Watch Spafford Reach New Heights With Tall Tall Trees During New Year’s Run In Milwaukee

Spafford conducted their 2025 New Year’s Eve run in Milwaukee. The Arizona-based jam quartet’s second of three concerts at Vivarium featured a sit-in from Tall Tall Trees (Mike Savino) for a pair of tunes.

Tall Tall Trees is the nom de plume of innovative banjo player Mike Savino, who pushes the boundaries of banjo music with his customized “Banjotron” instruments and effects array. Savino joined Spafford to help them close their first set at Vivarium on December 30.

The collaboration began with the Americana-leaning “Hollywood,” sung by guitarist Brian Moss. Tall Tall Trees is known for his improvisational music and the musicians stretched the live favorite out past the 18-minute mark. The collab then segued into the bluegrass-tinged “Motel 6,” which also boasted an exploratory section.

Watch Spafford and Tall Tall Trees team up in Milwaukee below:

Tuesday’s concert also saw Spafford going big on “Bee Jam,” “Pursuit of Trance,” a cover of the Grateful Dead‘s “The Other One” and staple “The Postman.”