Rusted Root

Rusted Root
Photo from a concert 2008
Background information
Origin	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Genres	Alternative rock Jam band
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Mercury/Island/Touchy Pegg
Website	RustedRoot.com
Members
Michael Glabicki Patrick Norman Liz Berlin Colter Harper Preach Freedom Dirk Miller
Past members
Jim DiSpirito Jim Donovan Jenn Wertz John Buynak Ethan Winograd Jason Miller

Rusted Root is a band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania known for their unique fusion of acoustic, rock, world and other styles of music, with a strong percussion section that draws from African, Latin American, Native American, and Indian influences. Rusted Root has sold more than three million albums worldwide.

History

Rusted Root formed in 1990 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and made its indie record debut in 1991 with Cruel Sun, which was re-released in 2002. The group's major-label debut album was 1994's When I Woke, a hit on college radio and a platinum record. The album hit the top 40 in early 1995, peaking at No. 33. Along with their live shows, Rusted Root began working on contributions to the movies Matilda, Twister and Home for the Holidays. Their next studio album was Remember (1996), followed by Rusted Root (1998) and Welcome to My Party (2002). Welcome to My Party was criticized by fans, who are affectionately known as Rootheads. The album was an attempt on the band's part to experiment with different types of popular music at the time, but was not as well-received as previous albums by fans. Remember reached the Top 40 in the US, while Rusted Root found its sales buoyed by the use of the band's cover of the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" on an episode of Ally McBeal. A live double album followed in 2004. Rusted Root's greatest hits album was released in April 2005 as part of Universal Music's 20th Century Masters series. The band has released three EPs, Evil Ways, Airplane, and Live, which came packaged with a documentary video cassette.

Rusted Root's "Send Me On My Way", which hit No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1995, is its most commercially popular song. It was used on the soundtracks of Matilda; Ice Age; the 1996 film Pie in the Sky; the film Race the Sun; YTV Canada's Are We There Yet?: World Adventure; and the Boy Scouts of America, Order of the Arrow Philmont Trail Crew promotional video that was released in the late 1990s. Its music has also appeared on the television shows Party of Five, Homicide,Chuck and the instrumental version in the 2011 commercial of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Rusted Root released Stereo Rodeo, their first studio album in seven years, on May 5, 2009. In the summer of 2011, Rusted Root began to add four new songs to their setlist, all soon to appear on their next studio album. These songs include "Fortunate Freaks", "Sun and Magic", "Monkey Pants", and one dated yet unreleased track, "Cover Me Up". Glabicki has been quoted saying that he and the band are looking to move in a direction similar to Talking Heads.

Rusted root has over 40 tracks that only exist on rare bootlegs recorded between the years of 1991 and 1995.^[1]

Current members

• Michael Glabicki – lead vocals, guitar, harmonica
• Patrick Norman – bass guitar, backing vocals, percussion
• Liz Berlin – percussion, backing vocals
• Colter Harper – guitar, backing vocals
• Preach Freedom – percussion, backing vocals
• Dirk Miller – guitar, backing vocals

Discography

Studio albums

• Cruel Sun (1991)
• When I Woke (1994)
• Remember (1996)
• Rusted Root (1998)
• Welcome to My Party (2002)
• Stereo Rodeo (2009)

Live albums

• Rusted Root Live (2004)

Compilations

• Greatest Hits (2005)

EPs

• Live (1995)
• Evil Ways (1996)
• Airplane (1998)

References

1. ^ Rusted Root Setlists Collection

External links

• Official site
• Rusted Root collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive