When you announced this tour you said it was a lifelong dream to tour with Nick. What has the experience been like so far?

Usually the more people you add to a band, the personalities you’re dealing with. And as we get older, people don’t get less difficult [Laughs].

But Nick and I share so much of the same outlook on life. And being on tour, every single day something totally bizarre is going to happen. You’re going into a new city, new venue, meeting new people, getting to know new audience members. He and I both have the same philosophy that’s, “Well we’re here, let’s just do it,” and it’s nice to have a partner who steps up and says, “What do you need?” instead of, “How little can I do?” It’s really a blessing.

Can you share any of those crazy unanticipated things from this tour?

I can’t name the city, but we walked into this place and right after the stage got set up, the sound guy quit. About 45 minutes before the show he took all the microphones off the stands, and he stormed out. Then, 20 minutes later, he decided he had a change of heart, came back, got upset again, started screaming at everyone and then left and then came back again. Then, about 30 seconds before we were walking on stage, the power went out.

There’s some stuff that you could just never anticipate, like “What the hell is going to happen?”

You had Russ Lawton and Natalie Cressman on the record. How was it to bring the TAB family into your solo work?

It was lovely because we recorded it at The Barn in Vermont, which is like a second home to me, and a second home to Russ and Natalie, so it just sorta seemed natural to have them involved. Being in Vermont just sort of conjures up that family time. And Russ played low percussion on it and Natalie played some beautiful trombone on it. But anytime we’re all in that space together, it’s very special. It was just sort of a no-brainer to have them there.

Christian McBride and Trey Anastasio join Jennifer Hartswick and Nick Cassarino  at Rockwood Music Hall on October 10.

Finally, in addition to your obvious connection to the jam world through Trey and TAB, you’re also super tight with the Umphrey’s McGee guys.

I just sat in with them about a month or so ago.

Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with them?

God, we’ve known each other since the early 2000s and every time we get the chance, even if we’re not playing music, we love to hang out together. So anytime that there’s some absurd performance like “How do we do something even stupider than the last time?” I get to be the one who fulfills all their garageband dreams. Like last time we were together, I guess it was in Dallas, we did a White Snake song and they were like “If we sing this song, it’s the stupidest thing we ever did, but if you sing it, it’s awesome.”

So it sort of became like, “OK, who’s got a thing they need me to do?” [Laughs]. But they’re great friends of mine. They’re absolutely family and they’re brilliant musicians and it’s a blast to spend time with them.

Did you think you’d ever find yourself on stage singing a White Snake song?

Definitely not, there’s no way. The funny thing is, I don’t know any of that music so I’m learning all of those songs for the first time when most people know every single word. Nobody learns that kind of music in their adulthood. We had this random Rush song at Red Rocks last year that was so complicated it took me two months to learn. [Laughs.] But they always keep me on my toes…

Pages:« Previous Page