Sharing in the Groove: The Untold Story of the '90s Jam Band Explosion and the Scene That Followed

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The wild, untold oral history of the unlikely rise of Phish, Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, and numerous other bands that helped define the 1990s Jam band scene Sharing in the Groove is a rich examination of an underdog genre that helped define the 1990s musical landscape-a scene that paved the way for modern-day cultural institutions such as the Bonnaroo Music Festival and kept the Grateful Dead ethos alive. It was also a world with its own values and its own unique interactions with fame, record labels, MTV, drugs, and success. Beginning in the mid-'80s and traveling up to New Year's Eve 1999, the '90s jam band story covers milestones such as getting signed to record labels and working the club scenes to playing amphitheaters and arenas. Along the way, details emerge of the scene's own cultural values and the desire to be unique in a world that wanted them to follow a prescribed path. Ultimately, it's a DIY story of creativity and making music-and how that won over a huge audience. Filled with anecdotes and stories directly from the musicians, promoters, managers, roadies, producers, label executives, and fans who lived this scene, Sharing in the Groove is a fun, fast-paced oral history that will appeal to music lovers everywhere.

Reviews

One of Esquire's Best Books of Summer 2025!

An A.V. Club notable release!

"Straight from the mouths of those who experienced and shepherded the genre's resurgence." --Rolling Stone

"[This] book is perhaps the most thorough and definitive document chronicling a treasured time." --Glide Magazine

"In this generous oral history, Ayers steps aside and allows musicians, crew members, managers, and record label executives to swap stories and spill secrets about the thriving American jam band scene of the 1990s...Sharing the Groove offers a captivating look at the ways in which this cohort of creatives navigated the music industry during its final wave of major-label-signing sprees--before the digital revolution reshaped the landscape." --Booklist (Starred Review)

"Please Kill Me did it for punk; Our Band Could Be Your Life did it for indie rock. Now music journalist Ayers has compiled an oral history of Phish and the other jam bands." --Publishers Weekly, Best Books of Summer 2025

"In today's popular culture, nostalgia for 1990s music tends to focus on the ascent of grunge rock and the golden age of hip-hop, but it was also the decade in which jam bands went from college-town curiosities to (in some cases) major-label successes...Jam band aficionados will likely find much to enjoy." --Kirkus

"God bless Mike Ayers for giving the vibrant, raucous, bizarre, wildly lovable, and absolutely ungovernable '90s jam band scene the love and devotion it deserves, from coast to coast, from the mushrooms to the hippie communes to the firearms to the shock hit singles to the spectacular flameouts to the beavers, all of it straight from the mouths of the goofballs and tyrants and jokers and geniuses who lived it. Get ready to have 10 new favorite bands." --Rob Harvilla, host and author of 60 Songs That Explain the '90s

"As someone who came of age on the generational outskirts of the '90s jam scene, I couldn't have been more fascinated by this book. It brought me into the sweaty clubs of NYC and tour vans everywhere in between that I could only imagine as a teenager, feverishly listening to every bootleg I could get my hands on. I've always been a proud fan of jam bands and this great oral history has only deepened my love and understanding for the people and times that helped shape what that musical world could and should be." --Chris Tomson, Vampire Weekend & Taper's Choice

"The jam band world is a bit like Fight Club -- it's something we all know exists, but are not supposed to talk about. That is, until now. Mike Ayers has done the work of shining some light on a woefully under-covered corner of modern music. In the process, he finds the kinds of stories that even the most ardent tape collectors haven't heard before." --Steven Hyden, author of There Was Nothing You Could Do, Long Road, and This Isn't Happening

"Mike Ayers has documented the history of the jam band scene in a definitive way, directly from the voices of the musicians who created this scene (and the promoters, managers, and everyone else who was there when it was birthed). It's amazing to hear how it all came together for the bands that still power the most vibrant music scene in America today." --Pete Shapiro, owner of Brooklyn Bowl, The Capitol Theatre and promoter of Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead

"In the early '90s, as the New York music industry desperately scoured the nation for the next big thing, an organic music scene was taking shape right under their noses. Little clubs were packed with fans and bands jamming the night away, as jam bands took root and sprouted like mushrooms. This book captures that exciting fluid time with a deep dive into the bands that blew up out of this scene and the ones that coulda been a contender." --Alan Paul New York Times bestselling author of One Way Out and Brothers and Sisters

Author Bio

MIKE AYERS is a seasoned music and culture journalist, with work published in Billboard, The Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, TIME Magazine, Reuters, Uproxx, and Relix. His first book, One Last Song: Conversations on Life, Death and Music, was published in 2020 and picked as one of Variety's Best Music Books of the year.