“I still write,” says Haggard, who spoke to the Advocate by phone from his Northern California home.  “I’m an impulse writer. I don’t prepare and sit down and write a song. I might go a year, and then write five songs in one day. It’s still my favorite hobby.”

He recently turned 75, and is back on the road following a bout with pneumonia on his last tour that had him sidelined in the hospital for 10 days.

“I want people to know that I’m alright and prepared for a show,” he says.

Haggard is famously known as the most outlaw of all “outlaw” country singers, having spent seven years of his youth incarcerated, and escaping a staggering 17 times. Johnny Cash credited him with living the life that Cash could only sing about. In fact, when Cash first played San Quentin State Prison in 1958, Haggard witnessed the show — as an inmate.

“I was highly impressed with the impression that he left on the audience,” says Haggard. “He got there and he was exhausted and he didn’t have a voice, but still yet he was able to capture the audience and leave a hero.”

Haggard’s petty crimes and minor burglaries probably didn’t warrant the harsh sentence he received at San Quentin (he spent three years there), but as a chronic escapee, his leash would get shorter with each return visit to the penal system.

“It was not a great profession,” says Haggard, of his criminal career. “I had the wrong idols I guess. Willie Sutton was an escape artist and I thought he was the king of the hill, and I was just a kid that didn’t want to abide to the rules.”

Cash and Haggard became fast friends a few short years later. Many have covered Haggard’s songs over the years (About 400 artists have covered “Today I Started Loving You Again” alone.) but he gives credit to Cash for recording his current favorite.

“I didn’t hear it until just lately. Someone was playing it for me on their phone, you know, one of them iPhones. They come up and say, ‘Look at this.’ It’s Johnny Cash singing ‘Working Man Blues’… and he sang the shit out of it.”

Haggard is an outspoken and straight-shooting critic of the modern music business, which primarily ignores him now despite his Country Music Hall of Fame membership (on their site, they say that Merle is “with the arguable exception of Hank Williams, the single most inflential singer-songwriter in country music history”). Despite his nostalgia for the way things used to be, he’s rather fond of certain twists of modern culture, like the return to the idea of buying local to support one’s community, and the internet’s effect on his struggling industry.

“It’s brought it back to something like reality,” he says. “When I started in the business it was a business where you had a song and you got it played on the radio, and you sold that record which was a single first. Then if you had two or three of those kind of hits you put ‘em all together into an album and you sold that. It’s kind of come back to that.”

Haggard has been outspoken about his dislike of most current trends in popular music, and with good reason. Much like his friend Johnny Cash in his twilight years, he often fails to get the respect he’s earned from Nashville. It’s an industry that once treated him so well, but it slowly morphed into something wholly unrecognizable that has very little, if anything, to do with the production of authentic, meaningful music.

“The public is the one that suffers,” he says. “The public doesn’t get to hear a potential Johnny Cash or a potential Elvis Presley because they won’t fit into the criteria of the program director in Chicago, or New York, or wherever it may be … I mean, if you step outside the accepted norm, you’re not going to get a record played, so that makes records all out to be a lie and that hurts the listener. It hurts my ears. I don’t know about most people but I like to hear a little variety. I’d like to hear somebody with their own band. I’d like to hear somebody make a pick noise or hear a breath when they sing. And they’ve got all that sucked away in the tape on the floor. I don’t much care for that.”

The Dum Dum Girls

w/ Widowspeak. Thu., Feb. 9, 8 p.m. $15. The Space, 295 Treadwell Ave., Hamden. (203) 288-6400. thespace.tk, manicproductions.org.

One by one, the Gathering of the Vibes attracted almost all former members of the Grateful Dead

When promoter Ken Hays arranged the very first Gathering of the Vibes in 1996 as a memorial to Jerry Garcia, just a year after Garcia’s death, it was called “Deadhead Heaven: A Gathering of the Tribes.” The Grateful Dead’s music and spirit, naturally, were the focal points of the event despite the lack of any directly Dead-related performers.

Over the years, the once small and humble festival grew and attracted bigger and better names. In 2000 Bob Weir, the first ex-Dead member appeared and performed with his band Ratdog. In 2002, Phil Lesh & Friends turned out. Come 2006, drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart performed as the Rhythm Devils, and Weir sat in during their set.

Well, this year’s got more authentic Dead in it than any previous year. Lesh and Weir are back, but together in one band as Furthur, which is considered by many to be the best post-Jerry reincarnation of the Dead yet. Kreutzmann and Hart return as the Rhythm Devils. And Donna Jean Godchaux, a backup singer with the Dead from ’72 to ’79, will be appearing with her own band. In fact, the only full-time (living) performing member of the Grateful Dead who will not be in attendance is keyboardist Tom Constanten, who left the band in 1970.

So Gathering of the Vibes has come full circle. Now it really is Deadhead heaven, not just in spirit but in a real physical sense.

Back when Vibes was in its second year, guitarist/singer John Kadlecik was just another Deadhead himself, but he was also a musician with an interest in rekindling some of the magic that was lost when Jerry died. He co-founded Dark Star Orchestra (DSO), a band that one-upped other Dead tribute acts by recreating entire shows using the emulated sounds and arrangements of a particular era in Dead history. (DSO also happens to be headlining Thursday night at the Vibes.) Kadlecik played and sang Jerry Garcia’s parts, and he did so better than most.

Twelve years and over 1,600 DSO shows later, Weir and Lesh were looking to start a new project when they had taken notice of Kadlecik. They formed Furthur (named after Ken Kesey’s colorful, misspelled Merry Prankster bus) and invited Kadlecik along for the ride.

“It was pretty exciting,” Kadlecik says. “As I recall, we launched right into ‘Playing in the Band’ during our first full band situation together. I had played with Dark Star Orchestra before— Bobby sat in with us a few different times — but the first time playing with him and Phil was definitely pretty magical. Every group of musicians playing together has its own unique vibes and communication dynamic. Mostly I was trying to be present with that, and throw out whatever stories or illusions I might have in my head.”

In a situation that would be every fans’ wildest dream in one respect, but also an intimidating task that’s sure to rub other fans the wrong way in another, Kadlecik took it all in stride.

“The thing that causes the most criticism for tribute bands in general is that, a lot of the time, there’s people in the band who are talented musicians but who are just looking for work,” Kadlecik says. “They just want to play and they figure it’s a good way to make money. With Dark Star Orchestra, it was a bunch of guys who were already playing, already had work, and were doing it because we just wanted to see if it could be done. How close could we get? Just for the love of it. Everybody was a true believer in the music of the Grateful Dead.”

As Furthur plays this Friday, the Rhythm Devils will be either en route, or just rolling into town, following a show in San Diego on Thursday. Drummer Bill Kreutzmann has been living in a semi-retired-but-not-really situation in Hawaii, occasionally hitting the road with one of his many projects.

“I’m actually more use to being on the road than at home, and I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not,” says Kreutzmann. “Next year I’m not going to work quite so much.”

Kreutzmann co-founded the Grateful Dead as a teenager (he was around when they were still called The Warlocks) and remained with the band for its entire 30-year lifespan. While playing songs from the catalogue will always be on the agenda in some form, Kreutzmann aggressively seeks new sounds, songs and players to become his musical muse.

“We do about 50 percent Rhythm Devils songs that [Robert] Hunter wrote for us a little while back, and 50 percent Grateful Dead material. We kind of balance it out every night, and the material is way, way different. The interesting part for me is that these guys are new to the Grateful Dead stuff. Some of them had never really heard the Grateful Dead before, so they put a new spin on the music. Inside the jams is my favorite part. They can be free to play just the feeling of their own hearts. That’s really exciting for me because then the music sounds a little different.”

In addition to his longtime co-drummer Mickey Hart, the Rhythm Devils will feature festival mainstay Keller Williams, bassist Andy Hess and their “secret weapon” guitarist/vocalist Davey Knowles from the Isle of Man.

The big obvious question on everyone’s lips is whether or not there will be any cross-pollination between the Rhythm Devils and Furthur. Kreutzmann is skeptical.

“We just have our thing … Having not really played with those guys for a while I don’t really feel that into it.”

Kadlecik has never had the opportunity to play with Hart, but he did jam with Kreutzmann once years ago. He’s equally skeptical, but perhaps more hopeful.

“It’s hard to say. Everyone’s on different tour schedules and things. Who knows what could happen. It could be that people need to get out of there. It could be that people are hanging out. It could be that people are hanging out, but they’re somewhere else when the time comes.”

Looks like we’ll just have to wait and see how events align and what the vibes are like this weekend. No matter what happens though, there will be no shortage whatsoever of Grateful Dead music.

Ben Folds: 4/2002

Steve Jackson from the Pietasters: 2002

Jesse Michaels from Operation Ivy & Common Rider: 2002

Dark Star Orchestra
Fairfield Theatre Company, Klein Memorial Auditorium, 910 Fairfield Ave., Bridgeport.  Thu., Dec. 30 & Fr., Dec. 31, 8 p.m. $39 to $75. (203) 259-1036, www.fairfieldtheatre.org

Dark Star Orchestra is a real mindfuck. They’re one of many, many Grateful Dead tribute bands — but they’re good. Really good. 

Until hearing DSO, I never would have entertained the idea of going to see a tribute band, let alone write about one. In fact, several years ago I wrote a rant about the cover band plague in general in this very newspaper, generating dozens of pieces of hate mail from defensive cover band members and their hostile meathead friends (and equally as many responses in support of my stance) warning me that if they saw me in Sono, there’d be a rumble (which is hilarious).

I still stand by what I wrote back then, but Dark Star Orchestra requires me to add an asterisk. They are a counterexample, proving that a tribute band doesn’t have to be a cheap and ugly enterprise. It can be pure, good and artistically fruitful. The concept itself isn’t flawed.
Jeff Mattson is new to the band, and though no stranger to playing Grateful Dead songs (with his old band the Zen Tricksters), he’s still adjusting to being in an honest-to-god tribute band.

“I’d been spoiled, playing exactly what I felt like playing at any given moment,” he says. Now that his set lists are recreations of actual sets from Grateful Dead history, there’s no option to swap out songs at the last minute.

“We have it mandated what song we play at any given moment, but I’m turning that into a plus. I say, ‘OK, I’m going to play this song, and maybe that’s not the one I would’ve picked to play at that moment, but I’m going to try to find a way to make it fresh for myself.’ You get to expand that creative muscle in a different way.”

Mattson took over as “Jerry” after the band’s co-founder John Kadlecik quit in order to join Furthur alongside the real Dead’s Phil Lesh and Bob Weir (which is another mindfuck — that being in a tribute band can serve as training for the real thing).

“It’s a great organization,” he says of DSO. “Everybody comes to work and do their absolute best every night. No one’s whining and complaining. That extends to the crew and the musicians and it’s something that’s very important to me.”

Usually DSO doesn’t reveal what show they’re recreating until the end of the night when they’re done playing it. For New Years Eve at the Klein, they’re taking a different approach. They’ve already told us exactly what the show will be — and in almost 1,900 performances this is only the second time they’ve done that. It’s the Dead’s show at the Cow Palace outside San Francisco from Dec. 31, 1976. You can look up the show online and see exactly what the set list will be. (I’ll bet you $1,000 they open with “Promised Land.”)

“We thought it would generate some excitement and interest,” says Mattson. “It’s such a well-liked show.… It’s one of my favorites.”

(Those who prefer more set list mystery can check out the show the night before New Years Eve, Dec. 30, also at the Klein.)

Recreating a show from 1976 means the band will approximate the instruments and gear used then and play the songs as the band was arranging them back then — but leaving room for some Dead-like improvisation.

“We pay a lot of attention to detail to get it correct for the period,” says Mattson. “Once that’s all taken care of, then we try to play the show as well as we can. We don’t try to reference any specific solos or anything. Everyone’s playing from the heart. We’re just trying to give a taste of what it sounded like in that era, but still play a show in real time. It’s not some kind of note-for-note recreation. That would be against the spirit of it.”

But what’s this? It’s mindfuck number three. At 1,900 shows in, DSO has written their first original song, and the lyrics were written by none other than Robert Hunter, the man who wrote some of the most-loved Dead lyrics of all time. It’s called “Run Mary” and though the band doesn’t plan to change the format they’ve been running successfully for years, they’ll find a way to tack the song after the usual set every now and then.

“Maybe if we get enough material we’ll put out a little CD,” Mattson says. “Who knows, maybe we’ll end up opening for ourselves someday.”

Patty Larkin

Jan. 6, 8 p.m. The Kate, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook (860) 510-0473, katherinehepburntheatre.org.

Folk singer-songwriter Patty Larkin has seen a complete overhaul in the way music is recorded, distributed and sold over the course of her 25-year career, but she’s taking it all in stride. To celebrate the official quarter-of-a-century mark in 2010, she harnessed modern technology to produce a record that would’ve been nearly impossible to make back in the ’80s: She re-cut 25 songs from throughout her career, each with a different guest artist (including the likes of Rosanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, Greg Brown, Lucy Kaplansky and Mary Chapin Carpenter) who then recorded tracks at their respective homes or local studios and digitally sent them to be added to the master tracks. The finished album is aptly called 25.

“We just kind of laugh about how we used to edit songs,” says Larkin, on the phone from her Cape Cod home. “You’d have to take a half-day while the assistant engineer made the actual physical cut in a two-inch tape, and if they messed up, you’re done.”

Each artist on the record was given the open-ended freedom to provide whatever accompaniment they liked, and then Larkin would take what she was sent and try to make it work as a whole, given the unique flavors each brought to the mix.

“It takes a certain level of maturity, in a way, to let go,” she says. “At first, I mainly concentrated on writing songs and singing my stuff, and now I’m more open now to experimenting with other people and telling people what I’m hearing and what I like or don’t like. You have to find the words, but once you find those words and you can communicate musically, it makes it a lot easier to play with people.”

In the past year, Larkin has been able to tour with many of the artists featured on 25, some of whom she hadn’t seen in person in years. As a result, the project helped to make tangible the sense of community within the folk scene, and also allowed the songwriters to compare notes on how they’re handling all the changes within the industry and surviving intact.

“It’s really interesting to see what people are doing,” she says. “Things have changed so quickly in the last ten years. I’m getting ready to do another record and we’re looking into the pros and cons of even getting a record company. I think it’s good to have the disc, but it’s certainly not what people are listening to these days, by and large.”

In addition to her show at The Kate Friday, January 6th, Larkin is also offering her musically-inclined fans a unique opportunity to see what makes her tick and maybe learn a thing or two. She’s hosting a three-day Guitar Driven Songwriting workshop in Ashland, Massachusetts January 13-16th where participants will stay at a local inn and eat meals together, while experimenting with alternate guitar tunings (which Larkin is known for utilizing often), discovering melodies and learning performance techniques, among other things.

In the meantime, she’s working on updating her home studio. Since 1997, all her projects have used it as a home base, allowing for as much time as necessary to develop songs without having the cost of a pro studio hovering overhead and causing hasty decision-making or rushing the artistic process.

“It’s a very creative time,” she says. “It’s a challenge because it’s so different [than it was before], but I think it’s very exciting to think that technology doubles every 18 months, and to think about the amount of power and information that’s coursing through it. Hang onto your hats, it’s going to be fun.”

Save the Gee!

A last-ditch effort to save the last of Connecticut’s mid-size indie clubs.

By Mike Sembos

Published 12/19/02

“I had always thought that the El n’ Gee was just like any other venue,” says Vernon resident Julie Rivard, “but over the past several months I’ve gotten to see firsthand how it operates. It’s so much more. It’s like Cheers. You walk in and everyone knows your name.”

Rivard was a volunteer at Operation Clean Up a few weeks back at the endangered New London club. She and a handful of others scraped gum off the floors, helped paint, wash down the walls and windows and organize miscellaneous cables to show her support for the El n’ Gee, to prevent it from going the way of the Hanover House and the Tune Inn, both medium-sized indie-clubs that have closed recently.

Pulling up to the Gee on a show night in an otherwise deserted downtown New London, the club’s marquee shines like a beacon to scenesters who’ve journeyed from all corners of the state after a long day at work often driving in conditions that sometimes rival those of the postman’s motto. Owner Jason Womble waits at the door to collect the cover and exchange a joke or two. Then it’s either down the all-ages hallway to the main-stage room where local openers are desperately trying to prove themselves or to the bar with its bartenders who are dressed in the highest of rockabilly fashion. It is essential to then order a Bud or a PBR ($1 on Thursdays!) and spend the next 20 minutes or so exchanging handshakes and hugs with all the familiar faces.

If you’re a guy, the bathroom is plastered with Bettie Page-era pin-up girls (including plenty of Bettie herself whom many of the club’s female patrons try to emulate) for your viewing pleasure. If you’re a girl, you may have to bitch about the chronically clogged toilet before someone finally breaks down and gets the plunger.

In the summer, the large fenced-in deck is the social hot-spot open for those who need to cool down or escape the sonic assault coming from a band they don’t see eye-to-eye with.

When a headliner finally comes on, the main room fills up with the most passionate music fans in the state. The groups that play the Gee often can’t be found anywhere else in the state since they’re too big to play hall shows, but not big enough to play Toad’s Place or the Webster. Shows at the Gee one year often reflect what will be popular in the mainstream in coming years.

At the last Slackers show, there was enough ass-shaking to stir a buzz about the gradual comeback of ska in Connecticut. At last year’s now-legendary Thursday show, hundreds showed up, lending their positive evergy to create one of those rare nights when everything goes just perfectly.

“I had only heard half a song of Thursday’s by that point,” says Andy Tabar of Guilford. “It was before they got on MTV2 and stuff. The crowd gave it their all and that fed the band to make it one of the most intense shows ever.”

Not only is the Gee an exceptionally crowd-friendly venue, the management has worked to develop very close relationships with the bands that play there.

Tim Hannon of the Bloodshot Hooligans says he always has fun at the Gee because “it’s run by people who are all about the scene and the music, and the bartenders kick ass. I have never been to a club that seems like everyone likes being there. It’s not like the Webster, which treats the bands like shit.”

“Back in like 1999 my old band The Youthful Offenders used to play there so much we might as well have been the house band,” relates Tom Hogan, drummer for Strike the Colors (they’re new…keep an eye out). “We also always had the unfortunate honor of playing last, which was usually after midnight. One of my fondest memories was when the sound guy came up to me and said, ‘Wow, you guys really cleared the place out’ after the conclusion of our set. That guy ruled.”

Despite all the good vibes associated with it, the Gee is also in danger of closing its doors. Located way the hell up I-95 in casino-land where, but for the Gee, there is no local music scene, every time Womble puts on a show he’s faced with the formidable challenge of convincing his crowd to drive an hour or two each way. For popular headliners this isn’t a problem, but more often than not, they’re losing some serious money. Who wants to spend four hours in a car to see a band they’ve never heard of that might suck? In the past year and a half since he and his partners bought the El n’ Gee, it’s been more and more difficult to attract big shows, attendance has been dwindling at smaller events and the bills have been piling up. Instead of taking the detached businessman approach, as so many club owners do, Womble is directly asking the scene itself for help.

“I don’t want to close down, but it’s up to all of you,” he says. “If you feel the Gee is important to Connecticut, now is the time to show your support.”

Before you visualize Jason Womble as a stereotypical, sleazy, club-owning ass-wipe with gold chains and a half-unbuttoned shirt revealing an ample supply of chest hair, let’s set things straight. He’s a regular guy. Before buying the Gee, he spent his days making glasses for the masses at a Lenscrafters down in Virginia. He saw the opportunity to buy the New London mini-Mecca and dedicate his life to the underground music he loved, and jumped on it.

“As long as I can pay my rent, my bills and still eat, I’m happy,” says Womble. To stay in business he’s already cashed in his 401k, his savings and he’s pawned whatever he could. “I’m still working on finding the funding we need, so it’s not over yet, but it’s damn close. Regardless of the outcome, I can honestly say this has been the best time of my life. I have no regrets.”

One of the first outsiders to step in to help was Asbestos Records founder Matt Flood, who is taking over the booking responsibility for Sunday nights when local bands take the stage and will hopefully attract some new faces. He’s also helping to boost El n’ Gee’s advertising and is producing “Save the Gee” merchandise, the profits from which will go to the club.

“In all my years of going to shows Jason and [co-owner] Eric Johnson are, with the exception of Walt from Brass City Records, the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure of working with,” says Flood. “It would be a shame to see their hard work go for nothing.”

Also offering his resources is Matt Galle of the Kenmore Agency, the Boston-based booking organization that the Gee has relied on heavily in recent years. He’s donated one of his top bands, Piebald, to play a “Save the Gee” benefit show on Dec. 22 along with The Reunion Show, The Distance (ex-Voice of Reason) and In Pieces (despite bassist Jack Caron and vocalist Brendan Mannle’s recent departure from the band). Sure, it’s only a temporary solution, but it’s a start.

For the most part, it seems that venues just can’t survive in Connecticut if they treat their bands well and embrace the scene. I asked Womble how it is that places like the Webster and Toad’s have managed to keep going for so long.

“I don’t know, they may be struggling for all I know,” he speculates. “Toad’s Place seems to cater to the college crowd. They’re right there in New Haven so they’ve got a pretty good thing going. The thing is, those places have a lot of money behind them so it’s just completely different.”

The response to the club’s pleas has been dramatic, but it needs to be even bigger. Right now times are toughest, but regardless, Womble said that his favorite Gee memory would have to be right now.

“When we first took over there was, of course, the idea of making money,” he said. “That idea changed very quickly to one of just taking care of the kids who took care of us. The fact is, we must have done something right. All these people have made it a point to help us out. We have had some great shows attended by even greater people. Regardless of what happens that will be my memory, all of you have made the Gee happen and all of you are still behind us. Too many names, too many faces, but you know who you are. Thank you for taking care of us. I’m proud to say I’m part of the Connecticut scene and I’m proud to call you friends.”

The El N Gee is located at 86 Golden St. in New London. The “Save the Gee” benefit show will be Sunday, Dec. 22 featuring Piebald, The Reunion Show, In Pieces, The Distance and more. Tickets are $10 or whatever you’re willing to donate. Visit www.elngee.com or call

(860) 437-3800 regularly for updated information about upcoming shows.

Mike Sembos can be reached at msembos@fairfieldweekly.com