"Greasing the musical wheels out of New Orleans for over thirty years"
The Rads (as they are affectionately known) have been one of the cornerstone's of High Sierra and it just wouldn't be a complete 20th Annual celebration without them. They've made more High Sierra appearances (10) than any other band except The Slip (11) and have been devoted road warriors for longer than any other regularly touring band in the history of rock'n'roll (along with perhaps Los Lobos). That's quite a statement when you stop and think about what that means. Their greasy, swamp-funk bridges the world of New Orleans funk roots and hippie rock and helped spurn the jamband counter-culture, as they took a page from the Dead's playbook, never playing the same set two nights in a row, or possibly ever for that matter. And it was keyboardist Ed Volker, always the cunning linguist, who aptly re-named our artist workshops as "playshops" because as he so rightly pointed out "we're not working, we're playing". Look for The Rads to offer a late night, a set on the Big Meadow and a special playshop where they cull a set of Pre/Post War Blues tunes from their incredibly expansive repertoire.