After a four year hiatus, Dave Matthews band has come back with their newest release, “Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King”. This album is a departure from their earlier albums, to say the least.

The Dave Matthews Band has been known for years as a band with a more rocking sound then their jam-band contemporaries such as Phish or Moe, but on this album the depart and take a journey towards places they haven’t visited in the past. Breaking away from their early, more main stream sound, the band uses this album to expand on their more mature approach toward music and its influences while lamenting their departed friend and founding band member, LeRoi Moore.

Moore died in 2008 as a result of complications caused by an ATV accident. His role as saxophonist was taken up in the studio by Jeff Coffin. Many theorize the band came back together to make this album as a sort of tribute to Moore, and this is easily across the CD.

There are many songs on the album, especially “Funny the Way It Is” the albums first track, that reflect on the loss of Moore and the bands reaction to his passing. It is the track that most resembles the old Dave Matthews Band sound while incorporating their new direction. Other tracks, such as “Alligator Pie” and “Baby Blue”, deal with the bands time apart and work with others, as well as their experience with producer Rob Cavallo, while recording in Louisiana.

With a Delta Blues sound, along with New Orleans French Quarter influences this album show the bands ability to play, despite the loss of Moore.

While it is a departure from past albums, true fans of the band are likely to find the feeling of the music little changed, although the sound has. If those same fans have found the heart of the sound with the Dave Matthews Band before, they will find it again here, and enjoy the little bit of change the band offers up. “Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King” is sure to become a DMB classic on par with “Under the Table and Dreaming” and “Crash”, even though it may take a little getting used to if your listening to it right after those albums.

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