Living Guitar Legend: Trey Anastasio

While speaking with others about whom, in one's opinion, is the greatest guitarist of all time, names such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and B.B. King will often come to mind. It is difficult to bring in many modern guitarists into this conversation, save a select few, including Trey Anastasio, best known for his work in one of my favorite bands, Phish. This would be a bold statement trying to put Anastasio in the same conversation as the names mentioned above, but it is not only me that thinks he belongs up there. Rolling Stone magazine would agree, by including him on their top 100 guitarist of all time at number 73. I would like to focus on some of his side projects that he took part in, due to the fact that at a later time I wish to author a separate post on Phish. Just because this is a post about Trey Anastasio, I do find it necessary to include at least one Phish song.

Since becoming an active musician in 1982, Trey has worked on many different side projects alongside playing with Phish. Some of these bands you may have heard of, but may have not even known that Trey Anastasio was in the band. With all of these different bands, there are common themes with Trey's different work: they all center on funk, jazz, and rock style of music. The thing I love about listening to his music is that is seems to be focused around one thing: fun. Sure, he has songs that have a deeper meaning beyond what you just hear in the song, but when listening to his work the best way to describe his music would be as upbeat and fun to listen to. The primary bands I am going to write about include Phil Lesh and Friends, Dave and Friends, and Oysterhead.

Trey Anastasio is a very impressive guitarist to watch. I have personally seen Trey perform with Phish twice now, and throughout both concerts he did not cease to amaze me. The best part about watching him is just how natural he makes it sound. During the longer jams in some of his work, he manages to keep the flow of the song going by making it sound like every note fits in perfectly with the rest of the song. There never was really a time when listening to him that I thought, "That didn't sound right" or "That doesn't fit". Another thing that makes his performances so enjoyable is the fact that he looks like he is having the time of his life while on stage. When an audience sees how much fun the musician is having, I feel it rubs off on the spectators. If one takes a close look at him on stage, you will notice a huge smile, his head bobbing, and Trey dancing along with the music the whole concert. Below is a video of Trey Anastasio performing one of my favorite solo songs of his, "Cayman Review". In the video, you will see how much he enjoys performing by seeing everything that was mentioned above. You will also hear during his extended solo how he manages to keep the flow of the song throughout his long guitar jams and solos.

Phil Lesh and Friends was a band that surviving member of the Grateful Dead, Phil Lesh, started to continue the music of his former band. The band regularly rotated new musicians on guitar and keyboard each concert. The first concert featured two members from Phish, Page McConnell on keyboard and Trey Anastasio on guitar and vocals. Phil and Friends took the work of the Grateful Dead and found new styles to play the music. The band keeps the traditional style of the Dead by using the long jams in many songs, but uses a little bit of harder, faster rock. Posted below this is the song "Shakedown Street" performed live by Phil and Friends in which Trey is featured as the lead vocalist and guitarist. If you like the Grateful Dead, I would definitely recommend checking Phil and Friends out to get a different take on the work of the legendary jam band.

I guess Trey likes being involved in a band only as a friend. Dave Matthews started a group called Dave and Friends, in which Trey Anastasio was invited to participate in. The band was put together for a tour to promote Dave Matthews first solo album, Some Devil. On the album, Trey helps out with many of the songs, but there is one song that Trey is featured as the lead guitarist. This song is called "Grey Blue Eyes". Posted is a live performance of this song.

Trey and Dave became good friends back in 1993 when the two of them performed "All Along the Watchtower" together along with a list of other musicians. Their strong friendship really shows with their performances together. During the tour, there was a special section at the end of the concert that featured Dave and Trey together with only acoustic guitars. During this set of the concert, they played each other's songs together. Below are two videos of the two performing together, one video being Dave's song "Everyday" into "Bathtub Gin" by Trey Anastasio. The other being a song by Anastasio, "Waste".

Another project that Trey Anastasio took part in was the super group called Oysterhead. The band consisted of people who had already been involved in other well-known, established bands. The band members include Trey Anastasio on guitar, Les Claypool from Primus on bass, and Stewart Copeland from The Police on drums. The band has a very unique sound that is a little trippy. My first experience listening to the band could be defined as confusing. The best way to describe their sound is like a conglomerate of funk metal from Claypool, jam band from Anastasio, and new-wave rock from Copeland. Originally the band was only going to be used for one live performance, but eventually the band members decided to record and release an album titled The Grand Pecking Order. Below I have posted a couple songs by the band, and you will hear what I was trying to describe above.

I hope you guys enjoy listening to this stuff as much as I do. I think it is really interesting to go into a specific member of a band and see what other projects they were involved in during their career. I will say that none of these bands in my personal opinion match up to Trey's best work in Phish, but each one has their own distinct, interesting sound.