Episode 8: Reed Mathis!
Our guest this week is Reed Mathis. This episode is the culmination (to date) of a series of conversations he and I have had in fits and starts over the last 2 1/2 years or so. He's among the headiest, heaviest musicians I know, and it was great to talk with him, as is always the case.
Matt Hoffman
The casual jam band fan may know Reed as the bass player from Billy & the Kids, a Bill Kreutzmann project featuring Mathis, Aron Magner (Disco Biscuits, SPAGA) and Tom Hamilton (JRAD). Others may know him as that guy who did that Beethoven project. . . . (His Electric Beethoven project released an excellent album, Beathoven, and an even more impressive live recording, Maps We Found in the Ground, where his live band performed over Beethoven symphonies.) Others may be familiar with his excellent Osiris Media podcast, The Gifts of Improvising, and the accompanying set of Bob Dylan song interpretations he put together with Jay Lane, Adam Macdougall, Giulio Xavier Cetto (the Jazz Thug), Elliot Peck, and Natalie Cressman. (Playlists here – with vocals and instrumental only.) And yet others may know him from his work with revolutionary first band, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. (He's also put out some excellent work under his own name, including last year's The Somnia Variations.) JFJO is playing shows this week in San Francisco and Santa Cruz.
I've known of Reed for decades, and we first connected after the Unlimited Devotion fundraiser shows in 2024. (I reviewed the show for JamBase.) He's incredibly thoughtful, as a musician and as a human more generally, and I absolutely love talking with him and letting him cook, as he did during this conversation. We hope you enjoy listening to the conversation as much as I enjoyed having it!
I was in Ludlow, VT, this past weekend for Music on the Mountain, the Divided Sky Foundation sober only festival. (Keep an eye out for my forthcoming review in Relix.) I had some great conversations that we plan to release in the coming weeks, all under the theme of mental health awareness. (May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and Producer Tedd and I want to do our part to lend support.)
I also had an excellent conversation this week with Burlington-based guitarist and songwriter, Bob Wagner, and will be turning that into a piece for Relix/Jambands.com. (Bob's solo debut, I've Been Down, is available for preorder with Royal Potato Family, the same record label where Reed releases his music.)
If you like the Bub & Pop Podcast, check out Attendance Bias, hosted by my dear old friend, Brian Weinstein. He leads conversations about Phish shows – a simple concept that leads to multifaceted conversations that are a lot of fun. (He and I spoke a couple of years ago about my phirst show, 12/2/97 – you can find that episode here.)
