I did a 6 month stint subbing for another guitarist in a Jam/Reggae band (half original) and it was a blast!
They did some Ween, Umphrey's McGee, DMB, Blues Traveler, and some others I can't recall. It was a fun
Summer. Still smells likie Patchouli and Pot in my memories.
This was one of them. Fun song to play. Yes, Phase 90 got a work out.
Hell yeah!!! That sounds awesome
And Umphrey’s McGee is one of my favorite bands ever
I like the Dead, and have covered some of their stuff in our band, but am not a superfan or anything.
I also like Jerry’s bluegrass band, Old And In The Way.
I don’t know a single Phish song and don’t know any more recent jambands, either.
Any you’d recommend?
Edited to note: none of these bands sound like the dead at all, but most have covered them over the years
Umphrey’s McGee is one of my favorites, and definitely were a bit of bridge for me coming into the scene as a lifelong metal head
I find it useful to break things kinda more into the specific categories
More electronic noises in the band: The Disco Biscuits, Lotus, Papadosio, STS9, Space Bacon
Jam grass: Billy strings, kitchen dwellers greensky bluegrass, lil smokies, yonder mountain string band (specifically shows from back when Jeff Austin was still alive and in the band)
Bluegrass adjacent: Leftover Salmon, String Cheese Incident, railroad Earth
General: Garaj Mahal, Clib d’elf, Dopapod, moe., Spafford, Widespread panic, Medeski Martin and Wood (even more fun when Scofield joins them) Twiddle (these guys get shit on a lot and there’s some cornyness but they put on a killer show and jam deep) The Werks, Big Something, Govt Mule, Tauk
Up and comers to keep an eye on: Squeaky Feet, Lespecial, Guavatron, Tand, Dizgo
The hottest thing in the scene right now is Goose. I’ve been to several shows and they’re talented but the annoying fan base and over the top hype and rise and to fame is a turn off to me. They’re all right though.
Lot of bands here, just kinda listing off the biggest names + my personal favorites. I dig pretty much all of it though.
And my biggest recommendation? Don’t listen to any of these bands studio albums. Stick to live stuff, that’s where the goods are. Most will have official live releases on Spotify/Bandcamp. And there’s YouTube of course. You can find extensive taper recordings for most of these bands via archive or an archive player like Relisten.
If you find yourself getting super deep into things nugs.net is my favorite streaming service/app. Official sound boards of -every- show bands on their play usually uploaded within a day to a week. Most of the bands i mentioned here are on there plus countless others
