Widespread Panic - Everyday [2LP/ Ltd Ed Translucent Red & Grey Vinyl]

Early on, Widespread Panic began to forge a sound unto themselves, a combination of Michael Houser's unorthodox guitar playing, John Bell's coarse growl, Todd Nance's rock-steady drumming, David Schools' lead bass playing and Sunny Ortiz's multi-textured percussion, coupled with a collective commitment to playing original songs from the outset and a willingness to walk the improvisational high wire night after night.

However, it really wasn't until John "Jojo" Hermann – a native New Yorker-turned-Mississippian equally influenced by the likes of Professor Longhair and Terry Adams - took over on keyboards for Widespread's third album Everyday (1993) that the band became a true ensemble. With a new songwriter, vocalist and worthy onstage foil in Hermann in the fold, the band's classic lineup was set.

One of the group's most consistent efforts, the wonderfully sequenced Everyday sways from one track to the next with extended driving songs propelled throughout with evocative storytelling, soaring guitar lines, bluesy keys and atmospheric percussion. Anchored by its warm and subtle dynamics, the album's first five tracks - "Pleas" "Hatfield," "Wondering," "Papa's Home" and "Diner" - display a level of songwriting continuity and sympathetic instrumental interplay that is as fully realized as anything the band has ever recorded in the studio.

Pleas
Hatfield
Wondering
Papa's Home
Diner
Better Off
Pickin' Up The Pieces
Henry Parsons Died
Pilgrims
Postcard
Dream Song