REPRISE 8PM
REPRISE is a band that formed to *reprise* the Phish experience, is an all-star New England band. Cal Kehoe, longtime frontman for Pink Talking Fish, helms the enterprise on guitar. Adrian Tramontano (Twiddle, Kung Fu and The Breakfast) masters the drums. Scott Chasolen chairmans the boards for the project, bringing years of experience as a founding member of Ulu and keyboardist of The Machine, a Pink Floyd tribute. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Chris DeAngelis (The Machine, Kung Fu and The Breakfast) rounds out the foursome on bass. The time is near, the mission’s clear — get ready to blaze on with REPRISE!
Mountain Jam Band: AN ALLMAN BROTHERS TRIBUTE 8 PM
The Mountain Jam Band delivers the iconic sounds of The Allman Brothers Band with a twist—faithful to the spirit, but never stuck in the past. While staying true to the legendary guitar harmonies and signature licks that fans know and love, MJB brings an improvisational, high-energy approach that makes each show its own ride.
Think JRAD meets the Allman Brothers—a fusion of musical respect and fearless jamming that sets MJB apart from the note-for-note tributes. Fans may show up for the classics, but they come back for the band.
With a growing, loyal following and sell-out performances at top venues across the Northeast, The Mountain Jam Band is keeping the Allman Brothers’ legacy alive—and taking it somewhere new.
Ryan Guthrie - Lead Guitar/Vocals
John McCormack - Lead Guitar/Vocals
Chris Pott - Bass Guitar/Vocals
Frank Saia - Keyboards/Vocals
Stu Margulis - Drums
John Soward - Drums/Percussion
James Dalton - Harmonica
GEORGE PORTER JR & RUNNIN’ PARdNERS 8 PM
George Porter Jr. is an award-winning bassist, songwriter and vocalist. He is a founding member of New Orleans’ seminal funk band, The Meters and widely recognized as one of the greatest bass players of all time. Formed alongside Art "Poppa Funk" Neville, Leo Nocentelli and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste, the pioneering R&B funk outfit hit the scene on the streets of the Crescent City in the 1960s, to ultimately become one of the progenitors of the funk music genre. The groundbreaking collective carved out syncopated polyrhythms and grooves inherited from New Orleans’ deep African musical roots. Porter’s heavy pocket and fat notes formed the rubbery bass lines behind funk classics like their signature “Cissy Strut,” the now classic 1969 funk instrumental released as a single from their eponymous debut album, which reached No. 4 on the R&B chart and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively. While the group rarely enjoyed massive mainstream success, they are widely heralded alongside James Brown, Sly Stone, and George Clinton’s Parliament/Funkadelic as the founding fathers of funk. The Meters have been nominated four times for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (most recently in 2017), and were presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards in 2018.
At the outset of his young career, Porter developed his signature style on sessions in his hometown New Orleans, with early musical pioneers Johnny Adams, Irma Thomas, Snooks Eaglin, Eddie Bo and The Lastie Brothers. While Porter developed his pedigree, The Meters were gaining notoriety, soon becoming the house band for Allen Toussaint’s recording label, backing classic records from Dr. John, Lee Dorsey and Earl King, while later supplying the musical foundation for classic hit albums and singles from modern artists Robert Palmer, Paul McCartney, Tori Amos, Taj Mahal, not to mention Patti Labelle’s No. 1 R&B hit “Lady Marmalade.” George and The Meters toured with the Rolling Stones in '75, were embraced by Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, and became primary influences to modern artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys. Porter’s rhythmic work with drummer Modeliste also became the building block behind primary samples used by the most relevant hip-hop artists of the 1980’s and 1990’s, including A Tribe Called Quest, Run DMC, N.W.A. and Queen Latifah.
Porter has accompanied the stage as a band member or special guest with the likes of David Byrne, Dead & Company, Jimmy Buffet, Warren Haynes, Widespread Panic, Tedeschi Trucks Band, John Scofield, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart and various members of Phish, to name a few.
He continues to be the bandleader of current projects, George Porter Jr. and Runnin' Pardners and George Porter Jr. Trio; with both incarnations still playing often locally, and touring prolifically, garnering respect not only as quintessential New Orleans' bands, but also as major national attractions within the jam band and festival scene. On special occasions, Porter still anchors Foundation of Funk, a current Meters "reinvention" with original drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, boasting a rotating line-up which has featured members of Widespread Panic, Medeski Martin & Wood, Dumpstaphunk and 2018's now infamous Lockn Festival sit-in by Bob Weir, John Mayer and Grateful Dead drummers Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann, the latter of whom George played with in the popular side project, The 7 Walkers.
Currently, Porter still maintains a healthy touring schedule with his trio and Runnin’ Pardners projects with a cast of seasoned and talented musicians including long-time collaborator Michael Lemmler (keyboards), Terrence Houston (drums) and Chris Adkins (guitar). George and his Runnin' Pardners recently released their highly acclaimed first new studio album in six years, Crying For Hope in March 2021. The album garnered national coverage with Billboard, Tidal, MOJO, Premier Guitar and Bass Player, along with Porter's hometown publication, Offbeat, which declared:
"While the title cut harkens back to the social commentary lyricism of some of the best Meters songs and references the déjà-vu all-over-again experiences of Black America in these fraught times, the rest of the album remains emotionally upbeat and hopeful. For a band that is known for its stop-on-a-dime tightness when performing live, this album proves over and over that with the right musical ingredients the magic can actually be bottled."
During the course of his career spanning more than four decades, Porter has made a deep impression as an elite player; acknowledged as one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s 50 Greatest Bassist of All Time. At 74 years young, George Porter Jr. plans to keep a smile on his face and often says, "I feel like I am working towards something that will be remembered."
For more information, visit georgeporterjr.com
SAM BUSH 8PM
There was only one prize-winning teenager carrying stones big enough to say thanks, but no thanks to Roy Acuff. Only one son of Kentucky finding a light of inspiration from Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys andcatching a fire from Bob Marley and The Wailers. Only one progressive hippie allying with like-minded conspirators, rolling out the New Grass revolution, and then leaving the genre's torch-bearing band behind as it reached its commercial peak.
There is only one consensus pick of peers and predecessors, of the traditionalists, the rebels, and the next gen devotees. Music's ultimate inside outsider. Or is it outside insider? There is only one Sam Bush.
On a Bowling Green, Kentucky cattle farm in the post-war 1950s, Bush grew up an only son, and with four sisters. His love of music came immediately, encouraged by his parents' record collection and, particularly, by his father Charlie, a fiddler, who organized local jams. Charlie envisioned his son someday a staff fiddler at the Grand Ole Opry, but a clear day's signal from Nashville brought to Bush's television screen a tow-headed boy named Ricky Skaggs playing mandolin with Flatt and Scruggs, and an epiphany for Bush. At 11, he purchased his first mandolin.
As a teen fiddler Bush was a three-time national champion in the junior division of the National Oldtime Fiddler's Contest. He recorded an instrumental album, Poor Richard's Almanac as a high school senior and in the spring of 1970 attended the Fiddlers Convention in Union Grove, NC. There he heard the New Deal String Band, taking notice of their rock-inspired brand of progressive bluegrass.
Acuff offered him a spot in his band. Bush politely turned down the country titan. It was not the music he wanted to play. He admired the grace of Flatt & Scruggs, loved Bill Monroe- even saw him perform at the Ryman- but he'd discovered electrified alternatives to tradition in the Osborne Brothers and manifest destiny in The Dillards.
See the photo of a fresh-faced Sam Bush in his shiny blue high school graduation gown, circa 1970. Tufts of blonde hair breaking free of the borders of his squared cap, Bush is smiling, flanked by his proud parents. The next day he was gone, bound for Los Angeles. He got as far as his nerve would take him- Las Vegas- then doubled back to Bowling Green.
"I started working at the Holiday Inn as a busboy," Bush recalls. "Ebo Walker and Lonnie Peerce came in one night asking if I wanted to come to Louisville and play five nights a week with the Bluegrass Alliance. That was a big, ol' 'Hell yes, let's go.'"
Bush played guitar in the group, then began playing after recruiting guitarist Tony Rice to the fold. Following a fallout with Peerce in 1971, Bush and his Alliance mates- Walker, Courtney Johnson, and Curtis Burch- formed the New Grass Revival, issuing the band's debut, New Grass Revival. Walker left soon after, replaced temporarily by Butch Robins, with the quartet solidifying around the arrival of bassist John Cowan.
"There were already people that had deviated from Bill Monroe's style of bluegrass," Bush explains. "If anything, we were reviving a newgrass style that had already been started. Our kind of music tended to come from the idea of long jams and rock-&-roll songs."
Shunned by some traditionalists, New Grass Revival played bluegrass fests slotted in late-night sets for the "long-hairs and hippies." Quickly becoming a favorite of rock audiences, they garnered the attention of Leon Russell, one of the era's most popular artists. Russell hired New Grass as his supporting act on a massive tour in 1973 that put the band nightly in front of tens of thousands.
At tour's end, it was back to headlining six nights a week at an Indiana pizza joint. But, they were resilient, grinding it out on the road. And in 1975 the Revival first played Telluride, Colorado, forming a connection with the region and its fans that has prospered for 45 years.
Bush was the newgrass commando, incorporating a variety of genres into the repertoire. He discovered a sibling similarity with the reggae rhythms of Marley and The Wailers, and, accordingly, developed an ear-turning original style of mandolin playing. The group issued five albums in their first seven years, and in 1979 became Russell's backing band. By 1981, Johnson and Burch left the group, replaced by banjoist Bela Fleck and guitarist Pat Flynn.
A three-record contract with Capitol Records and a conscious turn to the country market took the Revival to new commercial heights. Bush survived a life-threatening bout with cancer, and returned to the group that'd become more popular than ever. They released chart-climbing singles, made videos, earned Grammy nominations, and, at their zenith, called it quits.
"We were on the verge of getting bigger," recalls Bush. "Or maybe we'd gone as far as we could. I'd spent 18 years in a four-piece partnership. I needed a break. But, I appreciated the 18 years we had."
Bush worked the next five years with Emmylou Harris' Nash Ramblers, then a stint with Lyle Lovett. He took home three-straight IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year awards, 1990-92, (and a fourth in 2007). In 1995 he reunited with Fleck, now a burgeoning superstar, and toured with the Flecktones, reigniting his penchant for improvisation. Then, finally, after a quarter-century of making music with New Grass Revival and collaborating with other bands, Sam Bush went solo.
He's released seven albums and a live DVD over the past two decades. In 2009, the Americana Music Association awarded Bush the Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist. Punch Brothers, Steep Canyon Rangers, and Greensky Bluegrass are just a few present-day bluegrass vanguards among so many musicians he's influenced. His performances are annual highlights of the festival circuit, with Bush's joyous perennial appearances at the town's famed bluegrass fest earning him the title, "King of Telluride."
"With this band I have now I am free to try anything. Looking back at the last 50 years of playing newgrass, with the elements of jazz improvisation and rock-&-roll, jamming, playing with New Grass Revival, Leon, and Emmylou; it's a culmination of all of that," says Bush. "I can unapologetically stand onstage and feel I'm representing those songs well."
GREAT SWAMP AFTER DARK 6 PM
Extend the weekend vibes!
Experience the reimagined Great Swamp Great Music after dark! Now in its 8th successful year, we’re bringing the party indoors to the trendy Homestead Bar and Kitchen in Morristown. Skip the Sunday meal prep and join us for an unforgettable night of live music from some of our fan favorites, delicious dinner, and fantastic drink specials, all included with your ticket. We’ll be serving up a sizzling blend of country, classic rock anthems you can sing along to, and exciting original tunes that will have you hooked. Snag your tickets now and let’s make some noise for clean water!
What’s in store for the evening?
Your ticket offers exceptional value: a delicious dinner buffet, drink specials, and of course, a cool variety of live music!
Nestled in the heart of Morristown, Homestead boasts a spacious, open-air design where a retractable wall seamlessly blends the indoor comfort with the inviting evening air of an outdoor patio. Check out the venue HERE.
Try your luck in our 50/50 Raffle and you could walk away with half the cash!
Ample parking is available in the garage located directly across from the venue as well as street parking.
Lineup
The Big Fuss
The Big Fuss brings their own unique style to rock covers from the 1960’s through today. Their blend of on-stage charisma, musical talent, and refreshing delivery of songs you know and love will keep you smiling and dancing through the night! Hunterdon Happening “Best Band/Musician award winners… Come see what The Big Fuss is all about!
The Dust-Ups
The Dust-Ups are an original alt-country band. They blend a down-home country sound with a punk rock spirit to create lively, catchy and fun songs. They released their debut, self-titled album last March.
The Refugee Dogs
The Refugee Dogs is a band dedicated to creating and honing brand new, exciting music ranging from insightful to vaguely off color. The band released their debut CD in May of 2020 and is available on all streaming platforms!
OK COMPUTER: CELEBRATING THE MUSIC OF RADIO HEAD 8 PM
Join us for an unforgettable night celebrating the music of Radiohead, featuring a full album performance of OK Computer as well as deep cuts & iconic hits . Presented by Flying V Productions and Homestead, this show brings together an incredible lineup of musicians—Bryan Hansen, Joe Cirotti, Wayne Lyle, Joshua Van Ness, Julia Kirk, and Megan Chappius—to bring Radiohead’s groundbreaking sound to life. OK Computer (1997) had a massive impact on music, influencing countless artists and redefining the sound of rock. With its experimental textures, electronic elements, and introspective themes of technology and alienation, the album became a cultural shift, shaping the future of alternative music.
TOM HAMILTON 8PM
Tom Hamilton's guiding creative principle is very simple: he doesn't like to repeat himself artistically. For the Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter and guitarist, this mindset stems from a deep-seated motivation to keep pushing himself as an artist — to delve into different lyrical themes and musical detours, to explore potentially uncomfortable and unfamiliar emotional places. "That's a thrilling prospect,” says Hamilton. “To find the deeper things inside and to open up those doors that I didn't even know were there." As founding member of Brothers Past, American Babies, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Ghost Light and Billy and The Kids, Hamilton has written/recorded roughly a dozen albums and EPs and shared the stage with everyone from John Mayer to Bob Weir to Billy Strings.