Farmhouse is Phish’s eighth album release and, in some ways, was a metaphoric end-of-the-road time stamp on Phish 1.0. According to Wikipedia, Farmhouse was recorded in “The Barn” on Trey Anastasio’s property in Vermont and was produced by Bryce Goggin and Anastasio. It was released on Elektra Records on May 16, 2000, and the majority of music was written and arranged by Trey Anastasio, with the lyrics written by Tom Marshall. Trey Anastasio Band collaborators Tony Markellis and Russ Lawton also have music writing credits, as does Scott Herman.
Phish welcomed a variety of guest musicians into the studio add their sound to the album to including Jerry Douglas (dobro), Bela Fleck (banjo), Dave Grippo (saxophone), James Harvey (trombone), Andy Moroz (trombone), Jennifer Hartswick (trumpet), John Dunlop (cello), Roy Feldman (viola), David Gusakov (violin), and Laura Markowitz (violin).
Farmhouse did achieve gold status in 2006 with 500,000 albums sold, and “First Tube” was nominated for a Grammy in the best rock instrumental category (but did not win). Metallica, Michael Kamen, and the San Francisco Symphony with “The Call of Ktulu” took home the Grammy that year.
“Welcome, this is an outhouse.’”A festivalgoer passes upon the Farmhouse Port-A-Potty. (Terri JS Deuel)
Only five months after the album’s release, Phish would break for their hiatus following their October 7, 2000, Shoreline Amphitheatre show (see chapter 75).
Interestingly enough, all of the songs included in the album had previously been introduced to the Phish faithful in concert before the album’s release, and a few of the songs were debuted with Trey Anastasio’s side project before being added to the Phish repertoire, which has become more and more common. There are many Phish concert staples that were included on the album, such as “Piper,” “Sand,” “First Tube” and “Heavy Things.” Only two songs, “Sleep” and “The Inlaw Josie Wales,” are not firmly embedded in the current song rotation.
A promotional video was released to radio stations to entice them to play the album, which described it as “Phish’s sharpest songwriting and the most cohesive playing of their career.” It also described the album as “more approachable for radio but retaining diverse flavors and rhythms of classic Phish material.” Both of these are fair descriptions of Farmhouse, an album that represents a transitional moment in Phish’s long history.