Dave Matthews Band- Under the Table and Dreaming 30th Anniversary

You may have been surprised to see the Dave Matthews Band among the upcoming  inductees  this year into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, certainly not for any lack of popularity, impact or influence, but simply because it doesn’t seem that they could possibly have met the minimum age requirements yet. But a quick check of the 25 year standard of the Rock Hall’s rules reveals that not only does the Dave Matthews Band qualify, this month Under the Table and Dreaming turns the Big Three Oh. After meeting and interviewing Dave Matthews during the 1996 Horde Festival tour just as their second studio album, Crash,  was being released, none of the subsequent successes of the Dave Matthews Band since then has surprised me.

Sure, the fun-loving good time swing in their first big hit “What Would You Say”, with the Olympian harmonica solo from Blues Traveler’s John Popper on the Dave Matthews Band’s second album Under the Table and Dreaming  got my immediate attention in 1994. But it was the musical sophistication of “Rhyme and Reason”, the sublime “Satellite”, and the inventive arrangement featuring woodwinds and violin on “Ants Marching” that announced that this crack musical collective had already passed “Go”, collected the $200, and never missed a beat. Dave Matthews was already a wise resident of the world with a maturity that belied his tender age when we had the chance to talk  backstage. With the thirtieth anniversary of Under the Table and Dreaming,  we dedicate this edition of In the Studio to band co-founder saxophonist the late LeRoi Moore. – Redbeard