Dogs in a Pile to make sweet jams 'on the mountain' (2024)

LUDLOW — Dogs in a Pile guitarist and vocalist Brian Murray appreciates the fact that any connection with Phish frontman Trey Anastasio is a feather in the cap for an up-and-coming jam band.

But when Dogs in a Pile, an eclectic five-piece band from New Jersey, takes the stage Saturday at the base of Okemo Mountain for the first "Music on the Mountain" — a donation-based concert celebrating recovery — Murray knows that any future benefit to the band is outweighed by the greater cause of Divided Sky Foundation andAnastasio's new addiction rehab facility in Ludlow.

"It's a really beautiful thing that they're doing over there," Murray said of the concert. "I really do appreciate it, everything they're doing. I think it's incredibly valuable, and it's really great that they were able to put this together."

"Music on the Mountain," presented by The Phoenix, a national sober active community organization from Boston, will be held directly after Divided Sky Foundation’s third annual Fun(d) Run. The concert will feature performances by New Orleans singer-guitarist Anders Osborne, Dogs in a Pile, and Vermont Americana band Saints and Liars. The concert is ticketed (registration through Eventbrite is required) at a suggested donation cost of $20. Participants in the Fun(d) Run are automatically registered.

Vendors will offer food and zero-proof beverages. The event is family-friendly, and guests are encouraged to bring chairs or picnic blankets. All proceeds from ticket sales and other donations benefit Divided Sky.

Murray said Anastasio is one of his earliest "guitar heroes," along with the likes of Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, Jerry Garcia, Django Reinhardt and Tony Rice.

"When I was growing up, I thought Trey was such a unique guitar player and songwriter," Murray said. "I just really love his contagious and undying enthusiasm for music. He's just always so stoked about the music, and he inspires a lot of people, which is a really cool thing."

This is not Dogs in a Pile's first foray into the greater Phish "universe." This writer (and his son) saw Dogs perform in March at Nectar's in Burlington, which is basically "ground zero" for the jam band scene. Phish played there nearly 50 times in the mid- to late-1980s, when they emerged from nearby University of Vermont. They even named an album ("A Picture of Nectar") after a photo of founder Nectar Rorris hanging on the wall of the Main Street venue.

"It was a really special show for all of us, especially for me," Murray said of the Dogs gig at Nectar's. "The first song I ever heard which introduced me to this whole scene was 'Stash' from that record. And when I was like 12, I sat down and tried to learn it right away on guitar. And then I remember when I was maybe 15 or 16, I was up there fly-fishing with my grandpa and we were in Burlington and I insisted that we stop and see Nectar's and I took a selfie with the sign. I just thought how cool it would be to play music there."

Dogs In A Pile merges funk, jazz, and rock and roll with psychedelia, presenting a completely original vibe. The band formed when Jersey Shore native and guitarist Jimmy Law began playing with family friend Joe Babick (drums) at a young age. Those two met Berklee School of Music student and bass player Sam Lucid, who immediately brought in fellow Berklee student and keyboard player Jeremy Kaplan. The addition of Murray, another Berklee student, made for the final piece in the puzzle.

A string of sold-out shows drove the development of a devoted Northeast fan base, affectionately known as the Dog Pound. The name of the band itself is derived from a lyric in the Dead song "He's Gone": "Cat on a tin roof / Dogs in a pile / Nothin' left to do but smile, smile, smile!"

Much of the band's dynamic derives from the interplay between Law's more traditional Allman Brothers or Dead-style guitar leads and Murray's finger-picking style.

"(Law) prefers to play a hollow body style guitar and I prefer to play a (Fender Stratocaster)," Murray said. "We're never on the same pickup setting at the same time. In the very beginning of my time in the band, I tried to find my place the best I could by sitting in between the register of the keyboards and Jimmy's guitar playing. So I trained myself to hear when Jimmy was in one spot, like down in the first three frets of the guitar, I was way up high. Or if he was way up high, I was way down low. So there's always a hole to fill. So I feel like it's a nice blend of stuff. We don't step on each other's toes too much. We play off of each other's ideas in a fun way."

At the Nectar's show, the band played not only their own original songs but covers of everything from Lorde to Pharaoh Sanders, Cab Calloway to Michael Jackson, Widespread Panic to the Dead.

"It's kind of a melting pot," Murray said of the band's choices. "It's interesting to find something that we all agree on. We have a lot of fun changing it up as much as we can and trying new things. Everybody kind of suggests things to cover and and it works out successfully. Plenty of times we'll try something that just doesn't work. But you know, it's always good to try."

For more information and to register for the "Music on the Mountain" concert Saturday in Ludlow, go totinyurl.com/5b4rzw3k.