Photo by Peter Wallace


According to a new interview with Rolling Stone, Trey Anastasio will release a new record on April 12, inspired by his late friend Chris Cottrell.

Anastasio told RS writer Patrick Doyle that the yet-to-be-titled album was written in the days following Cottrell’s passing, and features “psychedelic guitar liftoffs, ambitious arrangements and extremely personal lyrics.”

Cottrell met Anastasio when they were both 15 and they remained close throughout the years.

“Chris’s fingerprints can be found on the world of Phish and TAB,” Anastasio wrote in 2018, adding that Cottrell was a co-producer of the live TAB album Plasma. “The song ‘Push On ‘Til the Day’ is packed with references to our countless adventures together,” Anastasio said at the time.

The Phish guitarist also told RS that he “went through a period of deep self-doubt” after recording the album, which will be supported by his new band Ghosts of the Forest. At times, Anastasio admits, he didn’t want to release it. “Maybe I was scared,” he said.

However, Anastasio is thankful for his Ghosts of the Forest bandmates – Phish drummer Jon Fishman, trumpeter and vocalist Jennifer Hartswick, singer Celisse Henderson, Trey Anastasio Band bassist Tony Markellis and Trey Anastasio Band keyboardist Ray Paczkowski – who were behind Anastasio’s new creative leap.

“The amount of trust that they’re exhibiting in me just makes me want to cry,” he said.

Check out Ghosts of the Forest’s upcoming tour dates below:

Ghosts of the Forest

April 4 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
April 5 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Opera
April 6 – Washington, DC – Anthem
April 9 – Albany, NY – Palace Theatre
April 10 – Boston, MA – Orpheum
April 12 – New York, NY – United Palace Theatre
April 13 – New York, NY – United Palace Theatre