Album Notes

Oversoul's primordial beginnings can be traced to a dorm room at UC San Diego in june of 1993 where guitarists John McGaraghan (See also Summertime in California at http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmlees) and Zac Matthews and drummer Kevin Bell discovered the deep satisfaction of a perfect three part harmony. They met bassist Bryan Horne later that year, and hit the scene, bringing the spirit of perfect harmony as well as a fun loving experimental and improvisational attitude to their songwriting and arrangements as well as to their vocal stylings. In 1994, banjoist Ian Waight joined the fold, completing the band. The group toured extensively over the next several years, taking every opportunity to perform, including live radio and television performances, parties, bars, beaches, desert washes, parking lots and college campus events. Over time, Oversoul came to be know as much for their experimental and extended improvisational style as for their tight compositions, moving harmony vocals, and textured arrangements.

In 1996, the band finally went in to a professional studio to record a follow up to their homegrown releases "Alive in the Living Room" and "4:20". The resulting album "Grow" captures all the best Oversoul had to offer in their heyday -- smoking songwriting, spot on vocal harmonies, inspired jams, rootsy acoustic performances, and just plain old good-time tunes. "Grow" is nothing short of an epic recording of a band at their peak.

Members of Oversoul have embarked from that peak and went on to do incredible things. Bryan, Ian, and Zac formed the groundbreaking JamGrass group Hot Buttered Rum (Ian later left to pursue other interests). Kevin rejoined musical cohorts from his youth and established San Francisco's sultry and scintialliting groove funk soul experience J.P. Orbit. John founded Bay Area Americana Rock and Roll outfit King Harvest, and continues to work as a solo performer, producer, and side man as well as playing mandolin from time to time with Berkeley-based new-timey, alt.bluegrass band The Skinny.