[Editor's note: I am pleased to present the first installment of what will become a regular feature at the site- Second Time Around. This section will introduce all of us to noteworthy bands that have seeped through the cracks for one reason or another. The author of this series is the ever-enlightening Mick Skidmore, whom I'm sure many of you know through his work at Relix Magazine where he has penned Too New To Be Known, Independents Daze and Plundering the Vaults for some time now (he also writes for the Boston newspapers, Italian music magazines, etc.)  As Mick and I spoke on the phone about this section- he began rattling off the names of groups whose music I had never heard and I began to get hyped up. That's the basic idea here, with any luck we'll all discover some new sounds. Enjoy...]  

What's in a name? What s in a genre? The answer is not a lot. Nonetheless, publicists, record labels, radio stations and music fans have an annoying preponderance for wanting to fit things into neat little categories. Perhaps one of the nicest things about the jam and groove scene that s developed in the last decade, is the return to an open-minded attitude and the casting aside of such preconceived notions. It has resulted in the emergence of some truly wonderful bands (Phish, Widespread, Panic, Galactic, Medeski Martin and Wood, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, moe, Zero, String Cheese Incident, Leftover Salmon are among the multitude). These bands are afforded a certain amount of reckless abandon in their output, and boy is it refreshing.

More often than not the aforementioned artists are apt to draw on multiple musical genres within the framework of one song or a single improvisation. Sure, radio programmers often don t know what to do with the resulting music but it s made for a vibrant scene and some truly savvy, intelligent music fans. Like the fans of the Grateful Dead, it s led to people that are willing to explore music in a different and broader spectrum and to search out good stuff that s beyond the commercial fodder fed to us by the commercial conglomerates that masquerade as musical experts.

Of course, there have always been great bands and musicians that have been ignored because of their eclecticism or perhaps because they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This column is aimed at looking back at a band or sometimes just a classic album that might be of interest to younger jam band fans, especially bands or artists that they might not otherwise be exposed too. Most of the bands/artists that will be featured in this column will not be jam bands per se, but like the jam-band genre they ll be esoteric and musically interesting. Jazz, rock, bluegrass, country, soul, psychedelia, country and progressive rock (a much maligned genre) will all be covered.

Area Code 615 was a wonderful band that deserves to be heard again, especially if you are into String Cheese, Bela Fleck, Leftover Salmon, Old and in the Way and bands of that nature. Chances are if you stumbled across the Koch labels reissue of the band s two albums, 1969 s self-titled effort and the follow-up Trip in the Country, you are likely to pass them by. First off they ll either be relegated to the "oldies" section of your favorite mega store (if they are there at all!) or they ll be mixed in with today s sugarcoated country-pop dross. If that doesn t put you off, a quick glance at the track listing might as it gives the illusion that this is a "muzak" CD. The band shamelessly covers a mixture of soul, rock and country classics. Truth is, the disc (the two albums are on one disc) is exceptional. Okay, who is Area Code 615. Well, in many ways they were a jam band of sorts, but just a couple of decades ahead of their time. This nine-piece outfit consisted of the cream of the younger late 60s Nashville session players bassist, guitarist Wayne Moss, harmonica player Charlie McCoy, steel guitarist Weldon Myrick, banjo wiz Bobby Thompson, fiddle player Buddy Spicher, pianist David Briggs, bassist Norbert Putman, drummer Kenny Buttery and guitarist Mac Gayden. The tenth member was noted producer/engineer Elliot Mazer, who also made some cameo musical contributions.

McCoy, Moss and Buttery backed Bob Dylan on Blonde on Blonde. Gayden wrote the classic "Everlasting Love" and played the wonderful wah-wah slide on J.J. Cale s "Crazy Mama." Buttery played drums on Neil Young s Harvest, in fact, the list of these guys sessions goes on and on. Elvis, Linda Ronstadt, Roy Orbison, George Jones, George Harrison and many more.

Moss actually owned the studio where a lot of the sessions took place. A number of the members also played in an R&B outfit called Charlie McCoy and the Escorts. Area Code 615 actually took shape through a series of studio jam sessions. Most of the first album was recorded live in the studio with very little in the way of overdubs. If anything it began as impromptu studio jams that just took on a life of there own and eventually evolved into concise but exciting music. There s some dazzling stuff here that shows that these guys were master players that were not afraid to mix it up. The opening "Southern Comfort" melds intricate bluegrass fiddle and banjo that s backed by a funky R&B beat, wailing harmonica and sinewy rock guitar leads. They transform the soul classic "I"ve Been Loving You Too Long" into a moody country cut, while several Beatles covers are surprisingly good. "Hey Jude" begins with flowing fiddle/banjo interplay before McCoy s (John Popper fans take note- this guy is good) harp kicks in. The song builds to a soaring crescendo with wailing electric and pedal steel interplay. "Lady Madonna" is a little more pedestrian, but the band gets into some gritty blues in "Nashville 9 New York 1." Gayden s lead playing and McCoy s harp are especially notable. The 35 second medley of "Crazy Arms" and "Get Back" says a lot in a surprisingly short time. Two of the real highlights are the muscular take of the traditional "Little Maggie" which melds together rock, bluegrass and country imaginatively and the incredibly complex version of Mason William s "Classical Gas (reportedly it took 14 hours to record this cut!)

The band did manage to tour a little, they even played the famed Fillmore West in 1969 and received rave reviews. However, their livelihood was studio work so the band s life was rather short lived as touring was not of prime importance. In fact the second album had the rather ominous footnote, "Ding Dong The Code is Dead?" added at the end of the track listing. In retrospect it s a real shame that the band didn t tour more as the second album was even better than the first. With the exception of the first two cuts, a scathing rock version of Bill Monroe s "Scotland" and the mellower "Always the Same" the album consisted of original material. Several cuts such as the infectious "Stone Fox Chase" with its rich percussion, funky back beat and sterling harmonica playing could fit nicely into some current jam bands repertoire (Foxtrot Zulu could do wonders with this).

"Russian Red" is a delectable guitar/banjo instrumental with some incredible Telecaster picking by Moss. The rocking "Gray Suit Men" was the band s first foray into vocal territory with its socio-political lyrics. It s not a great song but is notable for the complex changes and the wonderful fiddle playing. "Welephant Walk" is a spunky pedal steel instrumental that again manages to squeeze a lot into two minutes. The album closes with the toughest piece on the set and one of the best. "Devil Weed And Me" is a Gayden original which incorporates country, jazz and rock elements together in a rather majestic fashion. This tenacious instrumental gives a great overview of all that was good about the band and shows their immense potential. Two bonus cuts are included, a sparkling take of "John Henry" that d do Bela Fleck proud and the frantic banjo led original "Tennessee Green" which really highlights the dexterity of Thompson s playing. Even though the band has ceased to exist for three decades (the members have played many a session since) their albums are readily available as a relatively inexpensive two-for-one deal. Unfortunately even the reissue label doesn t get the picture as the disc is tagged as "File Under Country." Sadly after these two albums the Code, indeed, was no more. They did, however, evolve into a more concise band called Barefoot Jerry. Barefoot Jerry took the instrumental pizzazz of the Code and mixed it with finely crafted songs that stretched the country-rock genre to its boundaries (in fact the band was kind of like Poco-meets-Steely Dan). It went on to record six albums with a revolving line-up of players, but that s a story for another time.