’ becomes avant-garde easy listening, the likes of Nick Lowe, Alex Harvey and Ritchie Blackmore try out early identities, and the Walrus was Lol.

VA - The Art Of McCartney (2 CD, 2014/FLAC)

 

The Art of McCartney is a celebration of the music of Sir Paul McCartney performed by some of the world's greatest artists with Paul’s band, including:

Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, The Cure, The Who’s Roger Daltrey, Brian Wilson, Alice Cooper, Dr. John, Yusuf/Cat Stevens, Barry Gibb, Jamie Cullum, KISS, Chrissie Hynde and MANY more. 

VA - Midnight Rider : Tribute to the Allman Brothers Band [2014/FLAC]

 

Featuring an eclectic group of rock, country, and blues legends, Midnight Rider - A Tribute To The Allman Brothers Band offers energetic new covers of the classic hits “Midnight Rider,” “Ramblin’ Man,” and “Whipping Post” as well as one of the most famous instrumental songs in all of rock music “Jessica,” alongside many more Southern fried favorites!

“The Allman Brothers were a central part of my roots,” proclaims guitarist Steve Morse, who shreds his way through a smoldering version of “Whipping Post” on the album. “Living in Georgia much of my life, they were the local legends that everybody loved. They had the swing, the inventive double guitar parts, the ability to jam just long enough to keep the audience, and that golden voice of Greg’s! When my instrumental rock band, the Dixie Dregs, played, we often played ‘Jessica,’ which automatically makes any audience start moving and smiling. I’ve been lucky enough to sit in with many of the members at various times, and we have shared a lot of common ground. I’m still a fan!”

VA - Love For Levon : A Benefit to Save the Barn [2 CD, 2013/FLAC]

 

Levon Helm was arguably the heart and soul of the Band, and his back-porch Arkansas drawl gave many of the Band's best songs their strong sense of history and character. He was a remarkable vernacular singer in a band that had three of them (Rick Danko and Richard Manuel also knew how to put heart and soul into a song), and the Band, thanks in no small part to Helm, essentially put the Americana genre on the map in the mid-'60s. Helm's death in the spring of 2012 from throat cancer stilled that voice, but as this warm, redemptive tribute set shows, failed to take away the warmth, wisdom, and vision of that voice. Helm started his famous Midnight Rambles at his rustic studio in Woodstock, New York in 2004. These were loose and intimate shows where local musicians and whatever musicians happened to be wandering through would play and jam to a small audience (some 200 seats), usually with Helm sitting happily behind the drums.

VA - Chicago Plays The Stones [2018/FLAC]

 

They’ve been celebrating this music since the ’60s, but the Rolling Stones really amped up their adulation of the songs and giants of Chicago blues with their acclaimed 2016 album Blue and Lonesome.

There was always an irony in the fact that it took a British band to introduce much of America to the kings and queens of Chicago blues, but it was with the utmost sincerity that the Stones first covered these songs and then came to Chicago to be at Chess Studios and hang out with heroes like Muddy Waters. The gritty, urban, amplified and electrifying sound of Chicago blues was tapped by the original rock ’n’ rollers of the ’50s and even more so by the Rolling Stones starting in the mid-’60s. Blues titans like Muddy and Buddy Guy recognized and benefitted from the Stones’ outspoken adoration of them and their Windy City brethren, and a long-lasting cross-continental kinship was born.

VA - Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International [4 CD, 2012/FLAC]

 

Chimes of Freedom: Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International is a charity compilation album featuring new recordings of compositions by Bob Dylan by multiple artists, released on January 24, 2012. Proceeds from the album will be donated to the human rights organization Amnesty International.

Chimes of Freedom features a stellar and diverse group of artists across the generational and musical spectrum. The performers, including many of Amnesty International's longtime supporters, range in age from Miley Cyrus, 19, to folk music legend Pete Seeger, who, at 92, records Dylan's poignant "Forever Young," with a children's chorus.

The diversity of the musicians and musical genres - from rock, rap, hip-hop to pop, folk, country, jazz and blues - attests to Amnesty's depth of support in the music community, the universal appeal of the core message of human rights, and the breadth of Dylan's impact on culture. Almost every track on the album is being released for sale for the first time - except for the title song, Dylan's original 1964 recording of "Chimes of Freedom."

Bob Daisley and Friends - Moore Blues For Gary (2018/FLAC)

In October 2018 an album paying tribute to the late, great Gary Moore was released. In a field where tribute albums are often hastily assembled affairs stuffed with songs recorded in fleeting moments of downtime, Moore Blues For Gary - curated by Moore's longtime bass player Bob Daisley - stands out not just for its stellar cast, but for the quality of the recordings. 

Joining Daisley on the album are Steve Lukather, Danny Bowes, Glenn Hughes, Joe Lynn Turner, Steve Morse, John Sykes, Neil Carter, Doug Aldrich, Eric Singer and many more.

“I asked many members of the Gary Moore family tree, and some other great players, to contribute to the project," says Daisley. "The response was not only encouraging, but very moving. It seems that the name Gary Moore is also synonymous with the words ‘respect’, ‘honour’ and ‘greatness’."