''Back Around'' is an album by the

Donna Jean Godchaux Band The Donna Jean Godchaux Band (sometimes known as the Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson) is an American rock music group. Originally named Kettle Joe's Psychedelic Swamp Revue, and later Donna Jean and the Tricksters, the band was origina ...

with

Jeff Mattson Jeff Mattson (born July 3, 1958) is an American musician. He was raised on Long Island, NY. Mattson is founding member of the jam band, the Zen Tricksters, and guitarist in the Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson, which features the Grate ...

. Band leader and vocalist

Donna Jean Godchaux Donna Jean Thatcher Godchaux-MacKay (born August 22, 1947) is an American singer who was a member of the Grateful Dead from 1972 until 1979. Biography Donna Jean Thatcher was born in Florence, Alabama. Prior to 1970, she had worked as a sessi ...

was formerly a member of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

. Lead guitarist Jeff Mattson, who also sings on several of the tracks, is a member of

Dark Star Orchestra Dark Star Orchestra is a Grateful Dead cover band formed in Chicago, Illinois. They serve as a tribute band to the rock group the Grateful Dead. Since 1997, the band has been "celebrating the Grateful Dead concert experience." Overview Dark Sta ...

and the

Zen Tricksters The Zen Tricksters are an American Grateful Dead cover band. For almost thirty years, the Zen Tricksters have been playing Grateful Dead covers and jam band music, as well as derivative original songs. The band started out as the Volunteers, play ...

. The album was released by Heart of Gold Records on February 18, 2014.

Production

''Back Around'' was recorded at Nutthouse Studio in

Sheffield, Alabama Sheffield is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States, and is included in the Shoals metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 9,039. Sheffield is the birthplace of "country-soul pioneer" and songwriter Arthu ...

. In an interview with dead.net, Donna Jean Godchaux said, "The band came

o the studio O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

to record basic tracks and then we started to think about how to proceed from there. It was a very exciting time with 'the sky is the limit' as to what we could actually do. Since over half the band was in the Northeast, David acKay Jimmy Nutt, and myself were the locals who parked ourselves in the studio over an extended period of time and brainstormed. When Jeff attsonwas available, he came down to play more guitar and add his take to the glee and madness we were enjoying. 'Evolved' is the operative word regarding the progression of this recording." In an interview with ''The Quad-Cities Daily'', album co-producer Jimmy Nutt said, "Donna, from the very beginning, said 'I want this to be the best thing I've done, I want to take my time. I don't want any deadlines. I want to get it right. I want my vocals to be right.' So from the beginning we knew it was going to take as long as it took, period. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was this album. We took our time. Actually, we spent anywhere between one and a half to two years working on it.... Most of the songs had extended jam sessions, that we ended up editing down. And that was kind of our goal from the beginning."

Critical reception

In ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', David Browne wrote, "Godchaux's new album, ''Back Around'' — the third she's released under her own name since re-engaging with rock and soul in the Nineties – is what Godchaux calls 'my journey'. Cut in Alabama, the record pays homage to the

Southern soul Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country, early R&B, and a strong gospel influence that emanated fro ...

she first sang (in originals like "Don't Ask Me Why" and a cover of

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

's "Don't Fight It"), covers of Sixties classics ( the Stones' " 19th Nervous Breakdown",

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' "

She Said She Said "She Said She Said" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album ''Revolver''. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was written by John Lennon with assistance from George Harrison. Lennon described it as "an 'acidy' song" ...

the Youngbloods The Youngbloods were an American rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar), Jerry Corbitt (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Lowell "Banana" Levinger (guitar and electric piano), and Joe Bauer (drums). Despite recei ...

' "

Darkness, Darkness "Darkness, Darkness" is a song written by Jesse Colin Young in 1969, which has been covered by many artists. Young's band The Youngbloods released a version on their 1969 album '' Elephant Mountain''. They released a version of the song as ...

"), even a nod to her former job with a cover of the Dead's "Crazy Fingers"."

Track listing

#"Don't Ask Me Why" (

) – 4:47 #"Back Around" (

, Godchaux) – 5:15 #" 19th Nervous Breakdown" (

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...

) – 5:39 #"Don't Fight It" (

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Ot ...

) – 3:43 #"

" (

Jesse Colin Young Perry Miller (born November 22, 1941), known professionally as Jesse Colin Young, is an American singer and songwriter. He was a founding member and lead singer of the 1960s group the The Youngbloods, Youngbloods. After their dissolution in 1972 ...

) – 8:18 #"Delta Jubilee" (Godchaux, Mattson) – 6:32 #"

" (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

) – 5:20 #"Crazy Fingers" (

Jerry Garcia Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995) was an American musician best known for being the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence ...

, Robert Hunter) – 6:30 #"Stranger Things" (Dave Diamond, Godchaux) – 6:37

Personnel

;Donna Jean Godchaux Band *

– vocals *

– guitar, vocals *David MacKay – bass guitar *Freeman White – keyboards *Mark Adler – Wurly *Joe Chirco – drums *Peter Lavezzoli – drums, percussion ;Muscle Shoals Horns *Charles Rose –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

, horn arrangements *Harvey Thompson – sax *

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

–

baritone sax The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

*Steve Herman – trumpet ;The More the Merrier Players *Will McFarlane – guitar, background vocals *Clint Bailey – organ,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

*Richard Bailey –

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

*Jimmy Nutt – percussion *Cindy Walker – background vocals *Marie Lewey – background vocals *

Gary Nichols Gary Nichols (born 1978 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama) is an American country music singer. Signed to Mercury Nashville Records in 2006, Nichols made his debut that year with the release of his single "Unbroken Ground", which reached No. 39 on ...

– background vocals ;Production *Produced by

, David MacKay,

, Jimmy Nutt *Engineering: Jimmy Nutt *Mastering: Jim DeMain *Art direction, illustration, design: Joshua Marc Levy

References

{{Authority control Donna Jean Godchaux albums 2014 albums