“For me, it startedback in the days of the Jammy Awards, where we would do a lot ofcollaborations, and of course Wetlands,” says LOCKN’ Festival co-founder PeterShapiro as he looks over the lineup for this year’s gathering, which is packedwith the kind of musical collaborations that made his erstwhile awards ceremonyand NYC nightclub such attractions for live-music fans.
“Plus there’s Dave’shistory with H.O.R.D.E.,” Shapiro continues, referring to his LOCKN’ foundingpartner, Dave Frey, who also helped create the traveling H.O.R.D.E. festival inthe ‘90s. “And it’s also kind of how LOCKN’ got started—with the Zac BrownIncident and Trey with Further the first year.”
Shapiro and Frey first put on LOCKN’ back in 2013, and two of that first festival’s biggest lineup drawswere three nights of the post-Grateful Dead outfit Further and the heavyweightmashup of The String Cheese Incident and Zac Brown Band. The latter set, alongwith Trey Anastasio’s unexpected sit-in with Bob Weir and Phil Lesh’s Further—arare onstage union of the Dead and Phish worlds—and the team-up of WidespreadPanic with Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, began thenow-storied tradition of big-name collaborations at LOCKN’, which hassubsequently been cemented with sets from Lesh with Santana and Warren Haynes(2015), Weir with The Avett Brothers (2017), last year’s fusion of Foundationof Funk with members of Dead & Company, and so many more memorable momentsover the years.
This weekend, Shapiro, Frey and their team have quite literally outdonethemselves, putting together the most collaborative LOCKN’ lineup so far. Andat the top of the billing are the Friday- and Saturday-night offerings, whichwill see Anastasio (who is returning for his third LOCKN’ after playing withhis solo band in 2013 and Phish in 2016) and Tedeschi Trucks Band (who havemissed just one LOCKN’ in 2017) trade sit-ins, with Trey’s solo band welcomingDerek Trucks on Friday and Anastasio returning the favor with TTB the followingevening.
“From what Iunderstand, Derek and Trey have been communicating throughout the summer, andI’m pretty sure they got together at some point and jammed,” says LOCKN’ TalentBuyer Kirk Peterson. “I think a lot of it is just sharing snippets and soundbites and riffing on ideas. A lot of the LOCKN’ collaborations do happen withsome advance communication, but we also provide some rehearsal space onsite, sothere have been some special backstage moments over the years when people cometogether to solidify some ideas. A lot of it is preparation, and a lot of it isimprovisation. They set a framework then go out onstage and try to make somemagic happen.”
Earlier this summer, in an interview on SiriusXM’s newly mintedPhish Radio channel, Anastasio heaped some serious praise onto Trucks, saying,“Derek is without question my favorite guitar player and, I think, the bestguitar player on Earth right now. When Derek came along—I saw him first when hewas young—I loved his playing so much that…I almost wanted to write him athank-you note. He made me believe in the guitar as a serious instrument again,and he affected the way I play. I’m playing better because of Derek Trucks.”
Anastasio and Trucks shared the stage during Tedeschi Trucks Band’s annual run at New York’s Beacon Theatre in October 2017, but this weekend will allow the world-class guitarists to stretch out a bit more and really show each other—and the LOCKN’ audience—their considerable improvisational chops.
“These guys admire each other a lot, and a big part of that is a mutualrespect of their professionalism and their craftsmanship,” Peterson notes,adding that he gives a lot of credit to Shapiro for “matchmaking” with thebands and their management early on in the process of booking this year'slineup. “I would expect nothing short of amazing sets from both of thosecollaborations.”
However, the Anastasio/Trucks onstage meetings are certainly not theonly anticipated onstage meetings on the schedule this weekend, starting withthe festival’s Sunday-night closing set, which will see Bob Weir and his WolfBros trio teaming up with TTB vocalist/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, along withharpist and upcoming singer-songwriter Mikaela Davis. And that’s just thebeginning.
Shapiro points to the growing reputation of LOCKN’ as acollaboration-friendly gathering as one of the reasons that he and thefestival’s organizers are able to curate such compelling musical moments, withincreasing reliability and star power—a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy: “Weusually initiate the discussions—myself, Kirk, Dave Frey—but also I thinkthere’s a trust that has been built up, which is cool. We get to collaboratewith [bands and their teams] a lot, with LOCKN’ and doing things at The CapitolTheatre or Brooklyn Bowl throughout the year. And since LOCKN’ has developedthis history and tradition of collaboration as a defining part of the festival,there’s a lot of trust that we’ll do it right.”
Peterson has a few collaborations that he’s especially excited to bringto Infinity Downs, including reggae stalwarts Steel Pulse with Bob Weir and TheSoul Rebels on Sunday and Oteil Burbridge & Friends’ Saturday set featuringWeir, Duane Betts and more, which will touch on Burbridge’s ties to both theDead and Allman Brothers Band worlds, plus Marcus King’s Sunday plans, whichwill see the guitarist sitting in with multiple main-stage acts throughout theday (Peterson doesn’t promise anything but notes that King recently revealedhis dream of playing “Looks Like Rain” with Weir.)
“There are thecollaborations you know about that we plan and announce, but it’s cool thatstuff always evolves—things you don’t plan,” Shapiro says. “Well, maybe we knowcertain things…but it’s a really cool mix of both. It’s a balance.”
“Honestly, for all the collaborations we have announced and on the books, I still think the thing that’s most exciting going into the LOCKN’ weekend is seeing what happens that none of us really know about," Peterson adds. “In many cases, it just happens onsite. We have an intimate backstage area, and I’ve personally seen some of these interactions happen where it’s just a matter of, ‘Hey, you should come out and rip a solo on this song” or ‘Hey, come join our horn section.’ A lot of these musicians have seen each other at LOCKN’, at other festivals or while touring together, and they just can’t help themselves.” (Peterson adds that a “perfect example” is Lettuce’s late-night JGB tribute set last year, when Weir and his Dead & Company bandmate John Mayer “came out and were supposed to play a song and ended up staying on for like five.”)
Though the highlights in store this weekend are too numerous to namehere, Peterson and Shapiro highlight the late-night offerings in Garcia’s Forest, whichexpand this year to include intimate sets from Galactic, Soulive and CirclesAround the Sun, along with the continuing morning bluegrass vibes fromFruition, Lil Smokies and Town Mountain.
“After six years ofhosting LOCKN’ festival-goers and Jerry Dance Parties [on Sunday night],Garcia’s Forest now has some magic baked into it,” Shapiro says. “So we thoughtit would be cool to try the second stage performances after the headlinersthere.
“Every year there’s anew tweak or twist,” he continues. “This year, there’s the late-night music inthe woods, which will be cool. I like the fact that the festival evolves eachyear. It reflects the music and the spirit of the event. Hopefully, every yearwe learn more and more how to do things right, while being open to how we canevolve. It’s a fun part of LOCKN’—each year it’s a little bit different, butthe general vibes stay the same.”
