Les Claypool

Plus WSP vinyl pre-order, Langerado review, and new interviews

Hailed as one of the most anticipated festival line-ups of the season, the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival is set to descend upon Lawrence Kansas – that’s right, Kansas – June 8 through 11, at Clinton State Park.

So did Aunt Susan break out the scrapbook on you this Christmas? Howdja like her gripping narration, slowly flipping through endless pages of distant cousins, great great uncles and “friends of the family”? Or maybe Dad wanted to impress everyone with his technical savoir faire and flip through all 400 photos on the digital camera you gave him last year—every single tiny event from last Christmas morning to last night’s ceremonial bird carving. Good stuff, huh?

Regardless of their object of adoration, tribute albums generally need at least one of two things to work: great songs and a roster of contributing artists with enough artistic tact to find a balance between their own voices and those of the songs they choose. With eleven of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s best, the first criteria is taken care of, and for the most part, Under the Influence – A Jam Band Tribute To Lynyrd Skynyrd does pretty well with the second as well.