Woodstock – Back to the Garden: 50th Anniversary Experience
Woodstock – Back to the Garden: 50th Anniversary Experience is a live album by various artists, packaged as a box set of ten compact discs. Released by Rhino Records during the summer leading up to the fiftieth anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, it contains selections from every performance at the music festival, which took place on August 15–18, 1969, in Bethel, New York. The discs also include stage announcements and miscellaneous audio material. The package contains essays by producer Andy Zax and Jesse Jarnow, details about the performers and notable  festival figures, and photographs. This box set is a compilation derived from its limited edition . A smaller was also released. Background. Although expanded issue sets from the festival had appeared for the in 1994 and the in 2009, this set proved more ambitious both in method and scope. Producer and archivist Zax spent more than a decade putting it together from hundreds of tapes that had never been consolidated in one place. In the process of reconstructing the festival for these sets, Zax corrected for some flaws in how the music was issued earlier. To wit: Zax, along with mix  engineer Brian Kehew and mastering engineer Dave Schultz, referred to photographic documentation which allowed them to situate the performers within the mix based on where they were standing onstage. Although efforts were undertaken to limit any interference in the original sound of the tapes, Zax and the production team were able to turn the surviving mono recording by Ravi Shankar into a true stereo mix. Content. Unlike previous collations on record of music from the Woodstock Festival and like its parent box, "50th Anniversary Experience" presents music from every performer and in the correct order chronologically they appeared over the  course of the festival's three days. Discs one and two include all eight of the mostly folk artists who performed on the first day, starting Friday, August 15. The 14 performers from the second day, starting in the afternoon of Saturday, August 16, commence with the final performers on disc two Quill and end with the first performers on disc seven, Jefferson Airplane. The ten performers on the third and final day starting in the afternoon of Sunday, August 17, continue on the rest of disc seven through disc ten. One artist, Country Joe McDonald, appears twice having played  a solo set on day two and another set with his band on day three. Of the 162 tracks on the set, 117 are musical performances. Interspersed among the musical numbers are stage announcements comprising the remaining 45 tracks, mostly by the festival's unofficial mc's Chip Monck and John Morris. Farmer Max Yasgur, upon whose farm the festival took place, addresses the assembled crowd on day three. Also included is the 'confrontation' between Who guitarist Pete Townshend and activist Abbie Hoffman, the latter interrupting the Who's set to pontificate upon the prison sentence of White Panther John  Sinclair. The edit for the performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" into "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix seems to duplicate that found on the . Although not appearing at the festival, the presence of counterculture icons Bob Dylan and The Beatles is felt via songs covered in this box set — five artists sing Dylan songs, and three sing the Beatles. Personnel. Musical artists. Richie Havens — vocal, guitar; Paul 'Deano' Williams — guitar, vocal; Daniel Ben Zebulon — congas Sweetwater Nansi Nevins — vocal, guitar; Albert Moore — flute, vocal; August Burns — cello; Alex del Zoppo — keyboards, vocal; R.G. Carlyle — electric guitar, bongos, vocal; Fred Herrera  — electric bass, vocal; Alan Malarowitz — drums; Elpidio 'Pete' Cobian — congas Bert Sommer — vocal, guitar; Ira Stone — electric guitar, organ, harmonica; Charlie Bilello — bass Tim Hardin — vocal, guitar; Richard Bock — cello; Gilles Malkine — guitar; Ralph Towner — guitar, piano; Glen Moore — bass; Muruga Booker — drums Ravi Shankar — sitar; Alla Rakha — tabla; Maya Kulkami — tambura Melanie Safka — vocal, guitar Arlo Guthrie — vocal, guitar; John Pilla — guitar; Bob Arkin — bass; Paul Motian — drums Joan Baez — vocal, guitar; Richard Festinger — guitar; Jeffrey Shurtlieff — vocal, guitar Quill Dan Cole — vocal; Phil Thayer — keyboards, saxophone, flute; Norman Rogers — guitar, vocal; Jon Cole — bass, vocal; Roger North — drums  Country Joe McDonald — vocal, guitar Santana Gregg Rolie — keyboards, vocal; Carlos Santana — guitar; David Brown — bass; Michael Shrieve — drums; José Areas, Mike Carabello — timbales, congas, percussion John Sebastian — vocal, guitar Keef Hartley Band Henry Lowther — trumpet, violin; Jimmy Jewell — saxophone; Miller Anderson — guitar, vocal; Gary Thain — bass; Keef Hartley — drums The Incredible String Band Mike Heron — vocal, guitar, piano, various; Robin Williamson — vocal, guitar, piano, violin; Christina 'Licorice' McKechnie — organ, vocal; Rose Simpson — bass, recorder, vocal, percussion Canned Heat Bob Hite — vocal, harmonica; Alan Wilson — vocal, guitar, harmonica; Harvey Mandel — guitar; Larry Taylor — bass; Adolpho de la Parra — drums Mountain  Leslie West — vocal, guitar; Steve Knight — keyboards; Felix Pappalardi — bass; Norman 'N.D.' Smart — drums The Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir — vocals, guitars; Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan, Tom Constanten — keyboards, vocals; Phil Lesh — bass; Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann — drums Creedence Clearwater Revival John Fogerty — vocal, guitar, harmonica; Tom Fogerty — rhythm guitar, vocal; Stu Cook — bass; Doug 'Cosmo' Clifford — drums Janis Joplin — vocal; Luis Gasca — trumpet; Terry Clements — tenor saxophone; Cornelius 'Snooky' Flowers — baritone saxophone, vocal; Richard Kermode — keyboards; John Till - guitar; Brad Campbell — bass; Maury Baker — drums Sly and the Family Stone Cynthia Robinson — trumpet; Jerry Martini — saxophone; Sly Stone — vocal , keyboards; Rose Stone — keyboards, vocal; Freddie Stone — guitar, vocal; Larry Graham — bass, vocal; Gregg Errico — drums The Who Roger Daltrey — vocal; Pete Townshend — guitar, vocal; John Entwistle — bass, vocal; Keith Moon — drums Jefferson Airplane Marty Balin, Grace Slick — vocals; Nicky Hopkins — piano; Paul Kantner, Jorma Kaukonen — guitars, vocals; Jack Casady — bass; Spencer Dryden — drums Joe Cocker — vocal; Chris Stainton — keyboards; Henry McCullough — guitar, vocal; Alan Spenner — bass, vocal; Bruce Rowland — drums Country Joe and the Fish Country Joe McDonald — vocal, guitar; Mark Kapner, Barry Melton — guitars; Doug Metzner — bass; Greg Dewey — drums Ten Years After Alvin Lee — vocal, guitar; Chick  Churchill — keyboards; Leo Lyons — bass; Ric Lee — drums The Band Richard Manuel — vocal, piano, organ; Garth Hudson — organ, piano; Robbie Robertson — guitar, vocal; Rick Danko — vocal, bass; Levon Helm — vocal, drums Johnny Winter — vocal, guitar; Tommy Shannon — bass; John Turner — drums Blood, Sweat & Tears Lew Soloff, Chuck Winfield — trumpets, flugelhorns; Jerry Hyman — trombone; Fred Lipsius — alto saxophone, piano; Dick Halligan — keyboards, trombone, flute; David Clayton-Thomas, Steve Katz — vocals, guitars; Jim Fielder — bass; Bobby Colomby — drums Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young David Crosby, Graham Nash — vocals, guitars; Stephen Stills, Neil Young — vocals, guitars, organ; Greg Reeves — bass; Dallas Taylor — drums Paul  Butterfield Blues Band Keith Johnson, Steve Madaio — trumpets; David Sanborn, Trevor Lawrence — saxophones; Gene Dinwiddie — vocal, tenor saxophone; Paul Butterfield — vocal, harmonica; Howard 'Buzzy' Feiten — guitar; Rod Hicks — bass; Phillip Wilson — drums Sha Na Na Alan Cooper, Dave Garrett, Frederick 'Dennis' Greene, Richard Joffe, Rob Leonard, Scott Powell, Donny York — vocals; Joe Witkin — keyboards; Elliot Cahn, Henry Gross — guitars; Bruce Clarke III — bass; Jocko Marcellino — drums Jimi Hendrix — vocal, guitar; Larry Lee — rhythm guitar; Billy Cox — bass, vocal; Mitch Mitchell — drums; Juma Sultan — percussion; Jerry Velez — congas