Jamband Graveyard

I never saw the Stones at Altamont. I didn't make the trip to Watkins Glen to see the Allmans on a triple bill from heaven. I never made it to the East Village to go to the Fillmore East. Why? Because I wasn't even born yet. No punk scene, acid tests, or Madchester Factory Records parties for me to tell my kids about. But I did get to live through the Mid-Atlantic jam scene of the mid-to-late 1990's with all of the interest, fervor, and love that I could muster as a teenager in and around Baltimore, Washington DC, and ultimately at University of Maryland in College Park.

The one sad fact of being a fan of the jam scene of that time is that so many of the bands I would use fake IDs to see are no more. They have entered the Jamband Graveyard. I'm guessing most of the musicians themselves were in their late teen years or early twenties when they were hitting the road to play for the tie-dyed and fraternity kid faithful who were looking for jam music in all corners whenever Phish wasn't in town. And "real life" caught up to them.

I'm talking about my all-time favorites of that time: God Street Wine, Agents of Good Roots, and Gibb Droll Band. Also, I would go see, and trade tapes of: Strangefolk, Blue Miracle, Everything, The Recipe, Percy Hill, Foxtrot Zulu, and yeP!. Even eKoostik Hookah (they still around?), Lake Trout (pre-electronica), Guster (pre-drum set), and The Allmans when Dickey was still around.

Thankfully, a bunch of the groups are still around. Bands I saw over a decade ago were: Widespread Panic, moe., Keller Williams, Disco Biscuits, MMW, and Galactic. But I can't go see God Street bust out a Wendy into Stone House. No more Gibb Droll introducing me to The Meters with a Cissy Strut encore. I guess like so many of the friends I had around that time that I no longer speak to, these bands are nothing but memories. Through good times, bad times, these were the soundtracks to my youth. Do iPods play Maxell tapes??