Staff WriterRenegade Productions presents Great American Taxi, one of the best-known headliners on the jam band circuit, at River Ranch Lodge, in Tahoe City, CA on Thursday, August 4, 2011. Doors open at 8:30pm and the music starts at 9:30 pm/ $15 advance. This 21 and over venue is a great place to have dinner before the show starts.
In the past five years, Great American Taxi has become one of the best-known headliners on the jam band circuit. Their uninhibited sound is a swinging concoction of swampy blues, progressive bluegrass, funky New Orleans strut, Southern boogie, honky-tonk, country, gospel, and good ol’ fashioned rock ’n’ roll.
Great American Taxi was born when singer, guitarist, and mandolin player Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon joined keyboard player and singer Chad Staehly for a superstar jam to benefit the Rainforest Action Group in Boulder, in March of 2005. “We put together a dream band of the best local musicians for a one-off gig,” Herman recalls. “It worked so well we had to do it again, and again, and again.” Great American Taxi quickly evolved into one of the best country-, rock-, and bluegrass- influenced jam bands in the land, masterfully blending acoustic and electric instruments into music they call “Americana Without Borders.”
Great American Taxi has been equated with roots rockers like the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Grateful Dead, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, The Byrds, and Little Feat. Herman finds the comparisons flattering. “We’re definitely connected to all the acts in the country/rock spectrum, as well as the spirit of Gram Parsons and Woody Guthrie,” he says. “We want to address the issues appropriate to our times, while making music that gets people up and moving.”
Advance tickets are available at the River Ranch, New Moon Natural Foods in Tahoe City and Truckee, Alice’s Mountain Market in Squaw Valley, Mad about Music in South Lake Tahoe, and Recycled Records in Reno.
jamarch
