...a message from Umphrey's McGee

In the two months since the release of Mantis, we've been overwhelmed with the attention and appreciation from the progressive rock community.  We admire the rich tradition that the community has, and the respect they have for many of the same artists that have had a lasting influence on us as well.  We've been privileged to share the stage with such heroes as Adrian Belew, Mike Keneally and Stanley Jordan in recent years

Our latest album "Mantis" has been touted as our most progressive studio album, and we are very proud of how it turned out.  We were glad to take the time and flesh out our compositional approach on Mantis, and wound up with an album that stretched our songwriting and playing to levels we hadn't been able to produce in the studio before.

While we enjoyed the experience of taking our time in the studio, much of the Umphrey's McGee experience happens on-stage where we live 120+ nights a year.  The challenge of reproducing some of our demanding compositions live while leaving room for both loose and structured improvisation brings out the best in us, and we encourage you to come and experience it with us.

We wanted to let you know that Jake, Kris and Joel have embarked on a new project, OHMphrey (http://myspace.com/ohmphrey), with OHM's Chris Poland and Robertino Pagliari.  This project is rooted in progressive improvisation, and will release an album and support it with a few west coast shows. Furthermore, another improvisational fusion side project of ours, Kick the McGee, is thrilled to be teaming up with Morglbl from France for a show in Chicago @ Martyrs' on 5/20.

As a token of our appreciation, we're offering a free digital sampler of the "proggier" side of Umphrey's McGee to the progressive rock community, though it's really a little bit of everything to help provide context of the grander scheme of who we are as a band.  In this sampler, you'll find a heavy-dose of prog-metal in Wizard Burial Ground, while a slice of the improvisation and instrumental dexterity that UM is well known for resides inside Higgins. An electric re-working of Safety In Numbers' acoustic End of the Road is a band favorite, and to give you a taste of some our our playing with special guests you'll hear Adrian Belew lending his guitar to King Crimson's Red and Mike Keneally stopping by for some extended on-stage antics and guitar pyrotechnics on Ringo.  We’ve also included a bonus video of “Out of Order” from our PBS Soundstage performance.

Umphrey's McGee - Prog Sampler track list
1) Rocker part II (10.28.08)
2) Wizard Burial Ground (12.30.08)
3) Higgins (12.29.07)
4) End of the Road (2.17.08)
5) Search 4 (2.12.08)
6) Red (3.17.07 with Adrian Belew)
7) The Fussy Dutchman (12.30.04)
8) Ringo (2.12.08 with Mike Keneally)

To download, visit: http://tinyurl.com/umsampler (if that link provides you any problem, please click here)
This will deposit the FREE download in your basket from our download site UMLive.net (run by Livedownloads.com).  Registration at UMLive.net is free and required to complete the process. We'll keep this posted for the next 2 weeks, until April 17th, so grab it while it's hot.

To those who've checked out our albums and/or shows, and to those who are helping spread the word (and we encourage you to spread this around), we appreciate your support.  Thanks for your continued interest in Umphrey's McGee, we hope to see you all on the road some time soon!


Edited by McL2016 - April 03 2009 at 14:57

I think I *might* get an Orgasm when the album finally becomes available to me (waiting for the vinyl to make it to my local stores).

Very good news.

I saw Umphrey's a week ago today and it was really phenomenal. I'll definitely see them every time they come back though now. The Pageant was a great venue for them.

Edited by Negoba - April 03 2009 at 13:38

Awesome. Thank you!

I downloaded the prog stuff and since I had to sign in, I looked at the show I went to....

Thanks for posting that.  I love this band.:

YES! Wizard Burial Ground is AWESOME!!!!!

this is a great little prog compilation, showcasing their proggier side. i wouldve included Bridgeless, Much Obliged, Nothing Too Fancy, and Jajunk Pt. I & II as well. Those, plus the ones above, are some of their most progressive songs pre-Mantis. Great selection!

^I saw them Saturday in Baltimore. They started off with Jajunk and finished off an otherworldly first set with Can't You Hear Me Knocking. The second set featured Divisions, Turn and Run, Cemetary Walk among others. A nice blend of old and new which was nice. Get ready for an amazing show!

3 more days!!!