Joe Russo (born December 18, 1976) is an American drummer and half of the

Benevento/Russo Duo The Benevento/Russo Duo (or The Duo for short) is an alternative jazz/ rock band from New York City, featuring Marco Benevento on keyboard instruments and Joe Russo on drums. History Benevento and Russo met while in junior high school in New J ...

. He has toured, performed and recorded with a number of other bands, including

Cass McCombs Cass McCombs (born November 13, 1977 in California) is an American musician and songwriter. Since 2002 he has released ten albums, an EP and a B-sides compilation under his own name. McCombs’ music blends elements of many styles including Ameri ...

, A Big Yes and a Small No, Fat Mama, Robert Walter's 20th Congress, Bustle In Your Hedgerow,

Younger Brother Younger Brother is an electronic duo formed in 2003 by Simon Posford and Benji Vaughan. Their debut album '' A Flock of Bleeps'' was released in 2003, followed by '' The Last Days of Gravity'' in 2007 and ''Vaccine'' in 2011. After making a ...

Shpongle Shpongle is a psychedelic electronic music project from England that formed in 1996. The group includes Hallucinogen and Raja Ram (one of three in The Infinity Project). The duo are considered to be one of the progenitors of the psybient genr ...

, Tom Hamilton's American Babies, the Trey Anastasio/ Mike Gordon duo, the Gene Ween Band, and Furthur (featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead). He also plays with the Shpongle Live Band. In 2013 he formed a Grateful Dead

tribute band A tribute act, tribute band or tribute group is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act. Tribute acts include individual performers who mimic the songs and style of an artist, such as ...

called

Joe Russo's Almost Dead Joe Russo's Almost Dead is an American rock band formed in 2013 that mainly covers the music of the Grateful Dead. Formed by Furthur and Benevento/Russo Duo drummer Joe Russo, the band played their first show on January 26, 2013 at the Broo ...

Musical career

Russo's drumming is fierce and complex (he has been nicknamed "The Madness" and "Octo-Russo" by fans). His Roland SPD-S sampler is often used for electronic drum samples, which play an important role in many of The Duo's compositions, such as "Welcome Red", "Becky", and "My Pet Goat". Two songs appearing on ''

Play Pause Stop ''Play Pause Stop'' is a 2006 album from the Benevento/Russo Duo. Made up of only Marco Benevento and Joe Russo, the album contains the two playing only keyboards and drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is ...

'', "Memphis" and "Powder", were written by Russo and feature his guitar playing. Russo has twice won the New Groove award at the

Jammys The Jammy Award (also known as the Jammys) is an awards show for bands typically referred to as jam bands and other artists associated with live, improvisational music, created by Dean Budnick and Peter Shapiro. The Jammys are sponsored by Reli ...

, in 2000 and 2005. In the summer of 2006 he was the drummer in a collaboration with

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Marco Benevento Marco Benevento (born July 22, 1977) is an American pianist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer, who has been a fixture of the New York experimental music rock and jazz scene since 1999. He is the founder and recording e ...

(sometimes referred to as GRAB or Mike & the Italians). During the fall of 2008, Russo traveled to London to record an album with the band

. In December 2008, Russo joined

Ween Ween is an American rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an alternative rock band, the band a ...

front man

Gene Ween Aaron Freeman (born March 17, 1970), better known by his stage name Gene Ween, is an American singer, guitarist and a founding member of the experimental alternative rock group Ween. Freeman, along with childhood friend Dean Ween (Mickey Melch ...

and fellow Bustle In Your Hedgerow band mates

Scott Metzger Scott Metzger (born October 12, 1977) is an American guitarist. His work touches on many styles including psychedelic rock, soul, country, jazz, and surf rock. His collaborations with other artists include Phil Lesh, John Scofield, Joe Russo, J ...

and

Dave Dreiwitz Dave Dreiwitz (born January 2, 1966) is a multi-instrumentalist, best known as the bassist for the band Ween since 1997. Biography Dave Dreiwitz was born on January 2, 1966, in New York City, New York to traditional jazz musician parents, Richa ...

for a short east coast tour with an outfit called the Gene Ween Band. On this tour, Joe played his "house kit," which notably includes a rare 30-inch bass drum purchased off of eBay. In Fall 2009, Russo joined Bob Weir, Phil Lesh,

Jay Lane Jay Lane (born December 5, 1964) is an American drummer. He is a founding member of Bob Weir's RatDog, with Weir and Rob Wasserman, Wolf Bros, Furthur, Golden Gate Wingmen and Alphabet Soup. He was the 7th drummer to play in Primus, playing ...

Jeff Chimenti Jeff Chimenti (born October 21, 1968) is an American keyboardist, best known for his ongoing work with former members of the Grateful Dead. Since May 1997 he has played with Bob Weir & RatDog, and has also played on every tour of The Dead (incl ...

and John Kadlecik (from Dark Star Orchestra) to form the band Furthur. Jay Lane left Furthur in March 2010 to rejoin Primus, and Russo continued to tour with the band as their sole drummer until they disbanded in November 2014. In 2013 Joe Russo formed a band called

with Ween bassist

on keyboards and

and Tom Hamilton on vocals and guitars. Joe Russo's Almost Dead interpret the music of the Grateful Dead. The project was originally conceived for the Freaks Ball, an annual party hosted by the NYC-Freaks music community. Russo has recorded multiple albums with Craig Finn of

the Hold Steady The Hold Steady is an American rock band originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, now based in Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2003. The band consists of Craig Finn (vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), ...

.Greenhaus, Mike https://relix.com/articles/detail/creative-adulting-a-conversation-with-craig-finn-joe-russo-and-josh-kaufman/ Relix

Discography

Solo

*"phér•bŏney" (2019)

American Babies

*''Debut Album'' (2007) *''Flawed Logic'' (2010) *''Knives and Teeth'' (2013)

Fat Mama

*''Mamatus'' (2000) *''Loadstar - Live at Theater '99'' (2000)

Benevento/Russo Duo

*''Debut Album'' (2002) *''Darts'' (2003) *'' Best Reason to Buy the Sun'' (2005) *''Live at Bonnaroo 2005'' (2005) *''

'' (2006)

References

External links

Joe Russo's Almost Dead
official website
Benevento/Russo Duo
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Russo, Joe American male composers 20th-century American composers 1976 births Living people Jammy Award winners Furthur (band) members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 21st-century American drummers 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Joe Russo's Almost Dead members Younger Brother members American Babies members