Every Phish fan has their favorite year of the band's long and storied career, and will argue to the death why they feel that specific year stands as the group's greatest.  For some it's the feisty year of 1993, or the energetic and explosive 1994 tour, and some will even argue that the tight yet loosely woven shows of 2011 rank as their all time high.  But for many, it was without a doubt the body of work heard during 1997.

It’s hard to exactly pinpoint where the resurgence in popularity of bluegrass music in the last fifteen years has come from. Perhaps it has to do with American’s wanting to reconnect with roots music. It could be that it blends vocal elements of folk music with musical complexity of jazz and classical composition. Perhaps people are just plain sick of what has been coined now as “country”, which appears to have transitioned into electric big-band steel guitar nonsense with even shallower lyrics.

Pop music since the 2000s has gone through interesting evolutions and continues as a topic of focus. So many styles and genres have been amalgamated and fused together. It seems as if modern pop seeks to embrace non-style or attaining something off-blues. The trend almost seems be a sound that denies roots and style, as if that would make it more interesting inherently through its disobedience of definition. In light of this goofy paradox, artists that reach out to roots seem to captivate my interest more so.

Throughout Wilco’s two decades on the scene, the vacillating brain chemistry of frontman Jeff Tweedy has unfailingly fueled the band’s highflying creative trajectory.  Backed by the always vicious electric guitar chops of studio legend Nels Cline, the Chicago band’s 8^th studio LP The Whole Love -self-released on Wilco’s nascent dBpm Records- presents Tweedy at a critical juncture. 

It is such a gem that the large family of bluegrass music still has the likes of Del McCoury around. And simply declaring that Del is “still around” is a gross understatement. More accurately would be acknowledging his linage and persona as being at a career-high peak moment. Not only has classic bluegrass music had resurgence in popularity over the last twenty years, but also many of the oldies of the genre are still hashing out quality work.

The opening track on Avos, by James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg, “Hospitality”, has a sneaky, adventure feeling to it. One guitar holds down a somewhat dark undertone while the accompaniment dances happily, almost mischievously on top.

Musician Les Claypool has been a bit of a chameleon over the last decade, exploring the jamband world with his collaboration with Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Stewart Copeland (The Police) known as Oysterhead, fronting multiple side projects including, but not limited to, Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade,