Cory Wong Releases ‘The Power Station Tour (East Coast)’ Live Album Featuring Victor Wooten & Trousdale

Guitarist Cory Wong recently unveiled a live album, The Power Station Tour (East Coast), compiling highlights from his 2023 Winter Tour of the same name. Wong was joined by special guests bassist Victor Wooten and vocal group Trousdale on the run with each appearing as part of the 17-song, 90-minute collection.

The Minneapolis native’s follow-up to January’s The Power Station Tour (West Coast) album finds him once again backed by The Wongnotes. The talented and versatile ensemble features Sonny T (bass/guitar), Kevin Gastonguay (keyboards), Petar Janjic (drums), Negah Santos (percussion), Eddie Barbash (alto sax, soprano sax), Kenni Holmen (tenor sax, soprano sax, flute, piccolo), Jake Botts (baritone sax, bass clarinet, tambourine), Jay Webb (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Michael Nelson (trombone).

The Power Station Tour (West Coast) opens with “Flyers Direct,’ a song first recorded by Wong’s The Fearless Flyers project. An assortment of originals from the prolific artist’s ever-growing catalog follows with highlights including “Lunchtime,” “Meditation,” Trousdale adding to “Golden” and a run of eight tracks featuring Wooten. The last of those tracks is the LP’s lone cover as the Béla Fleck and the Flecktones bassist guests with Cory Wong & The Wongnotes on the Flecktones classic “Stomping Grounds.”

Cory Wong explained the importance of releasing live albums and why his latest tour stood out, writing:

I’m a live guy. I’m not afraid to say that my band brings the HEAT and the energy in the live setting. It’s where we thrive. Making a live album is fun because we go on tour and capture the energy of the live show in a bottle and get to put it back out there for people to re-live. There’s nothing that can replace actually being at the live shows; but a live album helps you remember the way a band sounded at a certain era of their career. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the way my band is sounding right now. This tour was incredible because I got to have one of my childhood heroes, Victor Wooten out on tour with us playing bass. Victor has been one of my favorite musicians in the world since I was a teenager, and playing with him really helped elevate my game to a new level. Trousdale is a band that I just got hip to last year after searching around for great harmony groups on the internet. They are such an amazing band and it was great to have them out with us on this last tour. Every night I watched them from side-stage and watched them win over every crowd with their incredible writing and musicianship. It was a thrill to bring them up on stage with me each night to sing a few songs as well. They’re a band that I’m a forever fan of, and it’s so great to have them a part of this live album as well.

Stream Cory Wong’s The Power Station Tour (East Coast) below or via other services: