Carbon Leaf - Life Less Ordinary

Richmond, Virgina based band, Carbon Leaf, began playing mixers and parties while attending college at Randolph-Macon College in 1992. After graduating, they began to tour the college circuit and released their first album, Meander, in 1995.

They have the same rootsy, Celtic-influenced sound (e.g. Dave Matthews Band and Pat McGee Band) that originates in the Richmond, VA music scene. They built up a fairly loyal following and released their first five albums on their own label.

Life Less Ordinary is off their Vangard Records release, Indian Summer. It was their first release not on their own label.

Bruce Hornsby and The Noisemakers - King Harvest

Bruce Hornsby has always been interested in all types of music. He studied music at the University of Richmond (VA), Berklee College of Music and the University of Miami. His first real band was a Grateful Dead cover band called "Bobby Hi-Test and the Octane Kids" which included his older brother Bobby.

Hornsby then moved to LA and worked as music writer for 20th Century Fox for 3 years before moving back to Northern Virgina. In 1984, he formed Bruce Hornsby and the Range and had his biggest hit in 1986 with The Way It Is and won a Grammy in 1987 for Best New Artist.

He continue to be successful but began to branch out. From 1988 to 1995, he became an informal member of Grateful Dead. He wrote prolifically for other artists including End of the Innocence for Don Henley and I can't Make You Love Me for Bonnie Raitt. During this era he slowly began to slip jazz and bluegrass elements into his music. He reworked his hit "The Valley Road" with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and won the 1990 Grammy Awards for Best Bluegrass Recording.

Hornsby recorded several solo albums and even moved into Jazz. (Interesting Note: Hornsby is big St. Louis Cardinal fan and is friends with manager Tony LaRussa. La Russa introduced him to jazz bassist Christian McBride, which then led to the formation of jazz trio, The Bruce Hornsby Trio)

King Haven is from Hornsby's group The Noisemakers off the great compilation of The Band covers, Endless Highway: The Music of the Band.

Rusted Root - Dance In The Middle

Pittsburgh based, Rusted Root, burst on to the scene in 1992 with the single Send Me On My Way off their second album When I Woke. A working touring band, they traveled extensively to support their albums, releasing 5 albums in 10 years. Although still occasionally touring, the band members went their separate ways and pursued solo projects. Drummer Jim Donovan has released five highly acclaimed solo CDs as well as four instructional drumming CDs and became a full-time instructor of music at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania.

Rusted Root recently returned to the studio in released their 6th studio album, Stereo Rodeo which contains the track Dance In The Middle.

Sound Tribe Sector 9 - Moon Socket

Sound Tribe Sector 9 is known for their live performances. They blend many genres creating a sound based heavily on instrumental rock and electronic music crossed with elements of funk, jazz, drum and bass, psychedelia, and hip hop. Based on that description, you can see why they cannot really be categorized.

They formed in Atlanta in the late 90's, but moved to Northern California in 2000 where they have built a loyal local fan base. Occasionally they have billed themselves under the name Tzolkin, which is all five members of STS9. They have done this so they could perform in very experimental concerts to debut brand new material in a live setting without having the audience expectation of hearing existing STS9 material. The term Tzolkin means sequence of days and refers to a 260-day harmonic module calendar cycle.

Moon Socket is off their 1999 release, Interplanetary Escape Vehicle.

String Cheese Incident - Black and White

String Cheese Incident (no source for the bands name has been disclosed) is a great jam band from Colorado. Their music strongly is influenced by bluegrass sounds, as well as forays into rock, calypso, country, funk, jazz, Latin, reggae, and occasional psychedelia. The band is a great live band and has toured extensively.

In 2003, they sued Ticketmaster to retain control of their own ticket sales and won, siting violations of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. This was a key in future lawsuits against Ticketmaster.

String Cheese Incident broke up in 2007, performing many farewell concerts. The Band Members have gone off on many solo projects like The Kyle Hollingsworth Band, EOTO, Panjea (with Keller Williams) and the Emmitt-Nershi Band. However, the band has reformed on occasion, and will play this year's Rothbury Music Festival in July. They recently played an unannounced sound-check at the Ogden Theater in Denver on June 24.

Black and White is a jam tune off their 2001 release Outside Inside.

The Disco Biscuits - Float Like A Butterfly

Full Track on imeem. <-- What's this?

The Disco Biscuits' music has been decribed in many ways: a crazy-quilt mixture of rock, techno, jazz, soul, blues, and classical or "trance fusion". Either way, it's some pretty cool jam-band music. Guitarist/lead vocalist Jon Gutwillig has declared that the goal of the group is to create the wildest -- or craziest -- music of all time. I would say that they are well on their way.

Their music is written with a complete live show mentality and you can hear it Float Like A Butterfly, off their Señor Boombox release.

Animal Liberation Orchestra - Monday

Animal Liberation Orchestra hails from Santa Barbara, CA and have a great California jam band sound when playing live.

Monday is off Roses and Clovers, their second album released on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records label. It's a great mix of tunes and worth of a listen in it's entirety.

Keller Williams - Freeker by the Speaker

Keller Williams can make the funkiest grooviest tunes come out of his 10 string guitar. He has been described as a one man jam band using a Gibson Echoplex Digital Pro looping unit to create his backing loops in the moment, building and improvising as he goes.

Freeker By the Spreaker off the Laugh CD is awesome Williams funkiness.