Relix, the magazine dedicated to improvisational music, live performances and Americana-adjacent genres, is launching a limited edition vinyl series called “The Relix Sessions.”
Recorded at the publication’s New York studio, the archival sessions have been re-mixed and re-mastered for turntable listening. The series kicks off on Feb. 26 with a Feb. 2020 performance by Circles Around The Sun (CATS). The group first formed to soundtrack intermissions at the five 2015 Fare Thee Well concerts, and accompany a Justin Kreutzmann film. Its Grateful Dead-inspired instrumentals — notably featuring the musicianship of Neal Casal, who died in 2019 — remained in demand following the stadium run and an ongoing project was formed.
CATS is now comprised of guitarist Scott Metzger (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, WOLF!, Nicole Atkins), bassist Dan Horne (Cass McCombs, Jonathan Wilson), keyboardist Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood) and drummer Mark Levy.
“It wasn’t until early in the Covid-19 pandemic that we realized we were sitting on a massive archive of intimate and unique performances from artists at Relix Studios,” said Bradley Tucker, co-producer of the Relix Sessions. “It seemed like a great way to generate revenue for these artists and ourselves by releasing the individual sessions in full as a limited edition series for the hard core fans and vinyl enthusiasts.”
Added Relix editor-in-chief Dean Budnick: “Ever since we launched our Live at Relix series in 2009, we’ve had a wonderful slate of artists visit us each week. We’re just started to dip into the archives to identify some of the special performances. Not only that but thanks to our Twitch partnership we’re moving our series to a new space in the city which will allow for some stellar future offerings as well.”
Additional artists on deck for the series include Billy Strings, Goose, Liz Cooper and the Stampede.
