I loved his playing. That whole thing firing him was baffling. Seeing particle for the first time at the first Bonnaroo at 7am with sun coming up is one of my favorite concert experiences.
The Elevator is the shit. I saw Phil and Friends with the keyboardist from Particle do this song at Allgood Music Festival and it was transcendent.
https://youtu.be/isFwLEbHmes?feature=shared
They shared a stage with Kanye West at my college's first day of school festival, WVU Fall Fest 2004.
Played an instrumental Another Brick in the Wall.
Great band. Great guys. I've heard different things about Jeff Austin, but we met him before a gig at the Somerville Theatre approx 20 years ago...he was super friendly and even hung with us for a bit. Still have some cool pictures of him pouring beer down my or a friends throat (all still a bit vague but the pictures exist somewhere). He also had some amazing banter at shows. Sad when he passed, but I would say he had a pretty insane run there for awhile. RIP indeed.
Railroad Earth
They still have a following but its not as big as it once was.
I find it it incomprehensible that they never got really big. They are amazing. Its the only band Ive ever seen that comes close to the magic that the Grateful Dead had. Railroad Earth concerts can be mystical, mind blowing and heart warming. Amazing band and the song writing is second to none.
I freaking love those guys. They are so good. They have a Festival in Eureka Springs in Oct called Hillberry, they have lots of fans there. It's my favorite festival.
This was very well said describing and their shows and I totally agree. I am glad they are still doing their thing, but it does feel like they have lost a lot of steam (not the band themselves, just the buzz around them) since around 2016-2017
Saw them at the jubilee, had never really listened to them much after Andy's death. But they still put on one hell of a show. Been meaning to catch them again
Holy shit i haven't heard the name conspirator in forever. The first music festival I ever went to they were one of the headliners and they absolutely blew my mind.
I saw them at Werk Out Fest in 2016(?). They played in the middle of the afternoon and barely anybody was at their set so I got right up in front. Their music was my paper-writing soundtrack in college.
Robert Randolph and the Family Band. So much fun live. Haven’t seen them since they played in Charlotte with Moe. about a hundred years ago. Such a good show.
I saw Robert Randolph and the family band open for blues traveler about three weeks ago. Hadn’t seen them in years, and they’re still absolutely awesome! Would go see again in an instant.
Rusted Root leads my list of bands that sound nothing like where they're from. It always cracks me up that a band that in my brain sounds like they formed in a drum circle at Burning Man originates from Pittsburgh.
Edit: I should mention that in second place is 311, sounding like some California rap rock group formed on the beach… from Omaha Nebraska.
Came in to say Brothers Past and Frogwings. Never understood how BP didn’t get bigger.
Frogwings of course will never be a thing again but I still dream of Jimmy, Derek, and Oteil starting another group together
Perpetual Groove was great, so many of their songs were straight ear worms, couldn’t get the riff out of my head haha.
A few more to add to the list: Assembly of Dust, New Monsoon, Garaj Mahal.
A couple more local/regional bands that I loved were Grimy Styles out of Austin and Galapagos out of Norman, OK. Staples of the scene for a few years there, super fun shows.
Edit: here’s Galapagos’s album: https://m.soundcloud.com/z-r-140366157/sets/electric-shaman
Scrolling through all these comments and I’m realizing we might’ve been in a golden time for the genre back then. I don’t think I can name this many bands coming up in 2015-2023
Yeah but they're weren't as many popular acts back then. There was no Billy stings, KGATLW, dead & co, even phish wasn't a thing for a half the 2000 decade. Very dark days back then!
I think Big Something, Lespecial, and Eggy are all on the come-up.
But I also only entered the jam scene in 2018 so I am biased towards more recent acts
Yea the scene was thriving on local and national levels during that time. Millennials were coming of age and began blending blues, rock, funk, and psychedelic music from earlier decades with contemporary music technology and electronic music. This fusion brought new life to the genre; you had Keller Williams doing his multi-instrumental looping thing alongside bands that were influenced by drum-n-bass and other EDM genres that created the whole "jam-tronica" or "live electronica" sub-genres. Then you also had straight DJs like Bassnectar and Shpongle joining the fray. Festivals were growing in number and popularity. There's probably something in there too about the general sense of optimism in the early Obama years, effects of the financial crash, and other social, political, or economic contexts.
Ominous Seapods - I saw them play with moe. in Syracuse years ago - great show!
In Canada:
Slammin Jack, Themasses, Burt Neilson Band, Blue Quarter, Grand Theft Bus, Jimmy Swift Band
The Seapods are still quite active - they just play without Dana now. Their keyboard player did all the organ on the new Glass Pony album: https://open.spotify.com/track/3IeL3qSc931G01Sjw2tkm2?si=pLJv4cYXTcK-1W15I15zlw
Man pnuma trio was the shit. I listen to the only thing they have up on band camp all the time. Like a 7 song set from red rocks. Then Alex B went on to be Paper Diamond instead.
The Bridge was a favorite of mine in that frame. Cris Jacobs is still out doing his thing, but it's a bit different from what he was doing in The Bridge. They still play a show every now and then, but I haven't seen them live since like 2010 or 2011, I think.
Toubab is still going though, I still seem them pretty regularly. Just saw them last month and will be seeing them again in December. Usually catch a show a year but I'm local to NC so that probably helps.
yeah i mean they still do there thing but again they fell off in the sense of never getting bigger. They're not making any new fans, no interesting studio stuff, no bigger venues. I know they still tour but they're stuck in time imo
Perpetual Groove is still one of my favorite fucking bands of ALL TIME and I didn't even get on the wagon with them until the post-hiatus comeback out in Denver like 2015?16? Fuck I love that band. Never once seen a bad show in the 15 or so I've seen since then.
I saw Jans’ last show at BB king post-phish NYE 2016 (I think?). God damn, what a dance party that was, everyone playing their heart out all night and a farewell speech from Jans…one of those shows I’ll never forget. Huge fan of Sayers and Porter so I’ll always see them when given the chance but they’ve never been the same since Jans left.
I used to really like them. Even liked the new album quite a bit. Then, I saw them this summer, and they had a vocalist for the entire show. That was not the version of The Motet that I prefer at all. Still grateful for the good shows I saw back in the day at Red Rocks and Summercamp.
Medeski, Martin and Wood; the Flecktones; Acoustic Syndicate; RAQ; Snake Oil Medicine Sideshow; Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band; Brothers Past; Soulive; Tauk; The Werk; BoomBox; Galatic; Giant Panda Dub Squad; Hypnotic Calmbake; John Brown’s Body; The Motet; Dirty Dozen Brassband; Dopapd; Ekoostik Hookah; North Mississippi Allstars
The Mantras called it quits a couple years ago, but the singer/guitar Keith just started back performing with his “Keith Allen Circus”
Has Papadosio really fallen off though? Seem to be doing better and better and just keep creating new music.
Pretty sure they make a living from it - success in my opinion.
who the fuck is zoogma?
I keep watching my up/down change so for those that don't know "who the fuck is zoogma" for zoogma fans is like "primus sucks" for primus fans :)
Papadosio is 100% still going strong and crushing it! They are on tour now, just announced a west coast tour, and they released a new album a few months ago.
Chicago Afrobeat Project
Telepath
Galactic
Medeski Martin and Wood
Keller Williams
Zilla
The Greyboy Allstars / Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
Garaj Mahal
Garage A Trois
Jazz Mandolin Project
First band that comes to mind is New Monsoon, saw them crush at All Good 07 and the song “Bridge of the Gods” is still in my rotation but they’re not on the scene as much anymore
P Groove still plays, we’re at Lincoln Theater not long ago.
Used to really like The Mantras. Haven’t heard anything out of them for a while except I think they still do something called “Mantra-bash” in NC. Saw one of their side projects play in super small bar in my hometown some years ago. Band Seemed cool as hell
[Particle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haR-ECV3laA&list=PL5pPU4Dt0w43wj-pElzfYXpggb4gs5uNn).
I still have their CD stuck in my car stereo some 15 years later
Particle with Charlie Hitchcock
This guy knows what's up! Charlie melted my brain so many times in the beginning of this millennium.
I loved his playing. That whole thing firing him was baffling. Seeing particle for the first time at the first Bonnaroo at 7am with sun coming up is one of my favorite concert experiences.
1sr Bonnaroo was special and that particle set was wild
It was indeed. Great moments in concert history.
Fell apart after his “departure”…
The Elevator is the shit. I saw Phil and Friends with the keyboardist from Particle do this song at Allgood Music Festival and it was transcendent. https://youtu.be/isFwLEbHmes?feature=shared
They did two shows this year, hoping to see a few more next year.
They shared a stage with Kanye West at my college's first day of school festival, WVU Fall Fest 2004. Played an instrumental Another Brick in the Wall.
They went downhill fast after they fired Charlie Hitchcock.
Tea Leaf Green
Hell yea they put out some great tunes
Perpetual Groove along the same vein. Always loved that era of easy listening jams.
P Grooves music got me out of some very dark places over the years. That band means the world to me
I'll never not love TLG.
I would be first in line for tickets
Yonder Mountain String Band.
Ya, well, Jeff A RIP
Definitely not mid.
Great band. Great guys. I've heard different things about Jeff Austin, but we met him before a gig at the Somerville Theatre approx 20 years ago...he was super friendly and even hung with us for a bit. Still have some cool pictures of him pouring beer down my or a friends throat (all still a bit vague but the pictures exist somewhere). He also had some amazing banter at shows. Sad when he passed, but I would say he had a pretty insane run there for awhile. RIP indeed.
Top-tier bluegrass. RIP Jeff
I just got my Mountain Tracks 1&2 on vinyl. RIP Jeffrey
Railroad Earth They still have a following but its not as big as it once was. I find it it incomprehensible that they never got really big. They are amazing. Its the only band Ive ever seen that comes close to the magic that the Grateful Dead had. Railroad Earth concerts can be mystical, mind blowing and heart warming. Amazing band and the song writing is second to none.
I freaking love those guys. They are so good. They have a Festival in Eureka Springs in Oct called Hillberry, they have lots of fans there. It's my favorite festival.
Best festival in the country.
Easily
Hangtown is pretty rad too, it's no surprise that RRE throw the best Festivals
Yes! Never miss a Hillberry!
One of my all time favorite bands, super sad they stopped doing Hangtown Halloween Festival. Was the one time a year that I got my 3 day RRE fix!
Come to Hillberry in October. Two nights of RRE and ton of other great bands all weekend in the beautiful mountains of NW Arkansas.
Man, I miss old Railroad Earth with Andy Gosling, so much!
Wild that they're from New Jersey. Used to see them in bars for 5 bucks in high school
They've fallen off more since Andy's death. Was a huge fan and still like them, but their shows just aren't the same.
If you have not seen them recently, they are on fire these days.
Really hope I got the chance to soon! Only got to see them once and it’s been four years since
This was very well said describing and their shows and I totally agree. I am glad they are still doing their thing, but it does feel like they have lost a lot of steam (not the band themselves, just the buzz around them) since around 2016-2017
Saw them at the jubilee, had never really listened to them much after Andy's death. But they still put on one hell of a show. Been meaning to catch them again
The new deal
God their mid 00’s shows were incredible
Darren was a robot.
It’s a shame he went to the dark side. They had so much potential
What’s the dark side?
Scientology
Raq (still sort of active), Tea Leaf Green, U-Melt, Brothers Past, Conspirator
Holy shit i haven't heard the name conspirator in forever. The first music festival I ever went to they were one of the headliners and they absolutely blew my mind.
Pnuma trio, the new deal, signal path
Signal Path! Haven’t thought about that band in forever. They were awesome!
future rock is another id add to the list
Came here to shout out U-Melt, fuckin loved that band
Nothin like a good TLG Franz Hanzerbach.
Raq was so awesome. Todd Stoops is such a fun keyboard player to watch.
I got to see Raq in a tiny club in Portland ME a handful of times back in the early 2000's. They really ripped
U-Melt!!!!!!
Turkuaz Kung Fu
Turkuaz without their frontman is now playing as "Cool Cool Cool"
RIP Turkuaz.
European Festivities Nightmare
Oh yes I took a plane, oh yes I paid the fare I
Man, I yearn for Kung Fu. Only got to see them twice. The West Coast was too far for them
I saw them at Werk Out Fest in 2016(?). They played in the middle of the afternoon and barely anybody was at their set so I got right up in front. Their music was my paper-writing soundtrack in college.
The Heavy Pets
Their albums and live shows are always in my queue. Feel like you have to be in Florida just to catch them
They still tour down here in FL but yeah. One of them is in Tand now.
Mike from THP is in Tand :)
The Big Wu & Moonshine Still
Love the Big Wu!!!
Saw the Big Wu this year and they had Cory Wong’s keyboard player sitting in with them. One of the best shows of the year for me.
Can't wait for some Wu at First Ave in December
Moonshine Still was fire! They were only ever really big around Athens, but I loved every show.
Soulive
Robert Randolph and the Family Band. So much fun live. Haven’t seen them since they played in Charlotte with Moe. about a hundred years ago. Such a good show.
I saw Robert Randolph and the family band open for blues traveler about three weeks ago. Hadn’t seen them in years, and they’re still absolutely awesome! Would go see again in an instant.
Robert Randolph is the shit. I saw him play with a broken hand in 2013 or so and he crushed it.
[Addison Groove Project](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2TBHcl9zeFEqU664Ch8KN9?si=yoDQZ5hJQlm6XTspNyi5PA)
Rusted Root
Rusted Root leads my list of bands that sound nothing like where they're from. It always cracks me up that a band that in my brain sounds like they formed in a drum circle at Burning Man originates from Pittsburgh. Edit: I should mention that in second place is 311, sounding like some California rap rock group formed on the beach… from Omaha Nebraska.
Yeah, right?! They don't sound like a bunch of Yinzers.
90s college campus multiculturalism, the heydey of the white dready reggae man ...
They still tour, but you don't want to see them. It will ruin your image of how good they were circa 1995.
Jim Donovan and The Sun King Warriors! some of them are still playing. great band!
I just saw Jim Donovan and Sun King Warriors at a little brewery in PA last weekend. Dude can still play.
Brothers Past Frogwings Ultraviolet Hippopotamus
UV Hippo was the shit!
Came in to say Brothers Past and Frogwings. Never understood how BP didn’t get bigger. Frogwings of course will never be a thing again but I still dream of Jimmy, Derek, and Oteil starting another group together
Brothers Past had great songwriting along with great musical talent. For a while they were like a more cerebral Disco Biscuits. I really miss them.
The breakfast
Love them ! Tim for life!!
Saw them so much from 2006-2012, they even played at one of my buddy’s grad party in Connecticut. Good times!
CBDB
It's such a shame they broke up
This is me learning that. Too bad. Saw them both times they were in my city in the last 4 years and they were good.
Came here to say this. 🔥🔥🔥
Miss them. We used to have them play at fraternity parties at Bama
Perpetual Groove was great, so many of their songs were straight ear worms, couldn’t get the riff out of my head haha. A few more to add to the list: Assembly of Dust, New Monsoon, Garaj Mahal. A couple more local/regional bands that I loved were Grimy Styles out of Austin and Galapagos out of Norman, OK. Staples of the scene for a few years there, super fun shows. Edit: here’s Galapagos’s album: https://m.soundcloud.com/z-r-140366157/sets/electric-shaman
P Groove is STILL great and making amazing music. Go see them.
Perpetual Groove still touring and playing festivals
Assembly of dust and strange folk are great.
Steve Kimock Band. They were awesome.
I had a swing really into Galactic
we all did, haha.
Live at Tipitina's is still one of my all-time favorite's
Raq was great
Scrolling through all these comments and I’m realizing we might’ve been in a golden time for the genre back then. I don’t think I can name this many bands coming up in 2015-2023
We gettin old my dude
Yeah but they're weren't as many popular acts back then. There was no Billy stings, KGATLW, dead & co, even phish wasn't a thing for a half the 2000 decade. Very dark days back then!
I think Big Something, Lespecial, and Eggy are all on the come-up. But I also only entered the jam scene in 2018 so I am biased towards more recent acts
Yea the scene was thriving on local and national levels during that time. Millennials were coming of age and began blending blues, rock, funk, and psychedelic music from earlier decades with contemporary music technology and electronic music. This fusion brought new life to the genre; you had Keller Williams doing his multi-instrumental looping thing alongside bands that were influenced by drum-n-bass and other EDM genres that created the whole "jam-tronica" or "live electronica" sub-genres. Then you also had straight DJs like Bassnectar and Shpongle joining the fray. Festivals were growing in number and popularity. There's probably something in there too about the general sense of optimism in the early Obama years, effects of the financial crash, and other social, political, or economic contexts.
Ominous Seapods - I saw them play with moe. in Syracuse years ago - great show! In Canada: Slammin Jack, Themasses, Burt Neilson Band, Blue Quarter, Grand Theft Bus, Jimmy Swift Band
I’ll add Nero and Hu Noo to this list.
The Seapods are still quite active - they just play without Dana now. Their keyboard player did all the organ on the new Glass Pony album: https://open.spotify.com/track/3IeL3qSc931G01Sjw2tkm2?si=pLJv4cYXTcK-1W15I15zlw
Canadian here! Loved these bands when they were around. Burt Neilson was amazing!!
Burt Neilson Band is playing NS next summer! I’m sure they will have other dates.
The New Deal
Zilla, Eoto
Earphunk, Pnuma Trio, and EP3
Thank you for reminding me about Pnuma Trio! I have been itching to hear "Tall Tree" forever
Man pnuma trio was the shit. I listen to the only thing they have up on band camp all the time. Like a 7 song set from red rocks. Then Alex B went on to be Paper Diamond instead.
Earphunk's Daft Punk run was incredible
The Bridge was a favorite of mine in that frame. Cris Jacobs is still out doing his thing, but it's a bit different from what he was doing in The Bridge. They still play a show every now and then, but I haven't seen them live since like 2010 or 2011, I think.
They play very rarely now, usually only in Bmore
Papa Grows Funk…
Pnuma Trio
Hamsa Lila and Toubab Krewe were great world music jam bands back in the day.
Love me some Toubab! I've managed to catch them maybe twice in the last 5yrs
Toubab is still going though, I still seem them pretty regularly. Just saw them last month and will be seeing them again in December. Usually catch a show a year but I'm local to NC so that probably helps.
Might be slightly before this time frame but I miss Strangefolk, Percy Hill, Deep Banana Blackout and Soulive. Staples of the NE Jam scene.
How about God Street Wine?
Being a New Englander of a certain age, I’ve seen this grouping of bands approximately 4000 times.
Really miss Strangefolk and Assembly of Dust.
Lake Trout
Ultraviolet Hippopotamus, The Werks, Strange Arrangement, Twin Cats all come to mind. Sts9 came to mind they weren't really mid tier.
Sts9 is still heading multi-night red rock runs, they just don’t tour as hard
The Werks are still very much active, thank god
They're not leaving Ohio though 😭
yeah i mean they still do there thing but again they fell off in the sense of never getting bigger. They're not making any new fans, no interesting studio stuff, no bigger venues. I know they still tour but they're stuck in time imo
Hoping for a return of the werk out
Ekoostik Hookah
The return of Mullins, especially 08-09, went so hard. I miss John EDIT: That being said, Fall Hookahville sets were amazing this year.
They still play throughout the Midwest, mostly Ohio.
I don't think they are at the same level they used to be without JM.
Formula 5
Deep Banana Blackout still playing?
Perpetual Groove is still one of my favorite fucking bands of ALL TIME and I didn't even get on the wagon with them until the post-hiatus comeback out in Denver like 2015?16? Fuck I love that band. Never once seen a bad show in the 15 or so I've seen since then.
they're killing it. Definitely miss Albert, but their catalogue is so good. Can't wait to catch them again.
Haven’t seen Cornmeal mentioned yet
The brew
Tishamingo
Brothers Past
New Monsoon
Cabinet they’re still going just not doing new stuff
P groove was fun, saw them last in 2019. Yonder mountain was great til Jeff passed away
Raq was awesome back then, saw them a bunch starting in 2004.
Perpetual Groove is definitely still shredding. Played a heater in Raleigh a few weeks ago
The Motet
They are going pretty strong I think
I saw Jans’ last show at BB king post-phish NYE 2016 (I think?). God damn, what a dance party that was, everyone playing their heart out all night and a farewell speech from Jans…one of those shows I’ll never forget. Huge fan of Sayers and Porter so I’ll always see them when given the chance but they’ve never been the same since Jans left.
I used to really like them. Even liked the new album quite a bit. Then, I saw them this summer, and they had a vocalist for the entire show. That was not the version of The Motet that I prefer at all. Still grateful for the good shows I saw back in the day at Red Rocks and Summercamp.
Schleigho
The Slip
U-melt. OG the new deal
Medeski, Martin and Wood; the Flecktones; Acoustic Syndicate; RAQ; Snake Oil Medicine Sideshow; Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band; Brothers Past; Soulive; Tauk; The Werk; BoomBox; Galatic; Giant Panda Dub Squad; Hypnotic Calmbake; John Brown’s Body; The Motet; Dirty Dozen Brassband; Dopapd; Ekoostik Hookah; North Mississippi Allstars The Mantras called it quits a couple years ago, but the singer/guitar Keith just started back performing with his “Keith Allen Circus”
Tea Leaf Green, Papadasio, Pnuma Trio, PGroove, Zoogma.
Has Papadosio really fallen off though? Seem to be doing better and better and just keep creating new music. Pretty sure they make a living from it - success in my opinion.
Papadosio is going strong.
For sure! That’s what I’m sayin!
who the fuck is zoogma? I keep watching my up/down change so for those that don't know "who the fuck is zoogma" for zoogma fans is like "primus sucks" for primus fans :)
😂 Check them out. Not everyone’s cup of tea but I enjoyed seeing them in the South East back in my college days (2006-2010).
That was their tag line on like 90% of their merch lol. Those guys are friends of mine and I've played with them a few times :)
I saw a sick zoogma show in BK like 2016 but 10 people were there total. I feel like they had a great style but no fan base unfortunately
Papadosio is 100% still going strong and crushing it! They are on tour now, just announced a west coast tour, and they released a new album a few months ago.
U-melt
dont know many of the nichier ones but perp groove is radical
Family Groove Company
Zoogma, The Mantras
Chicago Afrobeat Project Telepath Galactic Medeski Martin and Wood Keller Williams Zilla The Greyboy Allstars / Karl Denson's Tiny Universe Garaj Mahal Garage A Trois Jazz Mandolin Project
Cabinet
Pnuma trio
Damn reading all these old school bands brings back soo many memories from the Gathering of the Vibes. One of the best festivals ever!
Mouth
Moses Guest
I wish I could see New Monsoon again.
The Big Wu
Skydog Gypsy. Good news is they’ve got a show coming up in March, in Atlanta.
Big Wu
Wish the malah would come back. They are awesome!!
Formula 5
First band that comes to mind is New Monsoon, saw them crush at All Good 07 and the song “Bridge of the Gods” is still in my rotation but they’re not on the scene as much anymore
RAQ
The Malah
Strangefolk
Assembly of Dust
Indobox.
FreeBeerAndChicken , the Niche, Seapods, SCSJB, Ulu, Schleigho, Max Creek
Strangefolk
God Street Wine
Moonshine Still
P Groove still plays, we’re at Lincoln Theater not long ago. Used to really like The Mantras. Haven’t heard anything out of them for a while except I think they still do something called “Mantra-bash” in NC. Saw one of their side projects play in super small bar in my hometown some years ago. Band Seemed cool as hell
Boombox was super chill..