From the ACL taping program on August 10, 2009:
Since their debut in the early 90s, the Dave Matthews Band has combined the worlds of jam and pop to win multiple Grammys and gain a permanent position as one of America’s top concert draws. With Matthews’ introspective lyrics and distinctive vocal timbre and a stellar group of musicians, this Virginia-based band has created some of the most memorable music of the last decade.
Through near constant touring, Dave Matthews Band has built a loyal following and a catalogue of critically acclaimed songs that mix jazz, folk, and world music with a distinct pop sensibility. With numerous live CD releases, the band’s live reputation is unsurpassed.
The band took a break from studio recording for a few years after 2005’s Stand Up to craft what Rolling Stone calls their “best album yet.” Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, the combo’s latest CD, was released earlier this year. It is the band’s first since the death of founding member and saxophonist LeRoi Moore in 2008. After Moore’s death, the remaining band members traveled to a New Orleans studio to complete work on “a fond, funky farewell” (Spin) to their fellow musician that also resulted in their fifth consecutive number one album.
“This eulogy is a celebration, and Big Whiskey is a dense, humid album that, befitting its New Orleans origins, shrewdly cuts its melancholy with exuberance and vice versa,” wrote Billboard.
