The Great North Special at Crazy Horse Saloon and Grill – Nevada City, CA

Shortly after making a splash at the High Sierra Music Festival last July, The Great North Special rolled in here from Southern California and proceeded to make many instant fans. What’s not to like about a bona fide force of nature? We’re talking about a 7-piece Americana jam band that fuses together a unique blend of country-blues, psych-rock and funk-soul. Beautiful melodies and tight grooves provide the soundtrack for full-surrender dance release at all of their live shows. Influenced by Little Feat and the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, this band quickly exceeds all expectations.

Their sound features propulsive percussion, elegantly harmonized vocals and guitars and effervescent piano and organ. Each performance is a soul-driven, ecstatic whirlwind of exploration through improvisation and crowd connection. It’s all built upon a rock-solid foundation of inspired, original songwriting. It’s not often you see a band with THREE guitarists, but in this case, it really works. There is no clutter on stage as every member knows his parts like a drop of rain caresses each leave while tumbling through a rainforest.