Hulaween recap: Karl Denson says ‘the jam band species is alive and well’

The Suwanee Hulaween Festival brought funk to The Spirit Of The Suwannee Music Park in Live Oak, Florida, last weekend and SiriusXM’s Jam_On (Ch. 29) was on hand to bring listeners live sets, interviews and more.

Headlined by The String Cheese Incident, artists like My Morning Jacket, Big Gigantic, Gramatik, STS9, Snarky Puppy and Umphrey’s McGee took the stage for some amazing performances. Jam_On’s own Ari Fink hosted SiriusXM’s Suwanee Hulaween coverage and interviewed Oteil Burbridge and Karl Denson.

“I think the jam band species is alive and well,” Denson said after finishing up a set with Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. “I think it goes in cycles and we’ve kind of gone from a real hardcore, a lot of playing, a lot of notes, to more of a respect for song form, which is awesome.”

Denson also gave his predictions for what he expects to see in the evolution of jam bands.

“I think what I see in the next few years is we’re gonna have another resurgence of really great improvisation,” he said. “I think there’s gonna be a nice resurgence of ‘shredder’ capabilities out there. Somebody like Oteil [Burbridge], who’s played with everybody, full-on shredder.”

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