Trey Anastasio Talks Ghosts Of The Forest Live Album & Premieres 2 Studio Tracks On SiriusXM

Trey Anastasio discussed his Ghosts Of The Forest project with SiriusXM’s Ari Fink for a broadcast that premiered on Tuesday afternoon. The guitarist called in to talk about such topics as his vision for the live shows, how Celisse came aboard, whether the material will make it into the Phish repertoire and the plan to record a Ghosts Of The Forest live album at New York City’s United Palace Theatre this weekend.

This Friday, April 12 Anastasio will release the Ghosts Of The Forest studio album through his Rubber Jungle Records label. SiriusXM premiered the studio versions of “About To Run” and “Halfway Home” from the nine-track LP. Trey explained he recorded the LP at The Barn in 2018 during an intense time that followed a memorial service for his friend of 40 years Chris “CCott” Cottrell and after visiting Trey Anastasio Band keyboardist Ray Paczkowski, who had just undergone brain surgery, in the hospital. “It’s raw. It was still too early. It wasn’t finished, the picture wasn’t finished yet,” the guitarist said about the sessions that yielded the studio album. “And then I started writing more songs because I wanted to address the other side of the coin, which is more of the acceptance and a bigger picture outlook on where we fit in this grand scheme.” He added, “So what ended up happening is I ended up writing 11 more songs and then it all started to form into the shape of a show that had a narrative arc. And a lot of the narrative arc is like a swinging pendulum back and forth between grief and hope. It’s like a bumpy ride in trying to grapple with some of these questions is what this show ends up being.”

Ghost Of The Forest, the band, features Anastasio along with Phish drummer Jon Fishman, Broadway star Celisse and longtime Trey Anastasio Band members Jennifer Hartswick, Tony Markellis and Ray Paczkowski. Fink asked about Celisse’s role in the show and Trey had nothing but wonderful things to say. He noted she sang with Phish during their Ziggy Stardust set on Halloween 2016 in Las Vegas. “I immediately knew that Celisse was perfect for this and she is just crushing this,” the guitarist commented.

One question from Ari dealt with Trey’s decision to release the studio album at the tail end of the Ghosts Of The Forest tour after he issued live recordings of each concert. Here’s how Anastasio responded:

There was a lot of conversation about whether I was even going [to release the album], I was conflicted. I don’t know why and I definitely didn’t want to release it until after the tour because it wasn’t a complete picture. I think the album is a picture of a moment of time. It’s very personal and it was in that raw period right when Chris died and Ray was in the hospital and all that stuff. But there’s more to the picture, I’ve written 11 new songs and I wanted everybody to get the whole arc of the story and then release the album at the last [shows].”

The New Jersey native explained this Friday and Saturday’s shows at the United Palace Theatre in New York City were supposed to be the final concerts of the tour before gigs in Los Angeles on April 19 and Berkeley on April 20 were added. He then discussed the plan to record the New York City run for a live album:

“The idea was to take the two nights and record the complete picture as a live album at the United Palace Theatre. So it will be almost like a recording session. There will be two passes at the show. So like if Aretha Franklin was recording a record she would very famously record two passes and that was it. Everyone had to play live … if you’re doing ‘Respect,’ two takes and Aretha’s gone. So this like we get two takes at the United Palace Theatre but most importantly the full picture of the Ghosts Of The Forest document will have our community members and family, audience.”

One of the last questions from Ari Fink dealt with whether Trey would perform any of the songs from Ghosts Of The Forest songs with Phish or TAB. “Oh god yeah,” Anastasio responded. He explained this band is finite and he’ll soon be on the road with those other projects. He compared the situation to his 8 Foot Florescent Tubes show in 1998 and how “Sand” and “First Tube,” which were each debuted that night, are now staples in both of his other bands. Trey guessed “probably one or two or some” Ghosts Of The Forest compositions will live beyond the tour. Webcasts of both New York City shows are available.