In the Fall of 2006, itching to release their first live album, Hot Buttered Rum announced that it would be recording a handful of shows for official release. Live in the Northeast (released May 2007) beautifully reveals the true core of live Butter: music that is forceful without being flashy, serious without being stuffy, intricate without being inaccessible, and diverse without being distracting. The performances were professionally multi-tracked and later carefully mixed by Butter's long-time sound engineer, Josh Osmond. The result is striking, presenting the unique energy and improvisational spirit of a Hot Buttered Rum live performance in studio-quality sound.
Often described as a rock band playing bluegrass instruments, no prior Butter recording has so perfectly displayed the band's bolder and heavier side. Their full sound permeates Live in the Northeast — from the reggae-tinged "Return Someday" and psychedelica of "Desert Rat" through definitive covers of the Grateful Dead's "Cumberland Blues" and Leo Sayer's "Feel Like Dancin'" — winding the listener through a robust and intense set of acoustic rock.
The band's current list of confirmed tour dates is as follows:
June 19 Tractor Tavern Seattle WA
June 22 Media Club Vancouver BC
June 23 Grove Pub - Polynesian Room Vancouver BC
June 30 Powerhouse Pub Folsum CA
July 01 Mountain Stage Groveland CA
July 05-07 High Sierra Music Festival Quincy CA
July 13 Mangy Moose Teton Village WY
July 15 Trancegression Festival Copper Mountain CO
July 18 Buckin' Bale Music Festival Bozeman MT
July 19 Other Side Missoula MT
July 22 Greek Theater Berkeley CA with The String Cheese Incident and Railroad Earth
August 02 Mobius Ashland OR
August 03 4 Peaks Music Festival Bend OR
August 11 Dead on the Creek Willits CA
August 17 Mystic Theater Petaluma CA
August 18 Truckee Regional Park Truckee CA
August 19 Hidden Villa Community Programs Los Altos CA
September 09 Humboldt State University Arcata CA
September 16 River City Roots Festival Missoula MT
September 18 Red Oak High School Red Oak IA
September 20 Steifel Theatre for the Performing Arts Salina KS
September 22 Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival Ozark AR
October 20 Joshua Tree Music Festival Joshua Tree CA
More dates to be announced.
The widespread appeal of Hot Buttered Rum 's music stems not only from the band's musical versatility and prolific songwriting, but also from the magnetic chemistry the group creates onstage together. It is this chemistry that is propelling the band to ever greater success. The band has performed at festivals as diverse as the Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, Grey Fox, High Sierra and the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and has shared the stage with such artists as Phil Lesh, Bela Fleck, Ben Harper, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall and Peter Rowan, the last two of whom worked with the band on its critically-acclaimed studio release, Well-Oiled Machine.
