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The Dave Matthews Band (DMB)
emblazoned the 1990s with its hybrid of jazz, folk, and
world music with a distinct pop sensibility. By the end
of the decade, Matthews' introspective lyrics and distinctive
vocal timbre resonated through capacity stadiums across
the U.S., as DMB achieved arena-rock stardom.
In the tradition of the Grateful Dead and Phish, the Dave Matthews Band built
up a fan base by allowing fans to record and circulate tapes of the band's performances.
Fan favorites like "Ants Marching" and "Tripping Billies" were revamped nightly
as the band opened up ample musical space for improvisation. The band's first
record, 1993's Remember Two Things, was an indie success on the
college charts and eventually went gold. RCA signed Matthews and released Under
the Table and Dreaming (Number 11, 1994), which yielded the hits "What
Would You Say," "Ants Marching," and "Satellite." Within a year, Under
the Table and Dreaming was four times platinum.
After playing on the jam-band-friendly H.O.R.D.E. summer tour with Blues Traveler
and the Allman Brothers Band and headlining a few national tours, DMB recorded
1996's Crash, which debuted at Number Two on the pop albums chart.
It would earn DMB a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Perormances by a Duo or
Group in 1997 for "So Much to Say." Matthews and brethren then proceeded to generate
a string of live recordings. Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 (Number
Three, 1997), Live at Luther College (Number Two, 1999) (recorded
on one of Matthews' acoustic-only tours with guitarist and longtime collaborator
Tim Reynolds), and Listener Supported (Number 15, 1999) all
document Matthews' commitment to his ever-swelling, increasingly diversified
fan base. Meanwhile, 1998's studio album, Before These Crowded Streets,
a series of solemn narratives about a tormented man's yearnings for his lover,
debuted at Number One.
The dawning of the new millennium saw Matthews pick up an electric guitar for
the first time in the studio on the uncharacteristically gritty Everyday,
which was produced and cowritten by producer Glen Ballard. Everyday was
actually the fifth studio disc DMB cut: they'd shelved an album recorded in 2000
with producer Steve Lillywhite, much of which made its way onto 2002's Busted
Stuff. A year after that, Matthews issued Some Devil, his
bow without the Band; it too won a Grammy, for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance,
in 2004 for the single "Gravedigger." That fall, DMB participated in the Vote
for Change tour, usually headlining shows featuring Jurassic 5, Ben Harper, and
My Morning Jacket, and the group launched a mail-order concert-recordings series, Live
Trax. 2005 saw the release of Stand Up, DMB's seventh studio
disc; it was followed in 2006 by The Best of What's Around, Vol. 1,
a half-live, half-studio collection. As well, Matthews has continued to issue
live albums recorded at scenic locales like Washington State's Columbia River
Valley (The Gorge, 2002) and Colorado's Red Rocks (Weekend on the
Rocks, 2005) as well as in urban settings like New York City's Live
at Radio City Music Hall and Atlanta's Live at Piedmont Park.
In August of 2008, Dave Matthews Band suffered the devastating loss of brother
and founding band member, LeRoi Moore, who passed away on August 19, 2008 from
complications stemming from a June ATV accident. While both mourning the
loss of LeRoi and trying to celebrate his life, Dave Matthews Band soldiered
on, finishing the last few tour dates. After a break, the remaining band members
traveled to a New Orleans studio to complete work on the next studio album, Big
Whiskey and the Groogrux King, released on June 2, 2009. |
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