We are super excited to have Skerik as our guest on No Simple Road this week! Decade upon decade, Skerik remains the tireless steward for one of modern music's most diverse, adventurous & passionate bodies of work. Skerik's world is one where dialogue flows freely between wildly disparate strains of musical thought... where no borders exist between jazz & sludge metal, where elements of Congolese soukous dialect might find their way onto the million-selling records of an alternative rock...
Aug 24, 2021•2 hr 38 min•Ep. 218
We've got two for one this week on No Simple Road! We start off this week with a recap of our trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania to see Phish! Next, we welcome the founder of The Peace Bus, Kwabi Amoah-Forson, to the show for a discussion about his mission to spread peace across this land! The Peace Bus was conceptualized from the desire to create a space to ignite solidarity throughout communities. This vision has lead Kwabi to campaign for peace both nationally and internationally, from London, Eng...
Aug 17, 2021•2 hr 53 min•Ep. 217
A mid-week special episode with Starfinder Stanley and Hawk from The Owsley Stanley Foundation. The Owsley Stanley Foundation is a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of “Bear’s Sonic Journals,” Owsley’s archive of more than 1,300 live concert soundboard recordings from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, including recordings by Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, and more than 80 other artists across nearly every music...
Aug 12, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 216
This week we are stoked to have Davvy Glab as our guest on No Simple Road. This is a super fun and laughter filled episode! Davvy is a YouTube creator, guitarist, actor, and one-half of the 'Toby & Davvy' YouTube channel. Davvy teaches Grateful Dead songs on YouTube every week with his show 'Play Dead' as well as doing 'Drink and a Joint' & 'Live Chill & Jam' with his homie Toby, solo workshops, and 'Steal Your Monday's' with Chants In The Void. This cat is super busy and will quickl...
Aug 10, 2021•2 hr 57 min•Ep. 215
We are super excited this week to have Elliott Peck as our guest! As one of the most sought-after vocalists on the West Coast, Elliott Peck has made a name for herself lending harmonies to everyone from Phil Lesh and Bob Weir to Jackie Greene and Reid Genauer. As a member of the band Midnight North, she’s appeared on bills with the likes of Bonnie Raitt and The Mother Hips and slayed festivals from Lockn’ to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Now, with her mesmerizing solo debut, Peck is stepping center...
Aug 03, 2021•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 214
This week No Simple Road is extremely excited to have Funk You as our guest! Friends, fun, and love comprise the ethos of Funk You, a nine-piece musical juggernaut from Augusta, Georgia. Motivated by a love of liver performance and armed with a captivating sonic presence, the band places a healthy helping of soul atop a funky backbeat that continues to evolve even after a decade on the road! We start this episode, before the interview, with a check in from The Northwest String Summit Peacock Pic...
Jul 26, 2021•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 213
This week we are super honored and excited to bring you the one and only Benny 'Burle' Galloway! When Yonder Mountain String Band arrived in Colorado from Illinois, trying to make its name in the bluegrass world, they needed a friend who knew the ropes. Benny Galloway was their man. Galloway had been a part of the Colorado acoustic-music scene since moving here from the New Orleans area in the mid-’70s. Galloway had the wealth of experiences and contacts that Yonder Mountain was short on. A sing...
Jul 20, 2021•3 hr 31 min•Ep. 212
We are extremely stoked this week to have Chris Pandolfi of The Infamous Stringdusters as our guest! We get right down to business with Chris discussing some of the deeper aspects of being a musician and also a human being, like not letting your mistakes become part of your identity, how practice and repetition open the door to 'the zone', ways to strive for success and be on top of your game, the rich oral tradition of Bluegrass music, and so much more! Aside from the Dusters, Chris has a few s...
Jul 12, 2021•2 hr 31 min•Ep. 211
We are excited to bring you Lauren Murphy of The Psychedelics and Deb Grabein of The Sound Field this week on No Simple Road! Lauren Murphy shares more than a little with The Sound Field, not the least of which are the musicians David Salvia and Mark Karan. The latter, who co-produced Psychedelics with Murphy herself at Dauphin Street Sound in Mobile, AL., also accompanies members of the band named after this record. Such continuity of activity further delineates common roots in the Sixties also...
Jul 10, 2021•2 hr 7 min•Ep. 210
We are extremely excited to have Greg Loiacono of The Mother Hips as our guest on No Simple Road this week! From his first gigs with the legendary The Mother Hips all the way up to his most recent solo album Mystic Traces Greg Loiacono has always been driven by one unwavering desire: to connect. In music, he found a direct conduit to the soul, a miraculous means by which to inspire and unite, and it’s guided him like a compass throughout his remarkable career. Whether Loiacono’s fronting his sol...
Jul 06, 2021•2 hr 27 min•Ep. 209
We are super stoked to have Chad Staehly from The High Hawks as our guest on No Simple Road this week! In mythology, the hawk is often associated with intuition, healing, spiritual awareness, unification. They seem to appear when you need them most, evoking a feeling of clarity, focus, or maybe courage. The six members of this outfit met on the road touring across America, admiring one another as musicians and characters. When they finally came together in Vince Herman's living room in the Color...
Jun 29, 2021•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 208
We're super excited this week to bring you Marc Brownstein of The Disco Biscuits! While Marc is best known as the bass player of the Disco Biscuits, he has long been active as the co-founder of HeadCount.org, the preeminent voter registration group in the live music world, and plays with multiple other acts such as Starkitchen and Younger Brother. Marc’s newest venture is as the co-founder of golive.ly, where he acts as the Chief Creative Officer. We catch up with Marc and get into getting comfo...
Jun 22, 2021•2 hr 56 min•Ep. 207
We are stoked today to bring you Brian Lagerstrom from Weeds & Sardines! Weeds & Sardines is a wildly popular YouTube cooking channel that was born out of the Pandemic! While Lagerstrom started making videos during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, his move into YouTube began long before we grew sick of the word “pivot.” When, like many Americans, Lagerstrom was furloughed in mid-March, he was already two years gone from the restaurant industry. I know it may seem strange to ha...
Jun 18, 2021•2 hr 25 min•Ep. 206
This week we welcome Mike Allen, creator of Jamband Workout! Jamband Workout is an exercise and fitness program. Each installment of the series provides a fitness routine soundtracked by the music of jam acts such as Phish and the Grateful Dead to guide his fellow music fans on a path to improving their health. Jamband Workout has posted a video every single day for a year on its Instagram page, and Allen’s hard work paid off. He has now lost over 50 pounds from combining his Jamband Workout wit...
Jun 15, 2021•2 hr 15 min•Ep. 205
This week on No Simple Road we welcome Craig MacArthur of Casual Coalition! Born on the stage of countless nights at Terrapin Crossroads, The Casual Coalition are a branch from the "community music tree" that was planted at the Marin county venue, owned by Grateful Dead bassist, Phil Lesh. The Casual Coalition features an always rotating musical cast, led by guitarist/vocalist Craig MacArthur, who organizes each performance with an amazing group of talented, local Bay Area musicians, which have ...
Jun 09, 2021•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 204
We are proud to have the one and only Reverend Freakchild as our guest this week! In the tradition of such Holy Blues Reverends as Reverend Gary Davis - such is the irreverent Reverend Freakchild. The Rev. primarily performs solo acoustic these days but has also recently recorded with some amazing musicians including Melvin Seals, Mark Karan, Chris Parker, Hugh Pool, Jay Collins and Grammy nominated G. Love, and The Reverend Shawn Amos. Check out the latest Albums “The Bodhisattva Blues” & “...
Jun 01, 2021•2 hr 50 min•Ep. 203
We are extremely excited this week to have John Morgan Kimock as our guest! John is a Drummer, Composer, and Producer residing in Brooklyn NY. He grew up in Northern California performing at a young age with his father Steve Kimock (Bob Weir, Bruce Hornsby). He composed at an early age on the game Simon as well as with Peruvian throat singers and at set break at random performances of his fathers band. We talk with John Morgan about birthing the new project Hikikomori, growing up chasing balloon...
May 25, 2021•2 hr 44 min•Ep. 202
This week we are excited to bring you Ervin Stellar as our guest on No Simple Road! Ervin Stellar is the public persona of Andrew Jordan, who moved from New York to Nashville following his 2018 album, The Moment. That relocation is referenced in the first line of Nothing to Prove’s title track, setting up a series of musical snapshots that encompasses three original songs and two well-chosen covers.." We talk with Andrew about moving from NYC to Nashville, some of the challenges he's faced in hi...
May 19, 2021•2 hr 11 min•Ep. 201
What could be more perfect for our 200th episode than to have the one and only Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay as our guest?! We're incredibly honored to talk to Donna and hear about her journey with The Band Beyond Description! Donna sang with the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979 but her musical trip didn't end there! In 2009, Donna Jean formed a brand new band, the Donna Jean Godchaux Band, with Jeff Mattson (of Phil Lesh and Friends, Zen Tricksters and Dark Star Orchestra after re-entering the m...
May 11, 2021•2 hr 33 min•Ep. 200
This week on No Simple Road we are stoked to have Jude Smith as our guest. Inspired by class acts such as George Benson, John Mayer, and Michael Jackson, Jude Smith plays to a different tune than most. A Nashville native and multi-instrumentalist, Jude rose to Instagram-stardom through his guitar playing and musical content while showcasing his one-man-band ability - gaining over 100,000 followers in 2019. Since then, his self-produced EP's and string of singles have amassed over half a million ...
May 05, 2021•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 199
This week on No Simple Road we welcome the one and only Anders Osborne! Between the potency of his richly detailed songwriting, his intensely emotional, soulful vocals and his piercing, expert guitar work, New Orleans’ Anders Osborne is a true musical treasure. He is among the most original and visionary musicians writing and performing today. Guitar Player calls him “the poet laureate of Louisiana’s fertile roots music scene.” New Orleans' Gambit Weekly has honored Osborne as the Entertainer Of...
Apr 27, 2021•2 hr 5 min•Ep. 198
We are extremely honored this week on No Simple Road to welcome Susana Millman as our guest! Around 25 years ago, Susana Millman became a Bay Area photographer. In the spirit of her love for bad puns, she dubbed herself “mamarazi,” although she’s certainly more benign than the paparazzi. Best known for her photography of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead from the mid-1980s on through later incarnations, she’s also spent a significant proportion of her professional life shooting dance (the Mark ...
Apr 21, 2021•2 hr 10 min•Ep. 197
This week on No Simple Road we're proud to bring you Russ Lawton and Ray Paczkowski of Soule Monde! Soule Monde is avant funk erupting from the syncopated minds of power drummer Russ Lawton + B3 wizard Ray Paczkowski. An ideal union of swagger and raw talent, the duo is cemented into an indestructible pocket, where bold improvisational leaps by either player are met by a near-telepathic response from the other. This is fluid funk, crafted for the dance floor but supported by an extensive grasp o...
Apr 13, 2021•2 hr 18 min•Ep. 196
This week No Simple Road is extremely proud to have Gordon White as our guest. Gordon runs 'Rune Soup', one of the leading Chaos Magic blogs and is the host of his podcast by the same name. He has worked internationally for some of the world's largest digital and social media companies, including BBC Worldwide, Discovery Channel, and Yelp. We get right down to business and start discussing topics such as how we are living during an assault on the Living Field, some ways to stay connected and gro...
Apr 06, 2021•2 hr 37 min•Ep. 195
This week on no Simple Road we welcome Beadwork By Jenny! Jenny is known all throughout the Grateful Dead Family and the jam band community as the creator of incredible beadwork straps worn by musicians such as Bob Weir, Oteil Burbridge, Grahame Lesh, Don Was, Duane Betts, Neal Casal, Rob Eaton, Greg Ormont, and many more! We sit down with Jenny and her man Brady to talk about thier journey in life, becoming a mother at a very young age, healing through art, learning to bead at Sun Dances, becom...
Mar 30, 2021•3 hr 35 min•Ep. 194
Andy Stepanian from Leon III (that's pronounced Leon the 3rd) is our guest on No Simple Road this week! Andy and his Wrinkle Neck Mules bandmate Mason Brent have created something miraculous with the new album 'Antlers In Velvet'. The two left Nashville for Stinson Beach, California and Beech House Studios and created an album that is a textured pool of psychedelic wonderment, filled with deep grooves, haunting shadows, and vibrating rhythms that tickle that corner of the brain that so rarely ge...
Mar 23, 2021•2 hr 23 min•Ep. 193
This week on No Simple Road we welcome Jamel aka Jamal to the show! Jamel is responsible for some of the most moving, funny, heartfelt, and creative reaction videos on YouTube. Jamel's reactions to the Good Ol' Grateful Dead drew us in and reminded us of what that moment of realization was like for us. We had to have him on! We sit down with Jamel to talk about growing up without role models, finding the music of the Grateful Dead through his YouTube channel, what the Grateful Dead community mea...
Mar 16, 2021•2 hr 54 min•Ep. 192
No Simple Road is super stoked this week to bring you Lespecial! Lespecial carves their own sonic path in modern music, creating their signature blend of “heavy future groove”. The power of the trio's fresh synthesis of varied and divergent influences doesn't underestimate the listener, reflecting a post-modern cultural climate in which fans have the space on their aural palette for J Dilla, Radiohead, King Crimson and Fela Kuti. Veering from Hip-Hop to Metal, Prog to House, pensive Indie-Rock t...
Mar 09, 2021•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 191
We are excited to bring you Rich Monroe, Author of 'The Conspiracy Diaries: The Light Beyond The Shadows'. Rich Monroe was a young JFK assassination truth activist back in the 1970s. Along with a small group of his trusted friends, he embarked on a quest to expose the cabal that orchestrated the event. His Kennedy assassination research and his involvement in the fledgling “ JFK Truther Community” provided him an opening to explore a secret world, a world filled with a myriad of carefully crafte...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 190
This week No Simple Road welcomes the incredible International Orange! International Orange (a.k.a. IO) is the brainchild of New York City veteran musicians and longtime friends Todd Isler and David Phelps. Leo Traversa provides the grooviest bass and Adam Morrison's keys are the perfect sauce. IO's innovative funky originals marry the slide guitar of the American South to the sensibilities of India, Africa, Brazil and beyond. The members of IO have played around the globe. Their genre-crossing ...
Mar 02, 2021•2 hr 40 min•Ep. 189
