Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Oteil Burbridge and vocalist Lamar Williams Jr. have released a new collaborative album, The Offering. Initially recorded in December 2024 at Iceland’s Flóki Studios, the eight-track collection breeds melody, extemporizes grooves, and positions Burbridge to explore a musical realm on banjo and beyond. 

According to the official press release, “The music began more than a decade earlier during informal writing sessions between Burbridge and Williams in Burbidge’s basement studio in George, where Burbridge was teaching himself banjo and developing rhythmic and harmonic exercises as a way of learning the instrument’s structure and lineage.”

In Burbridge’s own words, “I didn’t have any kind of aim in mind when we wrote these songs. I was just learning to play the banjo, and those exercises ended up turning into songs.” After taking the initial melodies and sharing them with Williams, the vocalist recognized the unsung lyrics: “He did, so we just put two and two together,” Burbridge adds.

While the music sat in limbo due to busy schedules, family commitments, and alternative projects [written but not yet arranged], the pair found a window to circle back and revisit their exalted musical kinship. Williams says, “It was mind-blowing that after all those years we came back and got to record this music.”

The pair initially connected in the late 1990s through a long-standing Allman Brothers Band connection and continues to build on budding branches: awakening petals of Southern soul, gospel harmony, improvisational rock, and African-rooted rhythm. 

According to the ensemble’s roster, their live schedule, which arrives in line with the LP release, picks up over two nights at the Ardmore Music Hall on May 9-10, and will continue at select East Coast destinations following their Pennsylvania kick-off. For more information, visit www.oteilburbridge.com.