Trey Anastasio Joins Members Of Love Revival Orchestra & Shakedown Citi At Daughter’s Wedding

Trey Anastasio sat-in with the wedding band made up of members of Love Revival Orchestra and Shakedown Citi at a reception held last weekend for his daughter Bella Anastasio and her husband, Zach Lewellyn. The Phish guitarist joined the band for The Velvet Underground’s “Rock And Roll.”

Love Revival Orchestra anchored the festivities at West Mountain Inn in Arlington, Vermont. Additionally, the full Shakedown Citi lineup took the stage to perform Ween’s “Roses Are Free,” and as a special request from the bride, “Shakedown Street” by the Grateful Dead. Guitarist Garrin Benfield handled lead vocals on “Shakedown Street.” Sound, lights, and production were provided by Michael Sasportas Music & Audio.

“Love Revival Orchestra’s awesome vocalist, Adrian Sinclair, has been buddies with Zach and Bella for quite a while,” said David Mendelsohn, bandleader and guitarist for Shakedown Citi and Love Revival Orchestra. “Bella really wanted Adrian to sing at her wedding. Adrian responded – ‘I’ve got the perfect band for you!’”

“When ‘Shakedown Street’ was selected as a must-play song,” Mendelsohn continued. “I sent Bella a video from NYC’s the Bitter End of Shakedown Citi playing it – three of the members were already going to be playing in the LRO, so she was beyond psyched to feature Shakedown Citi as well. It was our wedding gift to her!”

Trey’s appearance with the wedding band was a rare instance of his singing lead on “Rock And Roll,” which keyboardist Page McConnell typically handles with Phish. The groom, Zach Lewellyn, plays bass in Guerilla Toss and joined the “Rock And Roll” performance as well.

“To play alongside Trey Anastasio at such a joyful and personal event was surreal,” said Mendelsohn. “If the Grateful Dead invented the jam-band tradition, Trey is the godfather of the generation that followed: the one who showed that this kind of music, this kind of life, could endure and evolve. He made it possible for musicians like me to find our own voice within that lineage… to channel the same love, improvisation, and community that started with the Dead and still connects us all.”

Also part of the “Rock And Roll” collaboration were Love Revival Orchestra members, including Sinclair and Charly Kay on vocals, Kyle Schweizer on saxophone, and Dean Fransen on keyboards, plus members of both Shakedown Citi and LRO, Matt Zebroski on drums and Mendelsohn on guitar. Shakedown Citi keyboardist/saxophonist Mitch Marcus performed as well.

“Trey was an absolute pleasure to work with – so humble,” Mendelsohn recalled. “He kept thanking us for ‘letting him sit in’ with the band.”

Mendelsohn and Shakedown Citi came into the celebratory evening energized by their Run Through The Repertoire series that saw the band play 212 songs from the Grateful Dead’s live canon across 12 shows in a single month. The Northeast-based Love Revival Orchestra, “more than a wedding band,” also keeps Mendelsohn and his bandmates in top form, performing a 700-song repertoire spanning all genres and eras, including “Rock And Roll.”

“I collaborate with all my wedding clients – and there’s a lot of back and forth when selecting the songs before I put the set list together,” Mendelsohn said. “’Rock And Roll’ was already on her ‘must-play’-list, and Bella thought it would be a good selection because her dad was familiar with the song and it’s a big crowd-pleaser. I’m not sure Bella knew that Page usually sings that one and, as far as I know, this is the only time Trey’s sang lead vocals on that!”

Trey Anastasio also played acoustic guitar alongside his other daughter, Eliza Anastasio, on a special song written for the bride and groom, “that utilized only the letters from the names of the bride and groom (Isabella and Zachary),” explained Mendelsohn.

“For me, playing the Anastasio-Llewellyn wedding was a pretty profound moment as a lifetime musician,” Mendelsohn recounted. “I saw my first Phish show when the band played my college, Tufts University, in 1989. There were about 50 people there watching these crazy dudes jump around on mini trampolines. It was a very formative experience for me, and Trey has always been one of my heroes. The way he approached song-writing and playing the guitar was unique to the jamband world, and it made me want to be better at both.”