Donna Jean Godchaux MacKay has made her recent partnership with the Zen Tricksters more permanent. After touring under the name Kettle Joe’s Psychedelic Swamp Revue for the past year, the new friends have simplified their name to Donna Jean and the Tricksters with an eye towards a new studio album. In addition to the groups namesakes, Donna Jean and the Tricksters also features former Phil Lesh/David Nelson keyboardist Mookie Siegel and Hope in Time vocalist Wendy Lanter. This band is a perfect fit for me as a singer/songwriter, Godchaux MacKay says, and I hope to be doing this for a long time to come. Were having so much fun with this music Godchaux MacKay first performed with the Zen Tricksters at the 2005 edition of the Gathering of the Vibes and solidified her relationship with the group at a Rex Foundation benefit later that year. Two members of the group have recently played with RatDog: on March 10 Godchaux MacKay sang with RatDog at New York’s Beacon Theater and, on March 19, Siegel played keyboards with the group at Baltimore, MD’s Rams Head Live.