album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by the American rock band
Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...
. The album was released on May 16, 2000, by
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
. ''Farmhouse'' was the last
Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...
studio album before their two-year hiatus between October 2000 and December 2002.
The album's first single, "Heavy Things", was one of Phish's most successful radio hits; it was the band's only song to appear on a mainstream pop radio format, reaching #29 on ''Billboards
Adult Top 40
The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...
chart that July. The song also became the band's biggest hit to date on the
Adult Alternative Songs
Adult Alternative Airplay (also known as Triple A or Triple A Airplay, and formerly Adult Alternative Songs and Triple A Songs) is a record chart currently published by ''Billboard'' that ranks the most popular songs on adult album alternative radi ...
chart, reaching #2 there. The song had previously been performed for live broadcast during the overnight set of Phish's New Year's Eve 2000 show at Big Cypress (reportedly then the largest concert in the world) as part of
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
's coverage of New Year's festivities around the globe.
Owing in part to the mainstream exposure of "Heavy Things", ''Farmhouse'' had the highest-ever first week sales for a Phish record. The album was certified gold by RIAA on January 30, 2006.
Production
Songwriting for ''Farmhouse'' was a joint effort between Trey Anastasio and Phish lyricist Tom Marshall, with contributions from Tony Markellis,
Russ Lawton
Russ Lawton is a professional drummer from Vermont. He is best known as the drummer from the solo band of Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. Lawton also performs with the Vermont jam band Strangefolk and The Chrome Cowboys. Lawton performed on ...
and Scott Herman. All of the songs were already part of Phish's live concert song rotation before being recorded for the album, some dating back to 1997. The tracks were recorded at The Barn, frontman
Trey Anastasio
Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish o ...
's studio in
Chittenden County, Vermont
Chittenden County () is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, its population was 168,323. The county seat is Vermont's most populous municipality, the city of Burlington. The county has over a quarter o ...
. The introduction to "Piper" is an extract from the band's live performance of the song on July 18, 1999 at their Camp Oswego Festival in
Volney, New York
Volney is a town in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 5,926 at the 2010 census. The town was named after a French author, Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney, who toured the area in 1808.
The Town of Voln ...
. There is also a Japanese version of the album available as an import which include two bonus studio out-take tracks from the Farmhouse recording sessions which are "Driver" and "Mist" (sometimes referred to as "Mountains in the Mist"). These two songs are currently not available in any format online by Phish although as of December 2018 it can be purchased in its original CD format on Amazon.com and possibly elsewhere for about twice the price of the standard version of the album.
Early incarnations of several tracks from the album can be heard on the 2000 release '' Trampled by Lambs and Pecked by the Dove'', a collection of song sketches and demos recorded by Anastasio and Marshall.
The song "First Tube" was nominated for a
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
In February 2009, the album was made available as a download in
FLAC
FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software p ...
and
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
formats at LivePhish.com.
Critical reception
''Farmhouse'' received mainly positive reviews. Jason Ankeny of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
praised the album as Phish's "rootsiest and most organic effort to date... ndalso their most fully developed – these are complete, concise songs and not simply outlines for extended jams, boasting a beauty and intimacy which expands the group's scope even as it serves notice of a newfound pop accessibility."
''
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 ...
''s
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles (born October 25, 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.
Track listing
Charting singles
: 2000, Heavy Things (No. 22, Adult Top 40)
Personnel
Phish
Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...
*
Trey Anastasio
Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish o ...
– guitars, lead vocals, horn and string arrangements
*
Page McConnell
Page Samuel McConnell (born May 17, 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American multi-instrumentalist most noted for his work as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the band Phish.
In addition to having been a member of Phish since 1985, ...
– keyboards, backing vocals
*
Mike Gordon
Michael Eliot Gordon (born June 3, 1965) is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass, Gordon is an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano and guitar. He ...
– bass guitar, backing vocals
*
Jon Fishman
Jon Fishman (born February 19, 1965) is an American drummer known for his work with the band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983, and which was, in part, named after him. He is credited with co-writing nineteen Phish songs, eight with a solo cr ...
– drums, backing vocals
Additional musicians
*
Jerry Douglas
Gerald Calvin "Jerry" Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer.
Career
In addition to his fourteen solo recordings, Douglas has played on more than 1,600 albums. As a sideman, he has ...
– dobro on "The Inlaw Josie Wales"
*John Dunlop – cello on "Dirt"
*Roy Feldman – viola on "Dirt"
*
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classi ...
– banjo on "The Inlaw Josie Wales"
*Dave Grippo – saxophone on "Gotta Jibboo"
*David Gusakov – violin on "Dirt"
*Jennifer Hartswick – trumpet on "Gotta Jibboo"
*James Harvey – trombone on "Gotta Jibboo"
*Laura Markowitz – violin on "Dirt"
*Andy Moroz – trombone on "Gotta Jibboo"