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August 2, 2025 2 mins
Author Mike Ayers on the rise of The Dave Matthews Band in the 90s.

Listen to Episode 305: 90s Jam Bands: The Untold Stories Of An Iconic Era

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Here's a highlight from a recent episode of Booked on
Rock Talk with Mike Ayers is the author of Sharing
the Groove, the untold story of the nineties jam band
explosion and the scene that followed. Dave Matthew's band. Their
story starts in Charlottesville, Virginia. He said that they did
something revolutionary right out of the gate musically. Talk about
that in their rise to prominence.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
They essentially were They came together organically in Charlottesville, which
was not necessarily known as a music mecca, just really
started playing out around town, but also like widespread panic,
like a lot of these acts got on the road
pretty quickly. They're interesting because they had a saxophone, they

(00:42):
had a violin. You know, Dave's voice is not your
typical voice on radio at the time. It was different.
The way he would sing, the way he would phrase
notes was unique. And we've been talking about how this
scene values uniqueness. I was at school in Virginia, Virginia
Tech in nineteen ninety four and his remember two Things

(01:06):
had just come out. The record stores there could not
stop that. That was a word of mouth record.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
That was the pre major label, that was pre.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Pre major label that had the three d art thing
on the front that was super popular back then. That
was the record cover, so it was super distinct in
that realm, and most of the tracks on it were
live if I'm remembering correctly, or it could be the
flip side. Regardless, it was a mix of studio and
live tracks, which was also just different. And everybody could

(01:37):
not stop talking about Dave Matthews at Virginia Tech in
nineteen ninety four, but mainly because he was essentially a
hometown hero. He had played fraternities at Virginia Tech in
the early nineties. He was just very adamant about going
around the state to cities and just bringing their thing.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
As marching tripping billies said lights on there. Those are
the ones that ended up on under the table and dreaming.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Yeah. So he you know, he he embodied the same
path and live ethos that everyone else did and would
open for these acts in places that he had never
been before. Crazy Hustle
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