Photo: oteilbrubridge.com
How the banjo inspired Oteil’s new album 'The Offering'
Credit the piano as the tool that enabled Oteil Burbridge to enrich his nuanced covers of Grateful Dead ballads on his acclaimed last album, A Lovely View of Heaven [2023]. A different instrument has ignited Burbridge’s riveting return to original music, and it’s not the bass — though it does have five strings. Oteil’s long fascination with the banjo at last manifests itself on The Offering, a collaboration with Oteil & Friends lead vocalist Lamar Williams Jr. The powerhouse eight-song effort, produced by Alan Evans of Soulive, is rife with rhythmic energy, soulful vocals delivering uplifting lyrics, Peacemaker-like harmonies and hooks, and banjo-inspired bass lines that find fresh places to percolate within the grooves.
Cut like its predecessor at Flóki Studios in Haganesvik, Iceland, the record features members of Oteil & Friends: Williams on vocals, guitarists Tom Guarna and Jaden Lehman, keyboardist/violist Jason Crosby, organist Melvin Seals, drummer Johnny Kimock, Weedie Braimah on djembe, and Oteil on 6-string bass and banjo.
Establishing a career in which his brilliance on bass and his unbounded musicality have played a major role in the unique sounds of Col. Bruce Hampton’s Aquarium Rescue Unit, the Allman Brothers, Dead & Company, Tedsechi Trucks Band, Vida Blue, Frogwings, BK3, Les Brers, Zac Brown Band, Toy Factory, Grahame Lesh’s Unbroken Chain, and his own Peacemakers, Burbridge has created another new color on his musical spectrum with The Offering. We sat down with Oteil to dissect the record right before he went on a late-spring/summer solo tour to try out the songs. Judging by our later visit to his Brooklyn Bowl show, these new musical offerings are being devoured whole.
How did The Offering come together?
About 12 years ago, before my son Nigel was born, my wife Jess, who had started playing banjo, got a photography gig in Africa. With her gone, I was bored and lonely, so I began playing her banjo. I thought it would be cool to be a beginner again on a new instrument. I was already a fan of the banjo because I knew it came from Africa from watching Bela Fleck’s documentary Throw Down Your Heart [2008], where he journeys through Africa to find the instrument’s origins. I also loved Give Me the Banjo [2011], narrated by Steve Martin. The musical consultant for the film is banjo master Tony Trishka, who taught Bela and became my teacher, as well. He gave me the password to his teaching website so I could get in at all hours of the morning, and I went down the rabbit hole.
Before long, I came up with all these different rhythmic and harmonic exercises while trying to figure out what’s known as “Scruggs-style” picking [named after banjo legend Earl Scruggs], using metal picks on the thumb, index, and middle fingers to pluck repeating three-note arpeggio patterns called “rolls.” Eventually, those exercises turned into songs, and most of those songs are on this record.
I thought it would be cool to be a beginner again on a new instrument. I was already a fan of the banjo because I knew it came from Africa from watching Bela Fleck’s documentary.
How did Lamar Williams Jr. get involved?
Well, I first met Lamar when I joined the Allman Brothers in 1997. He came to see us in Macon, Georgia and we hung out because I was a big fan of his dad, Lamar Sr., who replaced Berry Oakley in the band. Fast forward to 2013 when I picked up the banjo and we were both living in Atlanta. We would get together to hang out and write, and one day I played the exercises for him. I asked if he heard vocals over them. He said he did, and soon, we had written “If You See Their Lips Moving,” “Water Under the Bridge,” and “Love & War.”
You returned to Flóki Studios for this album.
It felt like the right place to make this record. We couldn’t market it that way, but the true purpose of Lovely View of Heaven was to help listeners process grief because that’s what it did for me. Leading up to that project, there were so many deaths of musicians I was close to, including my brother Kofi. Making the record was cathartic for me, and that’s why I went back to Iceland to do this one. Although it’s an uplifting album of hope, it’s also meant to help process the hard times people are going through.
If you focus on just my banjo riffs, you’ll hear that all of them have bass lines. On bass, I’m either playing a piece of the banjo bass line, doubling it totally, or playing counterpoint to it.
You’ve been talking about making a banjo record for years. Is this it?
I guess I thought of it as a banjo record, but maybe not my only banjo record. Certainly, the fact that most of the tunes were conceived on banjo gives it a unique thing that none of my other music has, especially when it came to my approach on bass; the bass lines on the banjo-conceived songs are different from the non-banjo tunes. If you focus on just my banjo riffs, you’ll hear that all of them have bass lines. On bass, I’m either playing a piece of the banjo bass line, doubling it totally, or playing counterpoint to it. The banjo changed the way I approached the drums, too. All the songs started with banjo and a click, then I would record either bass or drums second.
How was the music recorded at Flóki?
First I made all the demos with Lamar. I played bass, drums, keyboards, guitar, and banjo, and did some singing. We sent that to the guys, and when we got to Iceland, we kind of recreated it in the studio. Johnny, Tom, Jason, and Jaden made the parts their own and came up with new stuff, as well. We cut live as a band, with me playing bass, and then I overdubbed my banjo parts later. I used the second of my Sandberg 6-strings [the Oteil California TM 6-string, with two humbuckers in the J-Bass position and an ankh symbol in-between] for the whole record. I don’t remember because I was hearing my bass through my in-ears, but I think we recorded it direct and through an amp [a Darkglass Alpha-Omega 500 head with an Ampeg 4×10 cabinet] at the studio. As usual, I asked for no compression on the bass.
There are no bass solos, and you only sing backing vocals on the record.
Oh, wow! I didn’t take a bass solo? I didn’t even think about that until now. I don’t know — I feel like I’ve gotten it all out in long live jams. Now I just like to play music; I don’t feel the need to solo. It’s fun, but in a way, it adds more pressure.
As for singing lead, I don’t even want to open my mouth when Lamar is around. When it comes to my records, it’s time for people to hear someone who can really sing. He’s so gifted and talented. He’s doing a record now with Alan Evans and Neal Evans of Soulive that’s gonna blow people away. Live with this band, I sing a few of the Garcia/Hunter ballads I recorded because people ask for that. Also, on tour, Tom is playing my banjo parts. He was going to play them on guitar, but I convinced him that it’s easier on banjo and I sent him video clips of me playing them. He got a banjo and the three picks, and he’s killin’ it.
Let’s talk tracks: The opener, “The Way We Rise” is a killer Afro-shuffle with a cool jam at the end.
That came from a banjo exercise where I was trying to play an African rhythm I had heard [sings it]. On that one, the bass line is a counterpoint to the banjo line [see music below]. For the instrumental jam, after we play the verse, pre-chorus, and chorus twice, we didn’t want to have a designated solo. We just wanted to play, like kids in a playground.
“Hush” is the first banjo-less song, with a deep soul/reggae vibe.
I wrote that on guitar with Lamar before we started the banjo tunes. I was going for that kind of hot and humid Deep South vibe that Lamar has naturally. The bass line kind of moves through the changes with chord tones in an old Stax way, and the guitar solos are by Jaden and then Tom.
“Love & War” is another killer, nuanced shuffle with a timely title.
That also came from a banjo exercise, and then I put the bass down second, with a counterpoint line [see music below], and then the drums. And you’re right — even though the song was written 12 years ago, the lyrics are still just as relevant today. Lyrically, Lamar and I are always thinking about the mission behind the music, to spread the right kind of spirit. But speaking of relevancy, this song means a lot to me because when we wrote it, I honestly didn’t think people would really get it. Finally, I got to the point where I didn’t care if people liked it or not. I just wanted to play it. So, we broke it out during my set at Dead Ahead in Mexico [in 2024] and people went nuts over it. I was like, Oh my God, they love this! That made me want to go back and record all the demo tunes with the band. I asked the record company if we could return to Iceland to make the record, and they were game.
Love & War live debut:
Your two cover songs are minimalist versions of James Taylor’s “Country Road” and Earl King’s “Time for the Sun to Rise.”
I just wanted to feature Lamar with barebones takes on both songs. I heard him and Luther Dickinson do a duet version of “Time” and I was knocked out. You hear Lamar’s essence so well. It sounds like he and Luther are in the middle of a field at midnight, under a full moon, so we kind of replicated that.
With “Country Road,” the idea was to bring the Georgia gospel church flavor of Lamar’s vocals to the song. I’m actually planning to do a whole record of Lamar singing tunes by writers like James [Taylor], John Prine, and John Hiatt. I hope James hears this version.
We’re back to a banjo-driven, rhythmically rousing song with “If You See My Lips Moving,” which includes Allman-like dual guitars.
That started on banjo, and I remember getting really excited when I came up with the banjo roll in the verse. I was like, “I don’t know what this is, but if I can make it go through the chord changes, it will be really cool.” The verse bass line doubles the latter part of the banjo line before hitting some root and pedal tones. The guitar solos are Jaden and Tom, and in-between, they play a dual line together.
The ballad “First Born” is a guitar-led instrumental.
That’s a song I wrote on guitar when my wife and I were trying to get pregnant for the first time, written to my first born. I was in a blues mood, but it’s not a blues tune; the vibe is more melancholy hopefulness [laughs]. The demo was very stripped down: I just played guitar, bass, and drums. When we recut it in Iceland, the only thing we added was some organ. There’s no banjo on it. The guitar melody is not really a melody; it’s me soloing on the demo, and the guys duplicated it in the studio.
Like much of the album, it has that Oteil & the Peacemakers harmonic language you developed on Love of a Lifetime, The Family Secret, and Believer.
You’re right. This record is kind of like the Peacemakers with banjo. Actually, I can tell by the shapes that I wrote the original changes for “First Born” on 6-string bass, which is how most of the Peacemakers songs were written.
“Water Under the Bridge” seems to have the most extensive interplay between banjo and bass, plus some dramatic descending bass in the final chorus.
That was the very first of my banjo-written songs, so I’m very partial to it. In the verse bass line, I’m playing counterpoint to the banjo line, except for doubling a few notes at one point. For the pre-chorus I’m playing in unison with the banjo line, and for the chorus I’m back to counterpoint [see music below]. In the last chorus, the descending line is an arrangement thing, inspired by tunes like [the Beatles’] “Dear Prudence” or [Led Zeppelin’s] “Dazed and Confused.” We’re in E minor, so first I descend from the 7th [to the 6th, b6th, and 5th]; then from the 3rd [to the 2nd, b2nd, and root]; and lastly from the 5th [to the b5th, 4th, and 3rd]. What makes it more dramatic is that Jason doubles me on 5-string viola, so it sounds like a cello down low.
He said one way to reduce the weight was to make the string spacing narrower, so I gave him the go-ahead, and it’s been a revelation. I can play lines so much faster on it and it makes a lot of the chord voicings I use much easier to reach. I’ve realized, why work myself harder?
What can you share about your new 6-string Dire Wolf Bass?
It’s conceived in the style of Jerry Garcia’s famous Wolf guitar and built by Bill Asher in collaboration with Doug Irwin, who built Jerry’s guitar. I was deeply honored to get it at Red Rocks in July 2025, and it has become my main bass, both because the tone is so fat and true, with zero dead spots—due to it having five laminated layers pressed together for maximum stiffness — and because of the tighter string spacing. When Bill started building it, I told him I needed the bass to be as light as possible, like my Sandbergs, which are 7.5 lbs. He said one way to reduce the weight was to make the string spacing narrower, so I gave him the go-ahead, and it’s been a revelation. I can play lines so much faster on it and it makes a lot of the chord voicings I use much easier to reach. I’ve realized, why work myself harder with Fender-type spacing?
How about the pickups?
I’m still figuring that out. I normally keep everything wide open, but Bill told me to not run them all the way up but to leave a little headroom. So far, I’ve been using the middle humbucker, which is the loudest pickup, and I also use one notch to the left for getting Phil Lesh-like tones when using a pick. But I have so far to go to learn all of the unbelievable sounds the bass gets. I also have the Alembic FL-105 Superfilter Pedal, modeled after the knobs on Phil’s basses. I mostly use the low-pass filter setting on that.
What’s next for you?
Touring with my band, with Lamar, in support of this record, and a hodgepodge of dates with other cool projects. One is Toy Factory Project, honoring the music of Toy Caldwell and the Marshall Tucker Band, with original drummer Paul Riddle plus Marcus King, Charlie Starr, and Josh Shilling. We’re going to have Sam Bush and J.R. Williams on this run. Another is John Scofield’s Electrospective band with Adam Deitch and Larry Goldings. I’m super-excited about that tour in the fall. It’s the first time one of my teenage heroes has called me to play since Kofi and I got to record with Herbie Hancock in 2010 on The Imagine Project. It’s going to be quite a year.
MUSIC LESSON: Root Resonator
Just as Oteil Burbridge’s banjo work inspired a fresh compositional approach on The Offering, it led to new terrain for his 6-string bass lines.
Ex. 1 is the A-section groove from “The Way We Rise,” with Oteil playing counterpoint to his African rhythm-inspired banjo line. Be aware which notes are pitched and which are muted, and lean a bit forward to help drive the groove. Note that Oteil plays the part high up on his B string to get a fatter tone. “That started when I was playing a P-Bass in Tedeschi Trucks Band,” he says, laughing. “With two drummers, two guitarists, keyboards, horns, and vocals, my 4-string was getting lost, so instead of playing across the strings I would just continue up the E string to get a thicker sound. After we played the New Orleans Jazz Fest that year, a bunch of New Orleans bassists came up to me and said, ‘Yeah, man, we like how you was going up. That’s how we do it.’ I was like, Alright! I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Ex. 2 contains the ear-grabbing unison riff at the 2:19 mark of “Love & War.” Sit squarely in the pocket and play all the notes staccato, with an emphasis on nailing the rhythms. The harmony is G Dorian. Oteil, who wrote the line on his 6-string bass, explains, “I’m always thinking drums, no matter what instrument I’m playing. I played drums with African drumming bands when I was young, so ultimately, most of my bass lines and my bass melodies are rhythmic drum melodies that I’m hearing. I think in rhythmic phrases and then I use harmony and melody to fill it out.”
Ex. 3 has the first verse and pre-chorus of “Water Under the Bridge,” at 0:02. For the first eight measures, Oteil lays off the downbeats on beats one and three, in counterpoint to the banjo line (except for doubling the banjo briefly at the end of bar 4). The groove is a halftime shuffle, but count in double-time if it helps you lock in the part. The pre-chorus starting at measure 9 mirrors the banjo line and sits more on the downbeats (save for the syncopated part in bar 13). The ear-catching melodic lines at the end of measures 10, 12, 14, and the final measure all originated on banjo (get your fingering together for the cool first inversion A and G triad shapes at the end of 14). Offers Oteil, “I realized after I started playing banjo that I’ve been trying to play banjo lines on bass for a long time—those rolling kind of parts. I don’t play fingerstyle with my thumb, index, and ring fingers to get groups of three, like on the banjo. Instead, I’ll use my left-hand ring finger to hammer the third note.”
GEAR
BASSES Dire Wolf 6-string; two Sandberg Oteil California 6-strings; “O-Teal” green Modulus Quantum semi-hollow 6-string; Fodera Signature Monarch 6-string
STRINGS D’Addario EXL170-6 Nickel Wound [.32-.45-.65-.80-.100-.130]
RIGS Epifani UL901 head with Epifani DIST3 410 and DIST3 212 cabinets
EFFECTS Alembic FL-105 Superfilter pedal, Boss RV-6 Reverb pedal, MXR Bass Octave Deluxe, Rowin LT-901 Tuner
OTHER JH Audio In-Ear Monitors, Planet Wave Cables, Jenny Shuman straps
Links
By: Chris Jisi
