The Last Waltz Ensemble
Encyclopedia
The Last Waltz Ensemble are a United States
tribute band
devoted to playing the music of Bob Dylan
and The Band
. The band formed in 2004 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
and The Band
. The group bolsters a play list of over seventy Bob Dylan, The Band, and related songs, covering music from all eras of the artists’ careers. From The Hawks to the Basement Tapes to The Last Waltz
to later recordings, the group plays traditional and original arrangements in an improvisational jam band
format. The group uses vintage equipment and borrowed arrangements, and incorporates guest performances by friends from regional and national acts.
, Georgia
-based original Americana
band Houndog decided to hold a one-time concert celebration, a tribute
to the music from the Martin Scorsese
movie The Last Waltz
. Houndog, made up of Mark Kramer, lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Kris Gloer, vocals and lead guitar; Eric Reed, bass and vocals; and Shawn Stickney, drums, was a regular band on the Atlanta, Georgia, music scene. Houndog regularly played house gigs on Wednesday and Friday nights at Crystal’s bar on the Marietta Square, as well as one night stands all over Atlanta’s hotspots such as The Brandy House, Fuzzy’s Place and Smith’s Olde Bar.
Led into the project by Kris Gloer, the group contacted Brian Cole, talent buyer for the club Fuzzy’s Place, to arrange a venue for the show. In keeping with the spirit of the final concert of The Band, the group chose Thanksgiving
weekend, in November 2004. With the dates and venue scheduled, the group decided to have some of their friends from the burgeoning Atlanta, Georgia, music scene perform special guest features, highlighting the guest musicians’ abilities with songs suited for their styles and influences. Guests from that weekend included Tommy Talton, founding member of the band Cowboy and former lead guitarist for The Gregg Allman
Band; the late blues
musician Sean Costello
; and Rev. Jeff Mosier of Blueground Undergrass.
The show sold out, drawing more people than could fit in the more than thirty-year-old establishment. After the weekend was over, Houndog returned to a regular schedule of original music but decided to make the show an annual Thanksgiving weekend event. The following year the show relocated to its current home, Smith’s Olde Bar in midtown Atlanta.
The Thanksgiving 2005 show included guest performances by Kevin Harris, Terence Higgins and Efrem Towns from The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rick Richards
from The Georgia Satellites and Mimi Holland Thomas.
In the spring of 2006 the group, by then called “The Last Waltz Ensemble”, decided to do a test marketing of the show in five cities across the Southeastern United States. Following sold out performances in Charleston, South Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; and Athens, Georgia, the group was signed by Intrepid Artists International of Charlotte, North Carolina and began touring the United States performing over seventy shows a year. Since the group was signed it has played more than two hundred shows, performing in clubs and theaters, and performed as part of community concerts and festivals.
The group continues to welcome guest performances during concerts. Former guest performers include Susan Tedeschi
, Ted Pecchio
, Oliver Wood
, Colonel Bruce Hampton, Ret., Sean Costello
, Rev. Jeff Mosier, Efrem “ET” Towns, Kevin Harris, Mike “Swami” Schumann, Caroline Aiken
, Ike Stubblefield
, Bobby Houck, Brock Butler, Charlie Starr, Rick Richards
, Zach Deputy, CR Gruver, and Justin Brogdon.
The group released its first record, a CD recorded live in Charlotte, North Carolina, entitled Live at The Visulite Theater in January 2008. Tracks on the disc include “King Harvest”, “Time To Kill”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, “Like a Rolling Stone
”, “It Makes No Difference”, and Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”. The group is currently working with Atlanta, Georgia, musician and producer Oliver Wood on an upcoming studio release.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
tribute band
Tribute band
A tribute act is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act - sometimes one which has disbanded, ceased touring or is deceased. Probably the largest class of tributes acts are Elvis impersonators, individual performers who mimic the songs and style...
devoted to playing the music of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
. The band formed in 2004 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Overview
The Last Waltz Ensemble is a musical group that progressively plays the music of Bob DylanBob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
. The group bolsters a play list of over seventy Bob Dylan, The Band, and related songs, covering music from all eras of the artists’ careers. From The Hawks to the Basement Tapes to The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
to later recordings, the group plays traditional and original arrangements in an improvisational jam band
Jam band
-Ambiguity:By the late 1990s use of the term jam band also became ambiguous. An editorial at jamband.com suggested that any band of which a primary band such as Phish has done a cover of be included as jam band. The example was including New York post-punk band Talking Heads after Phish performed...
format. The group uses vintage equipment and borrowed arrangements, and incorporates guest performances by friends from regional and national acts.
Origin
In the fall of 2004, the MariettaMarietta, Georgia
Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat.As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
-based original Americana
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
band Houndog decided to hold a one-time concert celebration, a tribute
Tribute
A tribute is wealth, often in kind, that one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states, which could be called suzerains, exacted tribute from areas they had conquered or threatened to conquer...
to the music from the Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
movie The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz
The Last Waltz was a concert by the rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco...
. Houndog, made up of Mark Kramer, lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Kris Gloer, vocals and lead guitar; Eric Reed, bass and vocals; and Shawn Stickney, drums, was a regular band on the Atlanta, Georgia, music scene. Houndog regularly played house gigs on Wednesday and Friday nights at Crystal’s bar on the Marietta Square, as well as one night stands all over Atlanta’s hotspots such as The Brandy House, Fuzzy’s Place and Smith’s Olde Bar.
Led into the project by Kris Gloer, the group contacted Brian Cole, talent buyer for the club Fuzzy’s Place, to arrange a venue for the show. In keeping with the spirit of the final concert of The Band, the group chose Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
weekend, in November 2004. With the dates and venue scheduled, the group decided to have some of their friends from the burgeoning Atlanta, Georgia, music scene perform special guest features, highlighting the guest musicians’ abilities with songs suited for their styles and influences. Guests from that weekend included Tommy Talton, founding member of the band Cowboy and former lead guitarist for The Gregg Allman
Gregg Allman
Gregory Lenoir Allman , known as Gregg Allman, is a rock and blues singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter, and a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band. He was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Georgia...
Band; the late blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musician Sean Costello
Sean Costello
Sean Costello was an American blues musician, renowned for his fiery guitar playing and soulful singing. He released five critically acclaimed albums before his career was cut short by his sudden death at the age of 28. Tinsley Ellis called him ‘the most gifted young blues guitarist on the scene.....
; and Rev. Jeff Mosier of Blueground Undergrass.
The show sold out, drawing more people than could fit in the more than thirty-year-old establishment. After the weekend was over, Houndog returned to a regular schedule of original music but decided to make the show an annual Thanksgiving weekend event. The following year the show relocated to its current home, Smith’s Olde Bar in midtown Atlanta.
The Thanksgiving 2005 show included guest performances by Kevin Harris, Terence Higgins and Efrem Towns from The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rick Richards
Rick Richards
Rick Richards is an American rock guitarist.He is best known for being a member of the band The Georgia Satellites from Atlanta, Georgia. After the initial line up of "Keith and the Satellites" with Keith Christopher, Rick Richards, Dan Baird and David Michaelson, the Georgia Satellites including...
from The Georgia Satellites and Mimi Holland Thomas.
In the spring of 2006 the group, by then called “The Last Waltz Ensemble”, decided to do a test marketing of the show in five cities across the Southeastern United States. Following sold out performances in Charleston, South Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; and Athens, Georgia, the group was signed by Intrepid Artists International of Charlotte, North Carolina and began touring the United States performing over seventy shows a year. Since the group was signed it has played more than two hundred shows, performing in clubs and theaters, and performed as part of community concerts and festivals.
The group continues to welcome guest performances during concerts. Former guest performers include Susan Tedeschi
Susan Tedeschi
Susan Tedeschi is an American blues and soul musician, who has received multiple Grammy Award nominations, and is well-known for her singing voice, guitar playing, stage presence, and marriage to blues guitarist Derek Trucks...
, Ted Pecchio
Ted Pecchio
Ted Pecchio is an American bassist and currently a member of Grammy nominee Susan Tedeschi's touring group. Prior to that he played with Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Codetalkers. Aside from playing an amazing bass, he is best known for making some awesome faces while on stage...
, Oliver Wood
Oliver Wood
-Filmography:*The Honeymoon Killers *Joey *Rudy *For Love or Money *Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit *Terminal Velocity *Mr...
, Colonel Bruce Hampton, Ret., Sean Costello
Sean Costello
Sean Costello was an American blues musician, renowned for his fiery guitar playing and soulful singing. He released five critically acclaimed albums before his career was cut short by his sudden death at the age of 28. Tinsley Ellis called him ‘the most gifted young blues guitarist on the scene.....
, Rev. Jeff Mosier, Efrem “ET” Towns, Kevin Harris, Mike “Swami” Schumann, Caroline Aiken
Caroline Aiken
Caroline Aiken is a singer and guitarist from Atlanta, Georgia whose work spans genres, from folk to blues to rock. Aiken has released seven albums and performed with Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls....
, Ike Stubblefield
Ike Stubblefield
Ike Stubblefield was born in Toledo, Ohio, June 7, 1952, and at age 3 was already reaching for the piano. He was soon playing his big sister's piano lessons by ear, a sign of his talent to come...
, Bobby Houck, Brock Butler, Charlie Starr, Rick Richards
Rick Richards
Rick Richards is an American rock guitarist.He is best known for being a member of the band The Georgia Satellites from Atlanta, Georgia. After the initial line up of "Keith and the Satellites" with Keith Christopher, Rick Richards, Dan Baird and David Michaelson, the Georgia Satellites including...
, Zach Deputy, CR Gruver, and Justin Brogdon.
The group released its first record, a CD recorded live in Charlotte, North Carolina, entitled Live at The Visulite Theater in January 2008. Tracks on the disc include “King Harvest”, “Time To Kill”, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”, “Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
”, “It Makes No Difference”, and Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere”. The group is currently working with Atlanta, Georgia, musician and producer Oliver Wood on an upcoming studio release.
External links
- Charleston SC City Paper The eternal waltz The Last Waltz Ensemble
- Meridian MS Meridian Star The Last Waltz Ensemble rolls into Mississippi
- Savannah GA Connect Savannah Interview with Kris Gloer of The Last Waltz Ensemble
- Huntsville AL AL.com Music people never forget The Last Waltz Ensemble
- Jacksonville FL EU Jacksonville Rockin' down memory lane with The Last Waltz Ensemble
- Honest Tune The Last Waltz Ensemble Not just another cover band
- Jambase Last Waltz Gets Dirty