''The Green Sparrow'' is the second solo album from

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 ...

bassist

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 ...

, released August 5, 2008. It is his first solo album in five years (since 2003's ''

Inside In ''Inside In'' is Mike Gordon's first solo album and was released August 26, 2003. This album was wholly produced during and after the movie, ''Outside Out'' and uses aural tracks from it. Included in the liner notes are lyrics to some tracks, art ...

''). Gordon has also released a pair of studio albums with acoustic guitarist

Leo Kottke Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including parti ...

, a live album with the experimental Benevento-Russo Duo, and a live DVD with

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, ...

offshoot

Rhythm Devils The Rhythm Devils is a band led by former Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. Grateful Dead The Rhythm Devils had their origins as an informal but frequent fixture in the Grateful Dead concert repertoire starting in the mid-t ...

. Gordon dedicated all of 2007 to writing ''The Green Sparrow'' while taking a yearlong hiatus from touring. It was recorded at the end of 2007 and into 2008 in his home recording studio in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and features guest appearances from

Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued ...

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 ...

, Chuck Leavell,

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, ...

Ivan Neville Ivan Neville (born August 19, 1959) is an American multi-instrumentalist musician, singer, and songwriter. He is the son of Aaron Neville and nephew to members of The Neville Brothers. Career He has released four solo (music), solo albums and ha ...

and others. A 2008 Summer Tour to support the album began in July 2008 and stretched into September with Gordon backed by

Max Creek Max Creek is an American rock band that was formed by Dave Reed, John Rider and Bob Gosselin in 1971. Max Creek has a loyal following, and put on an annual music festival at Indian Lookout Country Club in upstate New York, dubbed Camp Creek, and w ...

guitarist

Scott Murawski Scott Peter Murawski (born October 21, 1956 in Agawam, Massachusetts, United States) is an American multi-instrumentalist, specializing on the electric guitar. He has achieved fame primarily on guitar with the American rock band Max Creek. He i ...

, keyboardist Tom Cleary, drummer Todd Isler, and percussionist Craig Myers. As of 2018, only Murawski and Myers remain from Gordon's original 2003 touring band.

Track listing

# "Another Door" – 3:40 # "Voices" – 5:20 # "Dig Further Down" – 4:01 # "Pretend" – 4:09 # "Traveled Too Far" – 4:33 # "Andelmans' Yard" – 6:13 # "Morphing Again" – 3:38 # "Radar Blip" – 5:05 # "Jaded" – 3:08 # "Sound" – 4:38 ''All songs written by

Bonus tracks

# "Doing It Anyway" (at

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

) # "Be Careful What You Wish For" (a
Rhapsody

Personnel

Musicians

– vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards, hi-hat, tambourine, drum programming, piano, Clucky *

– guitar *Doug Belote – drums, cowbell, shaker, V-Drums *

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 ...

– drums *

– organ *

– organ * Nadine LaFond – vocals * Jared Slomoff – vocals, cowbell * Joe Russo – drums * Chuck Leavell – organ * Steve Ferraris – bongos, Danmo, cowbell *

– drums * Scott Murawski – acoustic guitar * Ken Lovelett – tambourine * Aaron Johnson – trombone * Jordan McLean – trumpet * Cochemea Gastelum – saxophone * Julee Avallone – flute * Marie Claire – vocals

Production

* Produced by

, John Siket, Jared Slomoff * Recorded and Mixed by John Siket * Mastered by Fred Kevorkian * Cover Illustration/Hand-Lettering by

* Design/Layout by Julia Mordaunt

References

External links

Official Green Sparrow OrderMike Gordon's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Sparrow, The Mike Gordon albums 2008 albums Rounder Records albums