Last year i was asked to write a little end of the year summary, but this year is a little difficult due to change in drummers, and audio difficulty.
I honestly can’t conjure many notable things from pre-Scotty, only due to way too much going on beyond music. I recall the year starting off ok, it got a little hot up until they had to do a Milwaukee>Dominican Republic>Montana traveling run in 5 days, and everything sounding meh thru New Orleans with exception to UM Bowl(Morocco had it’s moments). Best shows were 4/5 and 3/8 if I had to choose.
Scotty came in and did his damn job. 1st run had Duane Trucks fill in beyond admirably(6/1/25 is a banger) and Scotty jumped right in. There’s several debuts in which they drop a good’n and there’s times that you do notice a little drop in ability, but they never had to cancel or reschedule a show, nor was there really a stinker beyond a festy set here and there. 7/13, the entire Pine Creek and Mish run, 8/29 were some of my favorites. All in all, I’d say they get a B+ for doing well with the personnel change, but miss an A for having to do the change in the first place.
Only thing I really want to see this year is more Front Porch, more bouncebacks, less covers requiring falsetto harmonies, and Squeaky Feet for a co-bill tour to end summer.