Setlist: Oil Country Bluegrass Festival, 2/25/17, Oil City, Pa.

Why is it called the Oil COUNTRY Bluegrass Festival 

if it's in Oil CITY? No one knows. But it's awesome.

Another month, another great time at a regional bluegrass festival. This time it was the Oil Country Bluegrass Festival, where our pal Sam Stuckey from Well Strung filled the mandolin role.

Click here to download/stream the set, courtesy of Archive.org!

One set:

Roving Gambler (Stanley Bros.)

Friend of the Devil (Dead)

Midnight Moonlight (P. Rowan)

In the Pines (Lead Belly)

Fox on the Run (T. Hazzard)

Old Train (T. Rice)

Ice Jammin': This Weekend's Setlists

'In the moonlight, in the midnight...'

It was 36 straight hours of bluegrass from Saturday afternoon onward — we took the stage as the closing full band at the January Ice Jam in Butler on Saturday night, then it was time to head a few miles south on Sunday for a private party.

First off, if you're not familiar with the Ice Jam, about 800 bluegrass fans and players basically take over the Days Inn Conference Center in Butler and play music for two-and-a-half days straight. I'm talking every hotel door open and every room (and most of the hallways) filled with people playing bluegrass until about 5 a.m. I'm talking about GYM JAM 2017, where pickers hit the Days Inn fitness room and played mandolin while treadmilling and Stair-Mastering. It was a beautiful time.

Our pal Danny Rectenwald joined us at Ice Jam for our set as Covered in Grass, and then Charlie Hustle & the Pickers played a party for some great folks at the North Park Lodge.

Click the links below to check out the shows courtesy of Archive.org!

11/14/17 January Ice Jam, Butler, Pa.

(click here to download/stream)

One set:

Midnight Moonlight (P. Rowan)

Roving Gambler (Stanley Bros.)

Fox on the Run (T. Hazzard)

Rain (Lennon-McCartney)

Blackjack County Chains (R. Lane) >

Eat My Dust (D. Grisman)

I Know You Rider (Trad.) >

Whiskey Before Breakfast (Trad.)

11/15/17 Private event, North Park Lodge, McCandless, Pa.

(click here to download/stream)

Early set:

Have Someone Play Dixie For Me (P. Roy)

Eat My Dust (D. Grisman)

Ophelia (The Band)

Honey Babe (E. Bishop)

Big River (J. Cash)

A Lonesome Night (Stanley Bros.)

You Better Get Right (Stanley Bros.) >

Cherokee Shuffle (Trad.)

Friend of the Devil (Dead)

Bury Me Beneath the Willow (Trad.)

Banks of the Ohio (Trad.)

Althea (Dead)

Streetlight Mama

No Expectation (Stones)

Angel From Montgomery (J. Prine)

Long Black Veil (Dill/Wilkins)

Ol' Slew Foot (J. Horton)

Roving Gambler (Stanley Bros.)

Rain (Lennon-McCartney)

I Know You Rider (Trad.) >

Whiskey Before Breakfast (Trad.)

Late set:

Old Train (T. Rice)

Deep River Blues (D. Watson)

Midnight Flyer (P. Craft)

Dark Hollow (B. Browning)

Glendale Train (J. Dawson)

Tumbling Tumbleweeds (R. Rogers)

New Mexican Shuffle

Rollin' In My Sweet Baby's Arms (Trad.)

Midnight Moonlight (P. Rowan)

Fox on the Run (T. Hazzard) >

Salt Creek (Trad.)

Last Weekend's Setlist (No. 1 of 2): 7/30/16 Bottoms Up Weekend Festival, Cameron, W.Va.

'It slipped right down the staircase,

it jumped right off the porch...'

We couldn't have asked for better weather at a late-summer show: 75 degrees and cloudy! Normally I'm a sweaty friggin' mess from Memorial Day to Labor Day, especially at outdoor gigs, but this was perfect, with a pleasant breeze blowing from behind the stage.

It was Show No. 1 of 2 that day: 75 percent of the band busted it back east for a bluegrass gig the same night at Four Seasons Brewing Co. in Latrobe.

Click here to download/stream the show courtesy of Archive.org!

One set:

That's It

Blackjack Molly

I Like It

Ophelia (The Band)

Stack-a-Lee (Trad., Rebennack arr.)

Gravel Road (M. Slim)

Deep Elem Blues (Trad.)

Strange Moon

Whiskey River (W. Nelson) >

Jam >

Feelin' Blue (CCR) >

Funky Werewolf

Viola Lee Blues (N. Cannon, Dead arr.)

7/8/16 Live at the Deutschtown Music Festival!

Huszár, a Hungarian bar on Pittsburgh's North Side, might be the smallest bar we've ever packed ourselves into to play.

It was the site of the AcoustiCafé segment of the 4th Annual Deutschtown Music Festival, and we were the full-band headliners for the night. But we were set up in the middle of the bar, which is essentially a long hallway, so we were kind of blocking the way to the bathroom. Then Pete broke a string during "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad," and I was left to my own guitar-related devices for "Don't Let Go."

But we debuted a new tune, "Funky Werewolf," and had a good time.

Click here to download/stream the set courtesy of Archive.org!

One set:

That's It

Queen Cobra

Strange Moon

Blackjack Molly >

Jam >

Feelin' Blue (CCR) >

Funky Werewolf

Mother's Meth Head Blues

Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad (Trad., Dead arr.) >

Don't Let Go (J. Stone)

Tonight's Setlist: 7/14/12, 'Play for Trey' Benefit, Penn Hills, PA

Do I play with a Boss Distortion Pedal? No. Does it sound like it on this recording? Kind of...

Two things happened tonight. Well, three. 1) I definitely maxed out the bass limit on the Zoom H1 recorder. This recording is pretty crisp on the high end and most of the vocals... fully strummed chords and anything below the low G string? Not so much... 2) I'm pretty sure I contributed to the crappy recording by placing the Zoom too close to my amp, which in turn created a semi-audible hum through said amp. Dammit. Why didn't I pay closer attention in the ONE audio technology class I took?

Other than that, the set went well. Oh, the third thing... 3) I discovered a great singing/songwriting talent in Penn Hills senior Heather Catley. We collaborated on the final four songs of the set, and her all-original solo set was excellent. Check her out on YouTube. In fact, in a few days there will probably be videos her sister shot from this evening on there

Extensive EQing proved largely fruitless, so FYI, I do not recommend listening to this at anything approaching high volume. Click here to download/stream the set courtesy of Archive.org:

Rain Song No. 3*

Push Those Clouds Away (Trad.) > Jam >

Southwest Sky* >

Eyes of the World (Dead)

Strange Moon*

Row Jimmy (Dead)

I Ain't Superstitious (C. Burnett)

Astral Weeks (V. Morrison) >

Crazy Fingers (Dead) >

Peggy-O (Dead) >

Darkness on the Edge of Town (Springsteen) >

Jam/Dylan Medley Tease >

Friend of the Devil (Dead)

Mystery Train (J. Parker) >

Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell) >

Mystery Train

Summertime** (Gershwin)

Angel Band** (Stanley Bros.)

Brown Eyed Women** (Dead)

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right** (Dylan)

*Original

**with Heather Catley

Tonight's Setlist: 4/21/12, Riverside Inn Music Festival, Cambridge Springs, Pa.

I'm normally sweating profusely... but not because of illness.

I had to battle through the beginning of a nasty little fever and chest congestion — that I'm only now reaching the tail end of — but it was a blast playing the Riverside Inn Music Festival in Cambridge Springs, Pa. The Riverside is a great old hotel built in the late 1800s, perfect for hosting a weekend of eclectic, mostly acoustic, music.

Plus I had another chance to jam with my pals The Grifters, which is always a good time. Click here to download/stream the set, courtesy of Archive.org:

Rain Song No. 3*

Dauphine*

Strange Moon*

Torn and Frayed (Stones)

Boys in the Barroom (R. Hunter)

Jam > Southwest Sky*

Magnolia (JJ Cale) >

Feelin' Alright (S. Winwood) >

Alligator (Dead) >

Jam > Good Morning Lil' Schoolgirl (J. Williamson) >

The Other One (Dead) >

Breathe (Pink Floyd) >

The Other One > 

Breathe Reprise >

New Speedway Boogie (Dead)

It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry# (Dylan)

Floating Bridge# (J. Estes)

Pig in a Pen# (B. Monroe)