Joe Russo, Sam Cohen, Eric D. Johnson, Elvis Perkins and Josh Kaufman play musical chairs in Alone & Together The indie musicians will share — and trade — songs during a rare gig in D.C. on Dec. 14

• Published in: Washington Post – Blogs
• Main Author: Greenberg, Rudi
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington WP Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post 13.12.2017
• Subjects: Bands; Finn, Craig; Music festivals; Musical performances; Singers; Songwriters

Russo, who leads the Grateful Dead tribute act Joe Russo's Almost Dead, has played with all four of his Alone & Together bandmates over the years, so we asked him to share what makes each of them special ahead of a rare tour, which kicks off Thursday in D.C. Sam Cohen Russo has known Cohen the longest of his Alone & Together bandmates — they toured together in the mid-2000s when Russo was in the instrumental Benevento/Russo Duo and Cohen was in psych rock band Apollo Sunshine — and they now share a studio space in Brooklyn. Josh Kaufman Kaufman was a member of Yellowbirds and also does production and session work, collaborating with members of The National and producing albums by the Dead's Bob Weir and The Hold Steady's Craig Finn (for which he often recruits Russo to play drums). Eric D. Johnson Johnson is the principal member and songwriter behind the folksy indie rock group Fruit Bats, and Russo met him through a series of shows re-creating The Band's famed "The Last Waltz" concert.