An Introduction to the Jam Band Scene
This article was originally posted on the S&R Blog.
The LOVE sign at Lock’n Music Festival
There seems to be a veil of mystery that surrounds the improvisational world that has been given the moniker of “jam bands.” Maybe it obtained by the lack of mainstream radio play in addition to the lengthiness of the individual songs or jams. Or maybe due to the counterculture that surrounded the scene its infancy.
While I certainly hear the outcries of the bands who do not wish to be labeled as such – to which I’m understanding but also conflicted – for the purposes of this article I will be referring to this scene as a jam band, for simplicity. Today I am going to pull back the curtains of mystery to give an introduction into this world of music. While this isn’t the end all be all encyclopedia, this is a good introduction into how many people who aren’t culturally hippies get into the jam band world.
Lights at an Umprhey’s McGee show
Many folks who I have encountered at festivals or heady band shows have explained to me that it was their parents who grew up in the counterculture era that led them to listen to Jerry Garcia, Frank Zappa and Bill Cassidy have become the soundtrack of their youth. My mom was an advent listener of country music and my dad preferred the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. By the logic of your parents’ music preference become your own, it makes sense that I ended up listening and loving both country music and the music from the British Invasion.
So how did I get into loving the music scene if I didn’t inherit the music from my parents? Well, at a youthful age, I didn’t really care for the popular music that was on the radio. Even though my dad would play the Beatles nonstop – I never caught the Beatlemania fever that everyone else seemed to have caught. I know this is a musical fallacy, but it appeared to me that everyone was obsessed with the Fab Four and I simply didn’t like it because everyone else did. Hipster Griz. Maybe this was the beginning of my musical counterculture experience.
While my peers listened to the likes of the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC – which I dabbled in briefly (it was the 90s, don’t judge me) – I was getting into the Eagles, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton. That was my musical breastfeeding. On top of the classic rock greats, I was also listening to country superstars like Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and Brooks n Dunn.
SO when I was introduced to the Grateful Dead by my friend Charlie Daush and Phish by a guy named Kyle Daughtery, my musical experience was primed with the same artists that Jerry Garcia & Trey Anastasio were influenced. Trey often sites Jimmy Page as one of his biggest influences and while Jerry didn’t grow up listening to Toby Keith and Tim McGraw, he did grow up listening to bluegrass and folk music – both genres which country music trace its roots towards. Now even with the similarities in the music, I was not immediately hooked. I liked what I was hearing but I was still into the classic rock with a touch of the 90s – read Audioslave, Alice In Chains and RHCP.
It wasn’t until I heard Widespread Panic’s rendition of For What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield. Ironically a counterculture protest song that I had always viewed as just a classic rock staple. At that moment, I wondered if other jam bands covered other songs I grew up enjoying. Sure enough, they did!
Hangout Music Fest – my first festival ca. 2012
Grateful Dead covered songs like Mama Tried and Hard to Handle – my country roots and embarrassingly enough I learned about H2H through one of my favorite bands – the Black Crowes – instead of from the staple Otis Redding left us. Phish covered songs like Quinn the Eskimo, Rock n Roll and Frankenstein. I then accidentally discovered the String Cheese Incident along with Umphrey’s McGee in the same weekend at the Hangout Music Festival. That weekend opened the floodgate of great music. (I was there to see RHCP and Tom Petty but got a whole lot more than I bargained for!)
Hearing what SCI could do in a bluegrass style really peeked up my ears but seeing UM mash up Nirvana’s Come as You Are, MGMT’s Kids and Dead or Alive’s You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) all into one song blew the doors open on what I thought was musically possible – which in this world is virtually anything. It was then that I began to dive deep into the backlog of live music that these artists have given the world over their careers. My mind had never experienced the complexities of the music theory that one can not obtain through listening to the top 40 – or even hot country or classic rock.
Is this to say the music of jam bands is superior to the top 40? – absolutely not. Who is to say what music is good or bad, better or worse? Music is completely subjective to the listener. But there is definitely more levels of complexity in this music and chances are, if you are reading this far and not already a fan of jam bands – or my mom (Hi Mom!) – you are here to expand your knowledge of the guitar and music.
It always amazes me how one thing can lead to another. Now I am an advent fan of the music within the improvisational world. And through it, I have gone through a musical journey into the world of free form jazz. Jazz and jam bands are siiliar in the imporvosiational aspect as many jam band players draw inspiration from the likes of Miles Davis and Coletrain.
I would say I’m a fan now. I even purchased a Real Book! (Classic jazz guys, Im only a jazz beginner and will ditch it after i get my feet wet) This journey has led me to Jim McLaughlin and Al Di Meola.
Needless to say, the jam band has taken me on a musical awakening. A cliche in a sense if I was only talking about a jam or a show. But what I mean is that it has to lead me to other genres I either didn’t know existed or simply neglected all of these years.
If you want to get into the jame band scene, but dont know where to start, I have listed a few selet key tracks below. These tracks arent too deep in the weeds but will give you a glimpse indie the world. When diving into this musical subgenre, keep an open mind – which you should when listening to anything new and unfamiliar. you’ll be amazed where the journey takes you.
Until next time, let the music play!
Key Introductory Tracks:
Phish – Sample In A Jar
Grateful Dead – Truckin’
moe. – Plane Crash
Umphrey’s McGee – In The Kitchen
String Cheese Incident – Rhythm Of The Road