Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King; a Touching Tribute and Magnum Opus for The Dave Matthews Band

Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King may sound like a WWE tag team from the 90s, but even if it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, it may be the greatest CD you’ll hear all year.

The most powerful, poignant masterpieces are born out of extremes. The very root of one’s emotion is best preserved in an instance of surmounting energy, whether it is within a weightless moment of bliss or in the wake of tragedy.

The Dave Matthews Band has been producing meaningful, complex music for eighteen years and Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King is no exception. In fact, it is arguably their finest release, period.

Their first release since the passing of founding member and saxophonist LeRoi Moore, whose nickname we glean the title from, may be the album that cements DMB’s legendary status.

Musically, Big Whiskey is harmonious and tight, with very little (if anything) to be desired. Dave Matthews, who also drew the fantastically busy New Orleans funeral procession cover art, grips at your bones with his touching lyrics.

The college rock rustiness of 1993’s Remember Two Things has been retained but, somehow, perfected. Drummer Carter Beauford lays down beats that wonderfully accent Stefan Lessard’s funky bass lines. Violinist Boyd Tinsley flows with Matthews’ guitar work, creating a seamless universe of sound. Matthews’ playfully caustic lyrics have endured; we can still hear all the charm that fans have come to know and love, but with a kicked up, zen approach to the delivery.

The instrumental first track, “Grux”, highlights LeRoi’s range and “real cool” ease on the sax. GrooGrux’s first single, “Funny the Way It Is” highlights the sometimes painful duality of reality that most of us overlook during our busy lives. “Lying in the park on a beautiful day, the sun is shining in the grass and my children play, sirens passing, fire engine red. Someone’s house is burning down on a day like this,” evoking memories that nearly everyone can relate to.

Breathless, honeyed and natural, Matthews’ voice is woven into the music on every track; the unnecessary. but beautiful detail on an already gorgeous quilt. The saxophone, now played by Jeff Coffin (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones), trails along dutifully in tracks like “Lying In The Hands of God” and “Why I Am” providing the album with fresh, bright tones.

Southern-tinged “Alligator Pie” is a fun, fast-paced deviation from the rest of the album. Harder tracks like “Shake Me Like A Monkey” and “Time Bomb” bring back DMB’s powerful energy with new vigor, while you would swear you’ve heard tracks “Spaceman” “Dive In” and “Squirm” before. “Seven” shares that same comfortable sameness and could easily be the next single.

“My Baby Blue” can quite conceivably be the first song to get even a cold, desensitized writer to shed tears in well over a decade, whose sorrowful lyrics are pleasantly accompanied by well-suited depressing chords. Despite the welled-up eyes, it is a warm, encompassing song that one cannot help becoming lost within.

Uplifting claims that “You and me together can do anything, baby,” are backed up by a lovely soft guitar accompaniment in “You and Me.” Nearly a minute after the final track ends, we are treated to some upbeat sax-dominated excerpts- perhaps some savored final moments from the sorely missed Moore.

Plain and simple, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King delivers. And that is why we, too, are “still dancin’ with the GrooGrux King.”