(PR) Today Dave Matthews and Stefan Lessard announced via their Twitter accounts (@davejmatthews and @slessard) the premiere of "Funny The Way It Is," the lead single from Dave Matthews Band's upcoming album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. Fans can download the track for free for a week beginning today at the band's website,. "Funny The Way It Is" will be for sale at digital retailers thereafter.
Dave Matthews Band kicks off its 2009 tour tonight with a show at Madison Square Garden in New York City and will be on the road through October 2nd. Please visit the official site for a full itinerary of the band's spring and summer tours - and also check the website for the launch of the Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King pre-order later this week. Fans who pre-order the CD at the band's website will receive the group's upcoming live album, Live Trax 15, for free. Live Trax 15 captures the group's August 9th, 2008 show at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI, one of the most fan-requested shows for release from last year's summer tour.
Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, the band's first studio album in four years, will be released on June 2nd by RCA Records. On Friday, June 5th, Dave Matthews Band will perform on NBC's "TODAY" show on Rockefeller Plaza, marking the first morning television appearance in the band's career.
With its celebratory spirit and lyrical ruminations on fragile mortality, the album pays tribute to saxophonist LeRoi Moore, the band's fallen partner. Moore passed away in the summer of 2008 while the group was on tour and midway through making the album. "When Roi died, it shook the whole band and left us saying, 'What do we do now?'" recalls Matthews. "We knew that first of all, we had to finish this record that he was already in love with. So all of us went back in with the attitude 'We can't mess around with this one, because this one is an ode."
When the remaining members regrouped in a New Orleans, LA studio in early 2009 to complete the album, they found they were able to integrate much of the material Moore had recorded during their 2008 sessions in Charlottesville, VA and Seattle, WA. "It's so powerful to have Roi here with us for one last time on an album," says violin player Boyd Tinsley. Guitarist Tim Reynolds, trumpeter Rashawn Ross and saxophonist Jeff Coffin also played on the album and will join the band on tour.
Matthews created all of the artwork for Big Whiskey, including the richly detailed cover illustration that puts a GrooGrux spin on New Orleans' traditional Mardi Gras parades while evoking the joy and the sorrow expressed in the album's songs. Matthews has designed logos and other elements in the past, but this is the first time he has created the entire packaging for a Dave Matthews Band album. For a limited time, fans can have fun unscrambling the cover at http://www.davematthewsband.com.
