Personnel: Dave Matthews (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Tim Reynolds (acoustic & electric guitars); Trey Anastasio (electric guitar, piano); Dirty Dozen Brass Band (horns); Stephen Harris (harmonium, keyboards, percussion, programming); Alex Veley (organ); Tony Hall (bass); Brady Blade (drums, percussion); Total Experience Gospel Choir (background vocals).
Recorded at Studio Litho, Studio X, Seattle, Washington and Bastyr University, Kenore, Washington between October 2002 & June 2003.
"Gravedigger" won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.
The Dave Matthews Band gained its reputation as a collective effort, so much so that Matthews's first official solo album might have been expected to signal a drastic change in direction. Ultimately, Matthews found a way to have his cake and eat it too on SOME DEVIL. While the distinctive contributions of his noted band members are absent here, he nevertheless goes for a not-dissimilar singer-songwriter-meets-worldbeat-pop vibe. Though Leroi Moore's sax and Boyd Tinsley's violin don't color the arrangements, SOME DEVIL offers a rhythm section--Daniel Lanois/Emmylou Harris cohorts Tony Hall and Brady Blade--that's adept at mixing rock, funk, jazz, and New Orleans R&B with Matthews's cerebral compositions, much as they did with Harris on WRECKING BALL. Jam-band peer Trey Anastasio of Phish joins longtime Matthews sideman Tim Reynolds on guitar, contributing tasteful and concise playing.
While many of the tunes bear a strongly propulsive element, not least on account of Matthews's trademark percussive guitar style, SOME DEVIL is mostly more low-key than the DMB's work. "Grey Blue Eyes" sounds like it could have come off a latter-day Peter Gabriel album, while "Baby" is Matthews's acoustic-guitar-and-strings shot at "Yesterday." Towards this end, the blues-rocking "Gravedigger" is reprised at the disc's close in a quiet acoustic version.
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