Grateful Dead/Wilco supergroup PHILCO making debut at Sacred Rose Festival

Sacred Rose Festival is a new music festival coming to the Chicago area from August 26-28 at Seatgeek Stadium Campus, headlined by Grateful Dead offshoot Phil Lesh & Friends, and they've just revealed that some very exciting people will be among Phil's "Friends" at this one. Consequence reports that Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and guitarist Nels Cline will be in Phil's band, alongside Dead & Company's Jeff Chimenti, Karl Denson, John Molo, Stu Allen, Grahame Lesh, and Elliott Peck. They're nicknaming it PHILCO.

This will be Jeff Tweedy and Nels Cline's first time as members of Phil Lesh & Friends, but not Wilco's first time playing with Phil or other Grateful Daed members. They performed "Ripple" with Phil back in 1999, and more recently performed "St. Stephen" with Bob Weir and then used the live recording on the Day of the Dead compilation. Phil also did a Wilco cover live in 2019. Tweedy says:

Nels and I are honored to be asked to join Phil and Friends for Sacred Rose. There has been so much about Phil and the Dead to be inspired by over the years, from their longtime musical brotherhood to their wonderful and incomparable music, to their relentless touring and longevity. But perhaps the biggest inspiration is their dedication to the community that has grown up around them. This is a trait that we in Wilco deeply appreciate and have aimed to emulate over the years. There’s nothing better than playing music with your friends, for your friends.

The rest of the Sacred Rose lineup is pretty great too, including Khruangbin, The War On Drugs, Umphrey's McGee, Joe Russo's Almost Dead, Goose, STS9, The Disco Biscuits, Kamasi Washington, Punch Brothers, Dawes, Animal Collective, Hiatus Kaiyote, Yves Tumor, Lettuce, Lotus, The Infamous Stringdusters ft. Molly Tuttle, Circles Around the Sun, Danielle Ponder, Maggie Rose, Nicole Atkins, Sierra Hull, White Denim, and more, and Margo Price will be the special guest "artist at large," so we can probably expect some on-stage collaborations with her… maybe from past collaborator Phil Lesh?

Tickets to Sacred Rose are on sale now. Full lineup below.

Last week, Wilco released their new country double album Cruel Country.

In related news, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart's Planet Drum project is releasing its first album in 15 years, In The Groove, on August 5 via 360 productions. The first single is the trippy, otherwordly "Tides." Mickey will be incorporating pieces from the new Planet Drum album on the upcoming Dead & Co tour, and Planet Drum are also playing release shows at Port Chester, NY's Capitol Theatre on August 5 & 6.

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