Artist: Circles Around the Sun
Album: Let It Wander
Label: Rhino Entertainment
Release Date: 8.18.2018
What started as music to be played during set breaks of the Grateful Dead’s “Fare Thee Well” concerts has taken on a second life with a new two-CD set called Let It Wander. The Dead-influenced instrumentals are largely the compositions of guitarist Neal Casal, who has managed to navigate multiple projects throughout his career. He’s released a dozen solo albums over the past 20-plus years but achieved wider recognition as the guitarist for Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. He’s been touring and recording with Chris Robinson since 2012 and is also a member of the band Hard Working Americans when he can find time in between commitments.
For Circles Around the Sun, Casal teamed up with keyboardist Adam MacDougall, his bandmate from the Chris Robinson Brotherhood. With Dan Horne on bass and Mark Levy on drums, the foursome recorded more than five hours of music for the Dead’s 2015 shows. Deadheads were so smitten with what they heard that Rhino Entertainment decided to release the music as a two-disc set entitled Interludes for the Dead. The band, now known by the acronym CATS, has toured on and off to responsive fans who come out to hear their soaring, spacey but always tuneful jams.
Let It Wander stretches things out even more than their previous effort. There are only seven tracks on the two CDs — the longest piece, “Ticket to Helix,” clocking in at more than 19 minutes. While each composition is original, part of the fun is listening for threads from familiar Dead tunes. “On My Mind,” the opening track on Let It Wander, is suggestive of the Dead’s Blues for Allah period, with bits of “Help On the Way” and “The Music Never Stopped” coming through. “One for Chuck” features an intro by hip-hop impresario Chuck D., who reportedly stopped by the studio while CATS was recording and liked what he heard. The funkier rhythms and guitar fingering recall Jerry Garcia’s solo work with Merl Saunders on Motown and reggae classics. MacDougall mines Saunders even further on “Tacoma Narrows,” taking the electronic sounds up a notch.
CATS is far from any form of a tribute band. The flecks of Dead-inspired music are always subtle, and each track takes things in a different direction. CATS is launching a mini-tour in support of Let It Wander, with East Coast shows at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, Brooklyn Bowl, the Ardmore Music Hall and the Showcase Lounge in South Burlington from August 22 through August 25. Whether you’re listening to their studio work or seeing them live, get yourself in the proper frame of mind and just let the music take you wherever it wants to go.
—Lou Montesano
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