Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival

Phil Lesh

(electric bass, lead & harmony vocals)

For Phil Lesh it's always been about the band. About getting together with other musicians and exploring the unknown. About breaking down barriers, finding secret passageways to new worlds and the thrill of genuine collective discovery. Phil has his own word for it: alchemy--the mystical transmutation of the ordinary into the extraordinary; knocking on the door of the divine, "searching for the sound," bringing his band mates and his audience along on a magical journey to uncharted realms that somehow always end up feeling like "home." After 30 years as bassist with music's greatest cosmic architects--the Grateful Dead--Phil Lesh knows about such things. And the good news for the legions who loved the Grateful Dead, and for people everywhere who never got to hear the Dead, is that Phil is still pursuing his musical and spiritual Grail Quest with inspiration and determination, leading and following his astonishingly nimble band down a new Golden Road.
"When we first started rehearsing," Phil said of his current quintet, Phil Lesh & Friends, "in the first 30 minutes everybody knew that it was really something special. It was beyond chemistry. Everybody in this band is adventurous enough to play outside themselves and forget about what they know, and deal with the context of what's happening in the moment."

And in another interview he noted, "The alchemy is so strong that it's almost automatic the way our group mind can open up the pipeline for that eternal music we're all trying to channel and funnel through ourselves so that it can exist in our plane."

That chemistry and alchemy is apparent every time Phil Lesh & Friends step onto a stage. And you can also hear it on every track of their fresh and surprising debut studio album, There and Back Again. "I wanted this band to make a record because I wanted to see whether we could translate that energy that we have live, with the onstage jamming, into compositions for recording, which is really an art in itself. I was never that satisfied with my work in the studio before and I wanted to find out what we could do. And I must say, this band has surpassed my wildest dreams with regards to what they can do in the studio." Joining Phil in this jamband supergroup are guitarists Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule) and Jimmy Herring (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Allman Brothers), keyboardist Rob Barraco (Zen Tricksters) and drummer John Molo (Bruce Hornsby).

That Phil Lesh is making such vital and exciting music past his sixtieth birthday is both a miracle and completely natural. Three years ago, perilously ill with hepatitis C, he underwent a liver transplant that both saved his life and gave him a completely new outlook on his music. He rededicated himself to his instrument and to what was then an ever-shifting amalgam of musicians in Phil & Friends. After playing with such notables as Paul Barrere and Billy Payne of Little Feat, Robben Ford, Steve Kimock, Derek Trucks and Phish's Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell, Phil settled on the current lineup, which has blossomed so magnificently in over a year of touring together. Not only has the band built a distinctive identity of its own, it has evolved into a unit that is true to the spirit of the Grateful Dead at its best, as the quintet deconstructs and reinterprets the Dead's rich catalog of songs, and develops new material that wonderfully reflects the personality of this group.

Though we're seven years removed from the death of Jerry Garcia, his legacy still looms large. "I think what this band is doing right now is a road away from all of that grief that Deadheads are still experiencing," Phil says. "And even though I miss Jerry terribly--I wish he was still here so I could play with him--I'm glad that I'm doing this. It's been important to me since before my transplant to deal with this music and develop it further. The music really now belongs to everyone who can grab a hold of it and make it theirs."

Of course it's always been his--as the fulcrum of the Grateful Dead for every show of their long, strange trip, Phil helped create the unique musical vocabulary that defined the Dead's sound. But his own influences go back much further.

Raised in El Cerrito and Berkeley, California, across the bay from San Francisco, Phil grew up listening to and playing classical music mostly. His first instrument was the violin; at 14 he dropped that and took up the trumpet, which he played in his high school concert and marching bands. It was while attending Berkeley High that Phil first fell in love with jazz, a lifelong passion of his. He developed into one of the school's top players and then moved across the bay after high school to attend the College of San Mateo, where he played in that school's jazz band and also started writing his own compositions. Later he became interested in electronic and modern classical music, studying at the University of California at Berkeley and Mills College in Oakland and composing his own decidedly moderne pieces.

He met Garcia at a party in 1961. Jerry was an up and coming bluegrass banjo picker, Phil was doing engineering work for the progressive Berkeley radio station KPFA and managed to get his new friend his first serious radio exposure. They saw each other, as well as the other future members of the Dead, at various parties and events over the next few years, not knowing their destinies were to become entwined. That finally happened in the spring of 1965. Phil was living in a bohemian enclave in San Francisco called Haight-Ashbury, working as a driver for the post office, growing his hair long and getting into Dylan and the Rolling Stones and other bands he heard on the radio. One night he and some friends took some LSD, which was still legal then, drove down to Palo Alto and saw Garcia's new electric band, The Warlocks, at a pizza parlor. The Warlocks blew Phil's mind that night, and during a set break Garcia approached him about becoming their new bassist. Though he'd never played bass before, he accepted the challenge and set about learning the instrument in his own peculiar way: rather than studying and copying the great pop and R&B bassists of the day, he relied on his deep knowledge of jazz and classical music--of composers like Bach and Palestrina, and jazz bassists such as Scott La Faro and Charles Mingus--to inform his style, which evolved quickly onstage at Warlocks gigs.

The Warlocks became the Grateful Dead in the fall of 1965, just in time for them to become the house band for the famous LSD parties known as the Acid Tests. Playing psychedelicized at these parties and at various other dances and events forged the Dead's sound: from the very beginning, Phil played very little straight rhythmic support; instead his bass was a lead instrument in itself, and the profound musical conversation between his LOUD electric instrument and Garcia's lead guitar developed more with each passing month as the Dead got better and better and, increasingly, threw out the rock band rule book and wrote their own: They fused blues, jazz, country, avant-garde and any other style that suited them at the moment, stirred it around in the day-glo cauldron, and it came out Grateful Dead.

And that remains one of the 20th century's most intriguing success stories. From the ballrooms of San Francisco in the late '60s to giant arenas and stadiums in the '80s and '90s, the Dead built the most loyal and devoted following of any band ever, by constantly changing and always trying to challenge their fans--trying to take them, as the destination sign on fellow traveler Ken Kesey's famous psychedelic bus read: "Further." And though to the world at large, Phil toiled, to a degree, in the immense shadow of Jerry Garcia, Deadheads--and the Dead themselves--always knew the magic that Phil brought to the Dead's incomparable alchemy: he is, quite simply, unlike any other bassist rock has produced--a sophisticated innovator as well as rhythmic titan. He co-wrote a number of Dead classics, too, including "New Potato Caboose," "Saint Stephen," "Cumberland Blues," "Box of Rain," "Unbroken Chain" and "Passenger," to name a few. And anytime you heard the Dead improvise on "Dark Star" or "The Other One" or "Playing in the Band," Phil was in the middle of the fire, always pushing in new directions, embracing (creating!) chaos and perhaps later easing the music toward a gentle clarity.

Now, in the post-Garcia world, Phil Lesh has been reborn and almost everyone agrees he's never sounded better or happier. He likens his new band to the Dead during their early, most exploratory days. Playing in smaller theaters and arenas has allowed him to reconnect with his audience in a deep, emotional way; that has found its way into his music and his new songs, some of them written with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. He's become a tireless advocate for organ donation, and a generous philanthropist whose Unbroken Chain Foundation has donated money to many needy causes. His family--wife Jill, and sons Grahame and Brian--are at the center of his new life, but he's managed to strike a balance that allows him to spend lots of time with them while also playing a few tours a year for fans young and old who want a dose of uplifting new music that takes them to strange and beautiful places.

"I feel that now there is a hunger for spiritual substance," Phil said not long ago, "and music is food for the soul, as well as being food for love."

Same message. New century. Some things are eternal.

-- Blair Jackson (author of Garcia: An American Life and former publisher of the Dead 'zine, The Golden Road).
Warren Haynes

(lead, slide & rhythm guitar, lead & harmony vocals)

James Brown is referred to as "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business." However, the same could easily be applied to describe Warren Haynes. Warren Haynes' impressive work as a solo artist--as a member of Phil Lesh & Friends, the Allman Brothers Band, and front man of Gov't Mule--has cemented his reputation as one of the finest singer-songwriter-guitarists in music today.

With a musical career that began at the age of 20, Warren Haynes received his first taste of musical superstardom as a member of country music outlaw DavidAllan Coe's band and, from 1980 to 1984, traveled throughout the United States and Europe with the influential country artist. Warren Haynes' impressive recording credits include nine of Coe's albums. During his tenure with Coe, Haynes met Dickey Betts and Gregg Allman; after leaving Coe's band in 1984, Warren moved to Nashville and began writing songs and doing session work before renewing his musical friendship with Dickey and Gregg. Betts called Haynes up, and invited him down to work on some songs. Those songs turned into Dickey's solo album, Pattern Disruptive (Epic). At the same time, Gregg Allman decided to record Just Before The Bullets Fly (Epic), which Warren co-wrote, as the title track to his 1988 album.

When the Allman Brothers reformed for their reunion tour in 1989, Warren Haynes got the call. The Dreams Tour marked the beginning of eight extremely productive years of touring and recording. During that span, Warren's songwriting, singing, and guitar playing helped the Allman Brothers Band record five albums: Seven Turns (Epic), Shades of Two Worlds (Epic), An Evening With The Allman Brothers Band (Epic), Where It All Begins (Epic), and 2nd Set (Epic). These albums became the Brothers' most critically acclaimed records in fifteen years. The band was nominated for four Grammy awards, two of which were for instrumentals co-written by Warren Haynes and Dickey Betts ("True Gravity" in 1990, and "Kind of Bird" in 1991), and they won a Grammy in 1995 for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance" ("Jessica"). Warren Haynes also co-penned the first multi-million dollar single, "Two of a Kind (Working on a Full House)," for country superstar Garth Brooks that was included on Brooks' No Fences (Capitol) album, one of the biggest selling records of all time.

In 1993, Warren stepped into the spotlight with his first solo record, Tales of Ordinary Madness (Megaforce Records). He recruited the Rolling Stones' musical director Chuck Leavell to share production duties, Leavell also playing on the record. A year later, through an impromptu jam with Allman Brothers Band partner Allen Woody and drummer Matt Abts (who performed with Haynes in the Dickey Betts Band), Gov't Mule was born. The trio released five critically acclaimed albums: Gov't Mule (Relativity), Live at Roseland Ballroom, (Foundation), Dose (Capricorn), Live?With a Little Help From Our Friends (Capricorn), and Life Before Insanity (Capricorn), and quickly gained a loyal fan base.

Warren Haynes was voted #1 slide guitarist by Guitar Player magazine in both 1995 and 1996. In April 1997, he and Allen Woody decided to leave the Allman Brothers Band in order to concentrate on Gov't Mule full-time. In May of 1999, Haynes performed with Phil Lesh & Friends headlining a festival in California. Later that same year Phil Lesh & Friends performed a fall tour with Bob Dylan. Warren Haynes would continue to tour with Phil Lesh & Friends throughout 2000 & 2001 while maintaining a voracious musical workload as a member of Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers Band. Sadly, in the fall of 2000 Allen Woody, Haynes' partner in Gov't Mule, passed away. Impressively, Haynes and Matt Abts recorded a tribute to their fallen comrade, Deep End Vols. 1 & 2. The releases feature an incredible assemblage of Allen Woody's favorite bassists including: Mike Gordon, Jack Casady, Jack Bruce, Larry Graham, Flea, Phil Lesh, Bootsy Collins, and John Entwhistle to mention only a handful. Warren Haynes' soulful vocals, creative songwriting, and incendiary guitar work remains the cornerstone of Phil Lesh & Friends.

 

 
Jimmy Herring

(lead & rhythm guitar)

 

Jimmy Herring is a guitar hero to fans of the jam-band music scene. Born in Fayetteville, N.C., in 1962, Herring began playing music at the age of 10, placing first in his high school "Battle of the Bands." Sharing an equal passion for the outdoors as well as music, Jimmy attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston and The Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles, before joining Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit in 1989. It was with Hampton that Jimmy learned to push the boundaries of the music and he recorded three records with the innovative southern music institution. Besides Hampton, that legendary band featured Oteil Burbridge, who would later become a member of the Allman Brothers Band.

It was the Aquarium Rescue Unit's participation in the 1992-1993 H.O.R.D.E tour traveling music festival that included Phish, Widespread Panic, Bruce Hornsby and the Range, and Blues Traveler, that Jimmy Herring came to the attention of the jam band music community. For nearly 6 years, Herring toured with Hampton until hooking up with what would prove to be Jimmy's most far-reaching musical project up until then, Jazz is Dead.Formed in 1998, Jazz is Dead was an exploration of the Grateful Dead's most memorable work by four world- class jazz musicians. Jimmy Herring (guitar), Billy Cobham (drums), Alphonso Johnson (bass), and T. Lavitz (keyboards) pushed the musical envelope of America's most beloved musical intuitions, garnering rave critical notices for their efforts in the mainstream music industry.

Herring, by now one of the favorite players on the burgeoning jam band music scene, was coming into prominence in the Deadhead musical community as well as getting a first-rate musical education in the music of one of America's most beloved bands. Jimmy Herring's out of this world guitar pyrotechnics made him a prime candidate for Phil Lesh & Friends. Jimmy toured with Phil Lesh & Friends in the fall of 1999 before getting a call from the Allman Brothers Band to fill in for the recently departed Dickey Betts. Herring toured with the Allmans the following summer before rejoining Phil Lesh & Friends for the fall 2000 Tour. Herring also found time to record and tour as a member of Frogwings (Flying Frog), a band that included Butch Trucks, Derek Trucks, and, Oteil Burbridge (Allman Brothers Band), and John Popper (Blues Traveler). Later that year, Herring recorded Project Z (Terminus) with musical associates: Jeff Sipe, Ricky Keller, and Derek Trucks. 2001 also saw Herring's participation in Endangered Species (ToneCenter), another all-star affair recorded with T. Lavitz (Dixie Dregs) and Richie Hayward and Kenny Gradney, the rhythm section from the legendary Little Feat band.

Jimmy Herring's easygoing nature, coupled with his world-class guitar playing, has made him one of the most beloved members of Phil Lesh & Friends.

 

 

Rob Barraco

(keyboards, lead & harmony vocals)

 

Since the days of his youth Rob Barraco has always wanted to be a musician. As a young man growing up in Long Island, New York, Barraco immersed himself in the music of Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers Band, the Grateful Dead, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and Poco before embarking on a music based education. The classically trained musician received his Bachelors Degree in Music at the State University of New York-New Paltz in 1978, but not before acquiring a taste for the jazz mastery of McCoy Tyner, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy. Upon graduation, Barraco was teaching music theory at the Great Neck Music Center when he received his first big career break becoming a regular player in the house band for the Bill Cosby produced television series, "The Cosby Show," and its later spin-off, "It's a Different World." Barraco became part of a prestigious music team comprised of many of New York's first call studio musicians such as: Randy Brecker, (trumpet), Al Foster (drums), Billy "Spaceman" Peterson (guitar), Dave Valentine (flute), and Tracy Wormworth, (bass). In-between filming the series, Barraco toured for two years with Freddy Jackson, as well as joining forces with one of the best-known Grateful Dead influenced jam-bands, the Zen Tricksters. It was as a member of the Zen Tricksters that Barraco honed his improvisational music skills benefiting from a rigorous touring schedule that included over 200 dates a year for a solid ten years. During that period the Zen Tricksters recorded two critically acclaimed albums: The Holy Fool (Zebra Tango), and A Love Surreal (Zebra Tango). When Grateful Dead keyboardist Brent Mydland passed away in 1990, Grateful Dead Productions requested a demo tape from Barraco as they anxiously sought out a replacement. So when Phil Lesh began seeking out cutting edge improvisational musicians for his new post Grateful Dead band, Zen Tricksters' pianist Rob Barraco and guitarist Jeff Mattson were at the top of his list.

On October 7-9, 1999, Rob Barraco and Jeff Mattson performed as members of Phil Lesh & Friends at the historic Warfield Theater in San Francisco. The following month Barraco received the nod to reconvene with Lesh when Phil Lesh & Friends toured with rock icon Bob Dylan. Rob Barraco would also go on to tour and record with fellow Phil Lesh & Friends member Warren Haynes as a member of Gov't Mule. Barraco recorded with Gov't Mule on The Deep End Vol. 1 (ATO) and the soon to be released The Deep End Vol. 2.

Rob Barraco's solid lead and harmony vocals, along with his trademark inventive keyboard work, have made him a solid asset to Phil Lesh & Friends.

 

 

John Molo

(drums, percussion)

 

Grammy-awarding winning John Molo has been taking audiences on rhythmic journey's for more than three decades. Born October 19, 1953, in Washington, DC, John Molo grew up in a very artistic family, his father was an avid classical music fan and his mother loved dance and pop music. "The first time I saw a drum kit, " Molo recalls, "it looked like a shiny piece of artwork. I was at Andrews Air Force base and service musicians were getting down and playing bebop. At that time I knew that I wanted to be a musician." John Molo has been doing just that ever since. Molo would later study with Gary Elliot, a great Navy band musician. While attending Langley High School, John worked under the instruction of the legendary George Horan. With influences coming from every direction, John took total advantage of his surroundings and learned all of them. So it's no surprise that he can play with an entourage of musicians in just about every musical genre. In 1973, Molo began studying music at the University of Miami in a class with such other great musicians as: Pat Metheny, Carmen Lundy, Steve Morris, Mark Eagen, and Bruce Hornsby. During their years as Hurricane's, Molo and Hornsby began performing together. In 1987, Bruce Hornsby and the Range were signed by RCA Records and won a Grammy for as "Best New Artist" for their album, The Way It Is (RCA). John Molo performed with Bruce Hornsby for nearly 20 years while also doing side projects for such musicians as: Mike Watt, Albert Lee, Delaney Bramlett, and Branford Marsalis, Asleep at the Wheel, and Eddie Baytos.

In 1996 while Molo was performing with Bruce Hornsby and the Range at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco, former Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh and Bob Weir sat in with them much to the delight of the partisan local audience. Interestingly enough, the opening act that evening was Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit featuring future Phil Lesh & Friends guitarist, Jimmy Herring, as well as future Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge.

In 1998, John Molo and Bruce Hornsby teamed up with former members of the Grateful Dead: Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, and Phil Lesh in The Other Ones for the Further Festival. When Phil Lesh decided to put together a revolving cast of musicians that would become Phil Lesh & Friends, John Molo was the constant mainstay. In addition to performing with Phil Lesh & Friends, John Molo has also lent his creative efforts to Planet Drum, Jemimeh Puddleduck, and ModeReko. ModeReko, a groove-jam band, was started by Molo who wanted to have a band where he could write, produce, and collaborate with other musicians to create an all-inclusive music that was both improvised and composed and drew no barriers as to what kind of sources it could draw from. ModeReko showcases the collaborative effort of John Molo and band members: Bobby Read (saxophone and woodwinds) and Tim Kobza (guitar and bass), creating an uplifting, eclectic sound--a hybrid of several musical genres--focusing on textured arrangements and improvisation, which is more than ably demonstrated on their self-titled album on the Verve/Blue Thumb label.

 

As accomplished a musician as John Molo is, it is his inventive rhythmic sound that, along with bassist Phil Lesh, holds down the bottom end for Phil Lesh & Friends.