Artists
Dead & Company
Grateful Dead members Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann and Bob Weir joined forces with singer/guitarist John Mayer to form the band Dead & Company, along with Allman Brothers’ bassist Oteil Burbridge and Fare Thee Well and RatDog keyboardist Jeff Chimenti. Their critically acclaimed performances draw from the Dead’s historic catalog of songs.
Dead & Company initially announced only one concert – October 31, 2015, at Madison Square Garden in New York – but announced a full tour shortly afterward. Kicking off with three sold-out concerts at the legendary Madison Square Garden and ending the year with two sold-out performances at the Forum in Inglewood, California, the band has toured every year since. To date, there have been more than 110 Dead & Company concerts, including multiple-night stands at Citi Field in New York; Wrigley Field in Chicago, where a concert attendance record was set for the iconic ballpark; Fenway Park in Boston; Folsom Field in Boulder; Shoreline Amphitheater in San Francisco; and the famous Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy. The band headlined Bonnaroo in 2016 and have performed in markets in which the Grateful Dead had not performed for more than 20 years.
The band’s 2018 Summer Tour is ranked #12 on Pollstar’s 2018 Mid-Year Top 100 North American Tours chart. During the tour, 117 songs were performed, including six songs Dead & Company had never before played: “Alabama Getaway”, “It Hurts Me Too”, “It’s All Over Now”, “Jack-A-Roe”, “Mr. Charlie” and “The Eleven”. Additionally, Dead & Company helped raise more than $1.1 million by performing at a private fundraiser in the Hollywood Hills, to benefit Oceana’s mission of protecting and preserving the world’s oceans.
Dead & Company again partnered with HeadCount and Reverb, who traveled with the band to present their “Participation Row” village of nonprofit entities, including March For Our Lives; the movement and organization that were started by high-school students who survived the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida. HeadCount also organized voter registrations at Dead & Company summer shows. Fans who took actions with at least three of the nonprofits at Participation Row were entered to win a signed D’Angelico guitar. For the 2018 Summer Tour, more than 22,000 total actions were taken, with nearly 6,500 fans registering to vote and receive election alerts. More than 4,000 Nalgene water bottles were sold at the concerts, which meant more than 20,000 plastic water bottles were avoided.
Dumpstaphunk
Dumpstaphunk stands out among New Orleans’ best as one of the funkiest bands to ever arise from the Crescent City. Born on the Jazz & Heritage Festival stage, and descended from Neville family bloodlines, these soldiers of funk ignite a deep, gritty groove that dares listeners not to move. Their performances combine ingenious musicianship and complex funk and jazz arrangements with soulful melodies that are simple enough for anyone to enjoy. In Big Easy tradition, dueling baselines from Tony Hall and Nick Daniels III set off one of the dirtiest rhythm sections on the planet, while Ivan Neville lights up the Hammond B3 keys and cousin Ian Neville’s funky guitar riffs send the groove into overdrive. The band recently welcomed their newest member, Alvin Ford Jr. to the quintet, a New Orleans born and raised powerhouse drummer. Dumpstaphunk tosses around lead vocals and four-part harmonies the way Sly & the Family Stone did, but with three studio albums under their belt, Dumpstaphunk stands on the merit of their own material. Songs like “Dancin’ To The Truth” off their latest record, Dirty Word (July 30, 2013, Louisiana Red Hot Records), offer an escape into the funky sublime, sharing the true spirit of New Orleans with every note.
Larkin Poe
Larkin Poe is comprised of Nashville-based sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell, who named the band after their great-great-great-grandfather, a distant cousin of writer Edgar Allan Poe.
Steeped in the traditions of Southern roots music, the Atlanta-born sister duo just released their fourth album Venom & Faith. The album showcases their mastery in orchestrating, harmonizing and breathing new life into the musical heritage of their upbringing as the band emerges rattling, stomping, and sliding into a modern-day depiction of what roots rock should sound like. Venom & Faith is the follow up to their 2017 album Peach, which was nominated for a Blues Music Award.
Larkin Poe have performed at such esteemed festivals as Glastonbury (twice); have opened for and been in the backing band of Elvis Costello; supported the likes of Bob Seger; and were featured guest performers on Keith Urban’s Graffiti U tour this past year.
