It’s been over 6 years since Jeff Waful and I last joined each other in Hartford for our weekly Jam Nation radio show. Each Sunday night the two of us would drive down from our respective homes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island for a two hour radio show that was broadcast out of an otherwise empty Clear Channel facility that housed five stations. That Sunday night always felt more like the conclusion of the weekend rather than the start of the new week, with Jeff, myself and a few stragglers (the DJs on the other stations typically had already recorded their shows so they were not to be seen). Warren Haynes participated each week with the Warren Report, in which he selected a song and spoke about the artist and/or the specific tune. We also had a range of other musicians phone in regularly for interviews.

The highlights, however, came twice a month when live bands joined us on the program. Our producer, Todd Thomas, had worked it out so that we had a great sound company come in to mic up all the instruments and do the mixing. On rare occasion we had audiences come in (Galactic, Strangefolk) but other than band’s own guests, the bands pretty much performed an hour of music for myself and Chris Russo, our engineer (with Jeff back in the control room). It really was an amazing run until Clear Channel being Clear Chanel flipped the format of the station to hip-hop and that was that. The show lived on for a few years via XM Satellite Radio until we finally were deemed redundant after the merge (SIRIUS had Jam On).

We never shot any video of own although we did take photos, quite a few of which utilized my prototype Sony digital camera which recorded onto floppy discs (it was a true pain, one could only put about 5 images on each floppy). Fortunately though, we have the tapes.

And so, now that we have finally relaunched Relix.com, we’re going to share. For many months to come we’ll be offering Live from Jam Nation performances. First up is one of a few sets recorded by the Derek Trucks Band on the show, followed by Al Schnier’s al.one project.

I’m really psyched about all that the new Relix site can offer with audio and video, which will complement a lot of what we have going on here at Jambands.com. Anyhow, why don’t you stop by and enjoy some Jam Nation performances, with plenty more in queue…

Later days and peace.,
Dean