“The musical connection you have with Jimmy Herring is remarkable. What is it about playing with Jimmy that seemingly pushes your playing to new places. Will we ever see a full time project with the two of you together?” Tim C

Yeah I really hope so. I have had connection with Jimmy going back to when I first saw Aquarium Rescue Unit. We personally get along so well and I have a huge amount of musical respect for him. He’s one of my favorite people to be around and play music with. There’s a difference between people playing together where you’re pushing each other and when you’re trying to outdo each other and with Jimmy there’s never sense of that. It’s always just playing music and it can be really serious or really playful, it can be a lot of things. You can’t predict who you’re going to have your chemistry with but with Jimmy it’s always been that way.

The two of you often have a similar reserved demeanor on stage. Do you think that reflects your compatible approaches?

I think that says something about our personalities where certain aspects are similar and usually we only have one goal in mind when we’re up there. I can remember being backstage with Jimmy when the Dead were playing Madison Square Garden. It was the first time he’d played there and right before they went on he was showing me this picture of a massive blue fin tuna that one of his friends had caught. He’s about to play Madison Square Garden and he’s just as interested in talking about fish. There’s something beautiful about that. For most people it’s all about where you play and what you’ve done but with Jimmy it’s very humble and honest. He’s one of those people where you know for a long time that their career is going to change and take off but the person at the center of it doesn’t shift, which is a rare attribute.

Speaking of fishing, someone asked, “You, Duane, and Eric, all like to fish. Did you ever wet a line with Eric or talk fly fishing?” Jake

Nope, not yet. We talked about it but we haven’t done it.

“I have seen you live a few times and watched plenty of videos of you performing. I notice you spend a lot of time with your eyes closed. Does that help you focus on the sounds and where the music is taking you? I’m a guitarist myself and find the “inside” view more conducive to creativity. What is it like for you when you “in there?” Dave M

I think it’s a way to keep out distractions. When my eyes are wandering and I try to connect more outwardly with people, I find that I’m not digging in quite as much. So when I’m deep into a solo or playing behind a solo or just supporting a tune, I think my best musical work is when I’m totally locked in.

It’s like if you’re recording in a studio, you’re not trying to impress anybody outwardly, you’re trying to get the sound down to tape as perfectly as possible and I guess it’s that kind of approach in the live setting. Of course when you talk about it with label people or people in the industry they’ll say you’ve got to move around (laughs).

“I know you don’t listen to much regular rock music but what are some of your favorite bands or one’s that you like the most when you do listen to straight rock music?” Brent

The band I play with, the Allman Brothers would certainly be high on that list. Then the obvious ones: the Allmans, Hendrix, the Beatles. The classics. Some of the Zeppelin stuff I like—Bonham and Jimmy Page together, there’s certainly magic there. Every once in a while something else will pop up but then I’ll go back to a Sly Stone record or something else (laughs).

A couple people asked whether you might consider putting out additional archival live releases from the DTB?

I think eventually it would be nice to do that. There’s something to be said for airing it out and putting out shows that you remember to be great for whatever reason. So I’m sure in time we’ll start digging back into them. For our last live recording [ Roadsongs ], I enjoyed going back and listening to how great Todd Smallie was playing, how great Rico was playing, just hearing different things from a different perspective. There was a freshness to it.

Have you seen Todd play with JJ Grey?

Yeah, we were in Telluride together. That was blast, to see Todd on the road. I was pumped he ended up taking that gig and I was glad it worked out.

A couple folks were curious as to whether you had a hand in helping him get that gig with JJ and Mofro?

I don’t know if I had a hand. When I heard JJ was asking around I had nothing but good things to say but Todd got that on his merits.

I was listening to Roadsongs just the other day and I was really struck by Todd’s playing on that disc.

Todd is a total team player and I think Roadsongs may be the biggest example of that. His sound is massive. He played his ass off and one of things I noticed when we were making that album was how well Todd played and how central he was to what was going on.

Since you mentioned that much of the impetus for the new band is your family, I have two final questions in that general regard: “Derek, How did you convince Susan to move to Jacksonville, considering she is a big city girl from Boston?” Lisa W

There’s something romantic about living in the swamp. [Laughs].

And finally, some people were curious about your kids’ interest in music and to what extent you encourage them?

They both have great tastes in music which I’m really happy with although I’m sure the neighbor kids’ tastes in music will eventually seep in (laughs). They both show enough where it wouldn’t surprise me but my son’s in total sports baseball mode right now, so I’m not going to push him…yet. (laughs)

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