Jazz Inside The Jam: Exclusive Video Interview With Scott Metzger

The LaMP and JRAD guitarist on treating the Grateful Dead songbook like jazz standards, forming an organ trio, sobriety and much more,

It was a pleasure to speak with Scott Metzger, a great innovative guitarist who combines a lot of genres in his seamless playing. We discussed the continued success of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, f course, but focused a lot on his “other band”: LaMP ft. Russ Lawton & Ray Paczkowski. Lawton and Paczkowski are best known for their with the Trey Anastasio Band. I find LaMP to be a delight, equally strong on close listening or grooving background music.

They are currently in the middle of a winter tour - all dates below - with dates throughout the Northeast and Midwest.

Earlier this year, LaMP released their second studio album, One Of Us, which Relix praised for its “unbridled creativity,” while Premier Guitar noted that it “builds on the long history of the organ-trio tradition... all while embracing the spirit of rock ’n’ roll abandon.” In November, the band followed with a Bandcamp-exclusive release, One Of Us (Live at Tank – Burlington, VT – 7.18.24), presenting a live performance of the album recorded at Tank Recording Studios in Burlington, VT in front of a small studio audience.

One note: this interview was conducted before Bob Weir’s passing, or JRAD’s phenomenal three-night run at the Capitol Theatre, January 16-18. Scott opened the first show with the gorgeous acoustic guitar prelude to “Weather Report” suite. I shared that below.

Brothers and Sisters: the Allman Brothers Band and The Album That Defined The 70s was my third straight book to debut in the New York Times Non-Fiction Hardcover Bestsellers List, following Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan and One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. My first book was Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues and Becoming a Star in Beijing, about my experiences raising a family in Beijing and touring China with a popular original blues band. It was optioned for a movie by Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Productions. I am also a guitarist and singer who fronts two bands, Big in China and Friends of the Brothers, the premier celebration of the Allman Brothers Band.

Click for LaMP Tour Dates