Winterland

Born of the convergence of several seasoned Iowa City musicians with a broad range of stylistic influence, Winterland presents Grateful Dead music with a faithfulness to the emotional energy, musicianship and over-all tonality rarely heard in the cadre of tribute bands playing the circuit. Although Marc Janssen, Josh Weiner, James Robinson, Chris Johnson, David Lumberg and Stacy Webster all play music ranging in style from jazz to old-time to experimental/ambient to roots rock to bluegrass, they all had one thing in common; an appreciation for, or in the case of some, a passion for, the music of the Grateful Dead.

Specializing in the Dead’s catalog and sound from 1969 through the late 70’s, Winterland will pull you back in time, to a place where the Dead’s rhythm and blues, folk and country roots were still very strong in their music, while they were still exploring the outer reaches of psychedelic rock in all of it’s dissonance and wildness. At a typical Winterland concert, you will find yourself surrounded by heads who were on tour with the Dead in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, bright, eager young music lovers who have just discovered the Dead’s music and every kind of Dead fan in between.  The thread that runs through them all, that brings them to Winterland’s shows over and over again, is that elusive near-spiritual energy in the room- a powerful brew created by the musicians, the dancers, the listeners, the people grinning ear to ear- collaborators in a living work of art- existing in the moment and fleeting.

Winterland is not just a Dead cover band- it is a full fledged tribute to a singular musical phenomenon. And a damn good one at that.