Buffalo, N.Y.-based jam band moe. has finished up work on its debut iMusic album, “Wormwood.” Recorded on the road and finished in the studio, the set is due Feb. 4, just days after the group kicks off its winter tour. Following a handful of year-ending dates, moe. will take to the road with a pair of Jan. 24-25 Atlanta shows. Current shows run through a Feb. 21-22 stand in San Francisco, with more dates expected.
The 14 tracks on “Wormwood” are built on recordings of shows from the band’s 2002 summer tour. Back in the studio, those multi-track tapes were substantially edited, with newly recorded overdubs added to flesh out the material.
And while jam bands are known for indefinitely stretching songs through on-stage exploration and experimentation, the majority of the cuts on “Wormwood” are short, with only two exceeding seven minutes (“Bullet” and “Kyle’s Song”). Among the highlights are “Shoot First” and “Okay, Alright,” as well as the opening song, “Not Coming Down.”
Earlier this month, the band released its first holiday-themed album, “Season’s Greetings From moe.,” via the Fat Boy label. The 10-track collection features renditions of such seasonal classics as “Jingle Bells,” “Carol of the Bells,” and “Little Drummer Boy,” as well as favorites from animated specials such as “Linus And Lucy” (“Merry Christmas Charlie Brown”) and “We’re a Couple of Misfits” (“Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer”).
“Wormwood” is the follow-up to last year’s “Dither” (Fat Boy). That 12-track studio set debuted at No. 17 on Billboard’s Top Independent Albums chart and No. 29 on the Heatseekers tally.
Here are moe.’s upcoming tour dates:
Dec. 12-13: Boston (Paradise)
Dec. 27-28: Philadelphia (Tower Theater)
Dec. 30: Chicago (Park West)
Dec. 31: Chicago (Aragon Ballroom)
Jan. 24- 25: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
Jan. 28: Louisville, Ky. (Headliners Music Hall)
Jan. 29: Memphis (New Daisy Theatre)
Jan. 30: Dallas (Gypsy Tea Room)
Jan. 31, Feb. 1: Austin, Texas (La Zona Rosa)
Feb. 4: Fayetteville, Ark. (Dave’s on Dickson)
Feb. 5: St. Louis (Pageant)
Feb. 6: Columbia, Mo. (Blue Note)
Feb. 9: Park City, Utah (Harry-O’s)
Feb. 13: Los Angeles (Wiltern Theatre)
Feb. 14: Solana Beach, Calif. (Belly Up Tavern)
Feb. 15-16: Las Vegas (House of Blues/Mandalay Bay)
Feb. 18: Seattle (EMP Sky Church)
Feb. 19: Portland, Ore. (Crystal Ballroom)
Feb. 21-22: San Francisco (Fillmore)
