Live at Myrtle Beach
Well into their third decade as heirs to both the Grateful Dead's jam band mantle and the roots-entangled legacy of Southern rock, this 11-track double-disc live set showcases Widespread Panic's loping, energetic charms well. Recorded before an enthusiastic live audience of Spread Heads at Myrtle Beach's House of Blues, the five veterans turn in a workmanlike set fueled by flawless rhythmic interplay and tastefully succinct soloing, the byproduct of decades of ceaseless touring--and apt tribute to the wishes of late band co-founder Mike Houser, who succumbed to cancer in 2002. They dose "Conrad the Caterpillar" and "Henry Parsons Died" with bracing, jazz-head interludes, lube "Don't Wanna Lose You" with the greasy, slide-guitar driven spirit of classic Little Feat and evoke Lynyrd Skynyrd's grit on "Postcard." But while they make room for the tasty, Southern fried licks of guest guitarist John Keane on covers of NRPS' "Dirty Business" and Robert Johnson's "Stop Breakin' Down Blues," there's a nagging sense that this is a band content to preach to the converted. That's a shame, because their stellar musicianship promises so much more.--Jerry McCulley