The Third Mind at the Raccoon Motel -- October 9.
Thursday, October 9, 6 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
Touring in support of their September release Right Now!, and praised by AllMusic for delivering "a spontaneous mix of rock, blues, psychedelia, jazz, and improvisation," the indie talents of The Third Mind headline an October 8 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the group's latest recording, according to Rock & Blues Muse, a work that "more than earns its confident exclamation point."
As stated at AllMusic.com, "The germ of the Third Mind was planted in Dave Alvin's mind while reading So What, a biography of Miles Davis written by John Szwed. In the book, Szwed described Davis' working methods for some of his pioneering fusion recordings of the 1970s. Davis would pick a key and a tempo, and then he and his accompanists would perform extemporaneously until they felt they had reached a good stopping point. After the sessions were over, Davis and his producer Teo Macero would use editing to shape the jams into their final form for albums like Bitches Brew, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, and On the Corner.
"Eager to try something similar, Alvin brought together a group of musicians he thought would be right for an improvisational project. Along with Alvin on guitar and vocals, the sessions included David Immerglück (Counting Crows, Cracker, Monks of Doom) on guitar and keyboards, Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) on bass, Michael Jerome (John Cale, Richard Thompson, Better than Ezra) on drums, and Jesse Sykes on guitar and vocals, with guest appearances from D.J. Bonebrake of X on vibraphone and Jack Rudy, whose credits range from Johnny Rivers to Margaret Cho, on harmonica. Without rehearsal, the musicians recorded covers of songs by Alice Coltrane, Fred Neil, Tim Rose, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and the 13th Floor Elevators, as well as one original created by the group, with improvisational interplay embraced throughout. In February 2020, their first album, The Third Mind, was released by Yep Roc Records, and the following April, the group took their experiment out of the studio and onto the stage with a West Coast concert tour.
"The musicians repeated the experiment on 2023's The Third Mind 2, another improvisational session that featured the group covering classic tunes by the Electric Flag, Fred Neil, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and the Jaynetts, as well as creating one new composition, 'Tall Grass.' The Third Mind once again hit the road for a brief concert tour in February and March 2024. For these dates, guitarist Mark Karan sat in for David Immerglück, and Willie Aron joined in on keyboards. Performances in Los Angeles, California, Ventura, California, and Dallas, Texas were recorded, and highlights from these shows were collected on Live Mind, released in February 2025. Just seven months later, the Third Mind delivered a third studio effort, Right Now! The album saw the group fashioning bold new interpretations of Elizabeth Cotten's 'Shake Sugardee,' Richard Fariña's 'Reno, Nevada,' (with Alvin and Sykes teaming up on vocals), the Youngbloods' 'Darkness, Darkness,' Pharoah Sanders' 'The Creator Has a Master Plan,' and three more."
The Third Mind headlines their Davenport engagement on October 8, admission to the 6 p.m. concert is $39.67, and more information and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
