Jackson Hole Underground

The first time I saw Matisyahu, at last year’s Austin City Limits festival, there were at least 30,000 people in the crowd. And the side of the stage was packed with many of the other artists from the festival, straining to get a glimpse of him.

I didn’t know what to expect from a Hasidic Jewish rapper. A friend who lives in Austin is always trying to turn me on to hipster music, and I heard all kinds of new sounds at the fest.

Matisyahu gave a powerful performance, mixing hip-hop beats with trance-like reggae grooves that made it irresistible to move. The music was spiritual, augmented by his religious dress, but the real fun came when he shed his black coat and began to dance.

There will be considerably fewer people crowding your space when Matisyahu takes the stage Sunday in the Nordic Center field at Teton Village. The 28-year-old native New Yorker, whose Anglo name is Matthew Miller, is headlining the Jackson Hole Mountain Festival, along with Los Lonely Boys, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk and B-Side Players.

Sam Petri of Planet Jackson Hole scores this week with an interview with Matisyahu, conducted while the singer was traveling through the Utah desert on tour with the band 311. Turns out he’s a Hasidic hippie who once followed Phish on tour.

(According to the News&Guide story, not available online, lately Matisyahu has added the Dead’s “Morning Dew” to his repertoire.)

Click here to listen to four of Matisyahu’s songs on MySpace. Or for video, photos and more, visit Matisyahu World.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 9:52 am and is filed under music, reggae, festivals, teton village. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.