Welcome to the dog days of summer. Or perhaps the "Street Dogs" days of summer.
That's where long-established jam masters Widespread Panic find themselves right now. The band is on its summer tour, which passes through Rogers tonight, but also ready for the release of the new album "Street Dogs," the first studio effort in five years.
FAQ
Widespread Panic
WHEN — 7:30 p.m. today
WHERE — Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers
COST — $31-$55.50
INFO — amptickets.com
The current incarnation of Widespread worked together in the studio on this album, the 11th studio recording. Like other Widespread records, it fell together by chance as much as design.
"We apply ourselves, then you realize the continuity," says guitarist and lead vocalist John Bell while waiting to catch a plane to take him to his home in Georgia, where he hoped to check on his tomato plants during a few days off.
The album, he says, catches the band in its current mindset.
"In the end, you're taking photographs of the gang on summer vacation," he says.
What does the current image of Widespread Panic look like? Like one of the jam world's most formidable and venerable jam bands. The group formed in Athens, Ga., in 1986. Musicians started playing fraternity parties, later graduating to the nation's most revered stages, such as Red Rock Amphitheater near Denver, an outdoor venue they've sold out more than 40 times.
Any picture taken of the current band would include a different lineup than the one that played that first show 29 years ago. Original members Bell and Dave Schools, the group's bassist, still perform with Widespread. Original guitarist Michael Houser passed away in 2002 from pancreatic cancer. And the fourth original member, drummer Todd Nance, is taking a break from the band but is expected to return to touring and recording in 2016. In his place on tour and on "Street Dogs" is Duane Trucks, brother to superstar guitarist Derek Trucks and nephew to superstar drummer Butch Trucks, founding drummer of the Allman Brothers Band.
All incarnations of Widespread Panic owe some credit for its Southern rock influenced jams to the Allman Brothers Band. But the band's sound includes much more, with elements of blues, progressive rock and funk. Trucks has fallen into place naturally, Bell says.
"The main ingredient is being ready for something different," he says.
Fans will get a dose of different from the band, courtesy of "Street Dogs" songs already worked into the setlists.
"It's refreshing for us to play new material," Bell insists.
But even as time marches on, some things stay the same. Widespread is known for its live shows, and Bell expects the band to push past the three-hour mark during tonight's show. And he expects, as is the case in almost all in all the pictures taken of him live, he'll have his eyes closed.
"I'm usually inside my head, watching the lyrics play out," he says.
That's a picture you can count on.
NAN What's Up on 07/17/2015