One Man Show

SCI Fidelity

30dbThere’s been no shortage of jam bands in the post-Grateful Dead era: Blues Traveler, Phish, moe., String Cheese Incident, Umphrey’s McGee and Widespread Panic, as well as countless “newgrass” groups including Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band and Blueground Undergrass.

A few recently have displayed a balance of quality musicianship, arrangement, restraint and vocals that places them in the same league as the good ol’ Dead.

Widespread Panic, for one; witness their latest, “Dirty Side Down.” But another, unexpected outfit is 30db: a side project consisting of Umphrey’s McGee guitarist Brendan Bayliss; Yonder Mountain String Band mandolinist Jeff Austin; North Mississippi Allstars drummer Cody Dickinson; Hot Rize guitarist Nick Forster; and Open Road bassist Eric Thorin.

The brainchild of Bayliss and Austin, 30db’s sound is driven by Bayliss’ electric guitar and Austin’s equally weighted mandolin, which at any minute could be serving a lead, rhythm or harmony function. The combination makes for a fresh approach in a genre that’s been slightly stale of late.

Trading off lead vocals from song to song, the two sing of something found to be in common after their paths crossed on the road enough times, something that was the catalyst for forming the group: recent breakups with significant others.

Despite such downer subject matter, the disc manages to be upbeat, rocking and — first and foremost — jamming!gnm_end_bug

Tracks
1. One Man Show
2. Always Up
3. Susanah
4. Liar
5. Backfire
6. Automatic
7. Lick #6
8. Grave
9. Return Item
10. Instrumental In D
11. Get In Line
12. One More
13. Wadmala
14. Backbone

Total time: 47:30

External links
artist’s website
amazon.com
iTunes Store