Rusted Root

It's been two lengthy, sob-filled years since Phish swam into the Great Beyond, and no single jam band has since emerged to fill their large, stinky Birkenstocks. Certainly not Rusted Root, the Pittsburgh sextet once favored to succeed the Grateful Dead following Jerry Garcia's death. Of course, the 'Root have never seemed interested in taking on that role, because they've never liked being called a "jam band" — even if their mystical, meandering blues-folk-rock, which is pushed onward by West Asian, African and South American rhythms, surely fits that tag. In recent years, they haven't seemed all that interested in being a band, either, having cut back on touring and recording while members (particularly frontman Michael Glabicki and singers Liz Berlin and Jenn Wertz) pursued solo careers. But they're back on the road this summer, so noodle-dancing stoners can both rejoice and lament what might have been.