Trey Anastasio to Release 'Beacon Jams' Album This Friday

Trey Anastasio announces the release of The Beacon Jams, an all-new collection compiling outstanding live performances from his eight-week virtual residency at New York City's historic Beacon Theatre in fall of 2020.

The Beacon Jams will be available digitally on Friday, November 25, 2022; proceeds from the new compilation will benefit The Divided Sky Foundation, an initiative launched by Anastasio to finance a residential recovery program in Ludlow, VT, set to open in spring 2023.

Performed with no audience and livestreamed around the world over the course of eight Fridays, The Beacon Jams saw Anastasio teaming with a range of collaborators to boldly reimagine music from across his three-decade career.

Co-produced by Anastasio and Vance Powell and remixed by Powell, the 18-track, 145-minute new anthology collects varied acoustic and electric highlights from the event, spanning solo material, Trey Anastasio Band favorites, and unique versions of classic songs from the Phish catalog. A video of "What's The Use" is streaming now on YouTube.

"I absolutely loved The Beacon Jams," Anastasio says. "We would end on Friday night, the stream would click off, and I'd go home and start planning the next one. With each passing week, we all got more comfortable. Everyone was making discoveries."

The Beacon Jams - which marks the two-year anniversary of the event's eighth and final show on November 27, 2020 - includes performances from Trey Anastasio Band, comprised of Cyro Baptista (percussion), James Casey (saxophone, vocals), Natalie Cressman (trombone, vocals), Jennifer Hartswick (trumpet, vocals), Russ Lawton (drums), Ray Paczkowski (keyboards), and, in his final performances with the group, the late Tony Markellis (bass).

Also featured are frequent collaborators Jeff Tanski (keyboards), Celisse Henderson (vocals), and Jo Lampert (vocals), as well as the debut of The Rescue Squad (Katie Kresek - violin, Maxim Moston - violin, Rachel Golub - viola, Anja Wood - cello).

"What made it feel successful to me was that we weren't trying to recreate a live concert," Anastasio says. "What I was hoping was that it would be a fresh form of entertainment - turning lemons into lemonade. I feel like that turned out to be the case."

The Beacon Jams proved a philanthropic success as well as a creative one, generating $1.2 million in fan donations as Anastasio engaged with more than 1.8 million viewers via Twitch as well as with his fellow musicians on stage.

"It was beyond our wildest dreams that we would raise $1.2 million in fan donations," Anastasio said. "It gave the recovery program a head start and it helped us begin working towards offering treatment options to segments of the community that have been shut out in the past."

Watch the new music video here:

Photo Credit: Danny Clinch