ARTISTS

DARK STAR ORCHESTRA

Performing to critical acclaim for over 25 years and over 3100 shows, Dark Star Orchestra continues the Grateful Dead live concert experience. Their shows are built off the Dead's extensive catalog and the talent of these seven fine musicians. On any given night, the band will perform a show based on a set list from the Grateful Dead's 30 years of extensive touring or use their catalog to program a unique set list for the show. This allows fans both young and old to share in the experience. By recreating set lists from the past, and by developing their own sets of Dead songs, Dark Star Orchestra offers a continually evolving artistic outlet within this musical canon. Honoring both the band and the fans, Dark Star Orchestra's members seek out the unique style and sound of each era while simultaneously offering their own informed improvisations.

MELVIN SEALS & JGB

Melvin Seals has been a powerful presence in the music industry for over 30 years with a long-established reputation as a performer, recording artist and producer. Melvin is most revered for his powerful, high-spirited, Hammond B-3 organ, and keyboards in the Jerry Garcia Band. Melvin spun his B-3 magic with the Jerry Garcia Band for 18 years and in doing so helped pioneer and define what has now become "Jam Band Music". From blues to funk to rock to jazz, Melvin Seals serves up a tasty mix with a little R&B and gospel thrown in to spice things up.

Melvin and JGB bring an intuitive, expressive style, soul, spontaneity and remarkable chops to the table. John Kadlecik on lead guitar and vocal duties, John-Paul McLean's savory bass, Jeremy Hoenig on the drums and, of course, a heapin' helpin' of the wizard's magic on Hammond B-3 Organ and keyboards. Their chemistry is the focus from which they create a spontaneous and high art where the sky is the limit musically. They offer an exciting, often psychedelic musical journey that changes nightly and keeps the audience dancing and smiling (and some staring in amazement) for hours.

CIRCLES AROUND THE SUN

Circles Around The Sun’s fourth studio album traverses towards galaxies unknown – Language is the sound of a rock band rebounding from unthinkable adversity, moving as one to confidently author their next chapter. Synth-drenched excursions into outer-spatial sound design, the six-song release welcomes guitarist John Lee Shannon to the fold, a longtime peer and tourmate who joins bassist Dan Horne, keyboardist Adam MacDougall, and drummer Mark Levy.

The forthcoming release builds on the cosmic-disco vibe of 2020’s eponymous LP. The Floydian tongues on Language represent a new dawn, as evidenced by an ethereal title-track featuring harpist Mikaela Davis. The new material finds them oscillating through hybrid strains of disco-funk, soul jazz, and psychedelic rock, harnessing their stylistic lanes into a singular, intoxicating brew.

“We had been partying on other planets for a while when we found our new guy John Lee Shannon. We all got in the studio and played disco ball dodgeball for a while and this is what we came up with. There's a bit of a different arc to Language. The first couple songs are gonna put you in a certain headspace, and then the party happens later on,” notes bassist Dan Horne on the creation of the new record.

The band immersed themselves in sound design research at Horne’s Echo Park studio, Liberty Hair Farm. Longtime creative partners dove into exploration mode, probing the limitless potential of an arsenal of synthesizers, sequencers, and other vintage electronic instrumentation.

Soon the seeds were sown for Circles Around The Sun’s fourth full-length album Language, dropping Spring 2023.

DONNA THE BUFFALO

Donna The Buffalo is not just a band, rather one might say that Donna The Buffalo has become a lifestyle for its members and audiences. The band has played thousands of shows and countless festivals including Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Festival, Telluride, Austin City Limits Festival, MerleFest, and Philadelphia Folk Festival. At several festivals Donna The Buffalo has become the house band for closing the events by backing up artists including The Avett Brothers, Keller Williams, Zac Brown, Bela Fleck, John Paul Jones, and Chris Thile. They’ve opened for The Dead and have toured with Peter Rowan, Del McCoury, Los Lobos, Little Feat, Jim Lauderdale, Rusted Root, and Railroad Earth to name a few. They also toured with Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen to help raise awareness about increased corporate spending in politics. In 1991, the band started the Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival in Trumansburg, NY. The four day festival has become an annual destination for over 15,000 music lovers every year and was started as an AIDS benefit. It continues as a benefit for arts and education. To date, the event has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and is now one of three Grassroots Festivals; the Bi-annual Shakori Hills fest in North Carolina and Virginia Key festival in Florida.