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Widespread Panic: Wood

Widespread

This 20-song, double-live release was culled from Widespread Panic’s first all-acoustic “Wood” tour in Winter 2012 with stops in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Denver and Aspen, Colo. Vinyl-heads can also enjoy the box set with three 180-gram records, a 12-page photo booklet with liner notes by lead singer John Bell, and a limited-edition letterpress poster created at Nashville, Tenn.’s famed Hatch Show Print. The set features old favorites and covers as well as some new material, kicking off with a stellar rendition of “The Ballad of John & Yoko” from D.C. Other Disc 1 highlights include: a stripped-down “Imitation Leather Shoes,” Todd Nance lending rare vocals to “Clinic Cynic,” a reworked, key-heavy “Tall Boy,” a moving cover of Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross,” Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Good Morning Little School Girl” and staple “Ain’t Life Grand.” Disc 2 kicks off with the beautiful instrumental “St. Louis” and sees the band’s first time playing Alan Price’s “Sell, Sell” on 2/19 in Aspen (the band’s last performance before their 2012 break), as well as the new-to-the-rotation “Tail Dragger,” a guest spot by Col. Bruce Hampton
on “Fixin’ To Die,” crowd-favorite “Climb To Safety” and Vic Chesnutt’s “Blight” with vocals by Dave Schools. The stripped-down shows allowed each band member to show off their musical prowess and called more attention to details and flourishes, opening songs up in a new light—while the tunes had less of a harder edge to them, the band members were truly able to delve into the material and have fun with it, providing a fresh spin.