Über Cobra

Performer: Widespread Panic
Engineer: Billy Field
Producer: Widespread Panic
Distributor: BMG (distributor)

Notes: Widespread Panic: Dave Schools (bass guitar); Domingo Ortiz, John Bell , John Hermann, Todd Nance, George McConnell. Personnel: John Bell (vocals, guitar); John Hermann (vocals, keyboards); Dave Schools (vocals); George McConnell (guitar); Todd Nance (drums); Domingo Ortiz (percussion). Audio Mixer: John Keane. Recording information: Hob, Myrtle Beach (11/2003). Photographer: Flournoy Holmes. Though Phish is generally considered the official inheritor of the Grateful Dead jam-band mantle, Widespread Panic is perhaps the most direct musical descendent of Jerry Garcia and crew. With its strong country and blues influences, good-time party vibe, inspired choice of cover tunes, and charmingly shambling jamming style, the Athens, Georgia-based combo possesses many of the same rootsy ingredients that made the Dead so much fun. UBER COBRA is a particularly laid-back offering, capturing the band live and acoustic in a relatively intimate setting (at the House of Blues club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) in front of a particularly joyous crowd. Leader John Bell lends his trademark sandpaper vocals to a mix of choice originals and numbers by venerable songwriters both world-famous (Neil Young, David Byrne) and lesser known (Willis Alan Ramsey, Vic Chesnutt). Throughout, the band interprets the material with an engaging mix of Deep South soulful feeling and sawdust-and-whiskey irreverence.

Rolling Stone (p.146) - 3 stars out of 5 - "More live music by the most soulful band in jam-band nation."

Though they started out in the '80s in Athens, GA, Widespread Panic are as far as can be from what was known then as the "Athens scene" (R.E.M, Let's Active, Pylon, etc.). Instead, they were among the first of a new wave of jam bands picking up the baton of '60s psychedelic warriors like the Grateful Dead. Though their improvisational skills earned them a huge following, WP bore an important difference from peers like Phish; they had a distinctly Southern sound that mixed rock, jazz, and a bit of Dixie, much in the manner of key influences the Allman Brothers and the Dregs.

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