Friday Cheers - Rusted Root (with Jesse Chong) – Kicking off Dominion Riverrock May 15, 2009

This is a special tour for the Pittsburgh, Pa., based band. In the process of recording their first studio album since 2002’s Welcome To My Party, Rusted Root is giving their faithful fans a chance to hear some of the new music they have been working on.

Rusted Root has sold more than 3 million albums worldwide. Formed in Pittsburgh by front man Glabicki in the early 1990s, Rusted Root’s polyrhythmic style quickly charmed fans of roots music and jam rock. But club goers weren’t the only ones left smitten by the sextet’s impressively diverse chops and soaring vocals. Veering into Eastern and African directions, Rusted Root features three of the Pittsburgh-born band’s original band members; Michael Glabicki (lead vocals, guitar), Liz Berlin (vocals, percussion), and Patrick Norman (bass, vocals, percussion). Joining them on the road are Jason Miller (drums, percussion), Colter Harper (vocals, guitar), Preach Freedom (percussion), and Dirk Miller (guitar).

After debuting in 1992 with Cruel Sun, Rusted Root signed with Mercury Records and bowed on the label with the 1994 platinum selling breakthrough When I Woke, which featured the light and lovable Send Me On My Way, as well as several other rerecorded tracks from Cruel Sun. Not long after, the band scored on tours with Toad the Wet Sprocket, Santana, The Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band, The Allman Brothers Band, HORDE Festival and, perhaps most notably, the highly-coveted support role on the landmark Jimmy Page/Robert Plant reunion tour.
Playing a brand of rock rooted in the Woodstock generation, but often detouring into various types of world music, the hard-touring Rusted Root returned in 1996 with Remember, which was followed by 1998’s Rusted Root. After some time off the band reemerged in 2002 with Welcome To My Party. The band’s sixth album, Rusted Root Live is the second album on its Touchy Pegg label, following the re-release of Cruel Sun in 2003, after a long tenure with Mercury/Island Def Jam. Along the way, Rusted Root has also issued three EPs (Evil Ways, Live, and Airplane), a home video (Rusted Root Live) and miscellaneous film and TV soundtracks such as from Twister, Mathilda, Home For the Holidays, Party of Five, Homicide and Ice Age.

Official Website: http://www.venturerichmond.com/events/vrevents.html#may8