At Mountain Jam, Marco Benevento Recalls His Musical Journey

Aside from festival founder and all-around jam master Warren Haynes, there may be no more prolific Mountain Jam artist at this year's event than Marco Benevento.

On Thursday night (June 4), Benevento and his band -- drummer Andrew Borger and Ween bassist Dave Dreiwitz -- rocked the West Stage at Hunter Mountain, N.Y., with two solid sets; the following day, Benevento and Joe Russo's Almost Dead took their places on the East Stage for a captivating 90-minute gig that paid homage to the Grateful Dead.

Even with his busy schedule at Mountain Jam, Benevento graciously spared a few minutes to catch up with us about his journey as a musician and how his sound has evolved over the years.

"There was a moment where I was really excited to start a band with Matt Chamberlain and Reed Mathis," Benevento recalls. "It was my first record as a pianist and composer, you know? There was a moment where I was like, 'I want to do this,' but I didn't know what it was going to lead to or anything."

Now, seven years since he released that record with Mathis and Chamberlain, Invisible Baby, Benevento says his sound has "sort of evolved from this instrumental-hard-rock-jazz thing into this thing that incorporates drum machines and almost '80s-sounding stuff."

"It's all upbeat and we like playing the late-night shows because our music is definitely conducive to dancing and having a good time," he tells us. If you don't believe us, just check out a few beautiful photos from his Mountain Jam performance in the gallery below, and enjoy our full interview with Benevento in the video above.