''Farmhouse'' is the ninth studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by the American rock band

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, drummer Jon Fishman, and keyboardist Page McConnell, all of whom perform vocals, with Anastasio being the ...

. The album was released on May 16, 2000, by

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the ...

. ''Farmhouse'' was the last

studio album before their two-year hiatus between October 2000 and December 2002. The album's first single, "Heavy Things", was one of Phish's most successful radio hits; it was the band's only song to appear on a mainstream pop radio format, reaching #29 on ''Billboards

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

chart that July. The song also became the band's biggest hit to date on the

Adult Alternative Songs Adult Alternative Airplay (also known as Triple A or Triple A Airplay, and formerly Adult Alternative Songs and Triple A Songs) is a record chart currently published by ''Billboard'' that ranks the most popular songs on adult album alternative radi ...

chart, reaching #2 there. The song had previously been performed for live broadcast during the overnight set of Phish's New Year's Eve 2000 show at Big Cypress as part of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's coverage of New Year's festivities around the globe. Owing in part to the mainstream exposure of "Heavy Things", ''Farmhouse'' had the highest-ever first week sales for a Phish record. The album was certified gold by RIAA on January 30, 2006.

Production

Songwriting for ''Farmhouse'' was a joint effort between Trey Anastasio and Phish lyricist Tom Marshall, with contributions from

Tony Markellis Tony Markellis (10 September 1952 – 29 April 2021) was a bassist and record producer, born in Helena, Montana, to a Greek immigrant, Constantine Markellis, and the daughter of Greek immigrants, Victoria Carkulis, residing in Saratoga Springs, N ...

Russ Lawton Trey Anastasio Band, or TAB, is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Trey Anastasio of Phish. The band has existed in several permutations since 1998. Versions of the band have had different members, and briefly used th ...

and Scott Herman. All of the songs were already part of Phish's live concert song rotation before being recorded for the album, some dating back to 1997. The tracks were recorded at The Barn, frontman

Trey Anastasio Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 ...

's studio in

Chittenden County, Vermont Chittenden County () is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, its population was 168,323. The county seat is Vermont's most populous municipality, the city of Burlington. The county has over a quarte ...

. The introduction to "Piper" is an extract from the band's live performance of the song on July 18, 1999, at their Camp Oswego Festival in

Volney, New York Volney is a town in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 5,926 at the 2010 census. The town was named after a French author, Constantin François de Chassebœuf, comte de Volney, who toured the area in 1808. The Town of Vol ...

. There is also a Japanese version of the album available as an import which include two bonus studio out-take tracks from the Farmhouse recording sessions which are "Driver" and "Mist" (sometimes referred to as "Mountains in the Mist"). These two songs are currently not available in any format online by Phish although as of December 2018 it can be purchased in its original CD format on Amazon.com and possibly elsewhere for about twice the price of the standard version of the album. Early incarnations of several tracks from the album can be heard on the 2000 release ''

Trampled by Lambs and Pecked by the Dove ''Trampled by Lambs and Pecked by the Dove'' is a collection of raw tracks and song sketches written and recorded by Trey Anastasio and Phish lyricist Tom Marshall in Vermont farmhouses over four weekends in 1997. The collection was released on ...

'', a collection of song sketches and demos recorded by Anastasio and Marshall. The song "First Tube" was nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. In February 2009, the album was made available as a download in

FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...

and

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formats at LivePhish.com. A new 2-LP vinyl version of the album was announced on May 31, 2023, for an official release on June 30, 2023, sourced from the original 1/2" master reels. The original version of the record on vinyl was on one single LP, sourced from digital.

Critical reception

''Farmhouse'' received mainly positive reviews. Jason Ankeny of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised the album as Phish's "rootsiest and most organic effort to date... ndalso their most fully developed – these are complete, concise songs and not simply outlines for extended jams, boasting a beauty and intimacy which expands the group's scope even as it serves notice of a newfound pop accessibility." ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.

Track listing

Charting singles

: 2000, Heavy Things (No. 22, Adult Top 40)

Personnel

– guitars, lead vocals, horn and string arrangements *

Page McConnell Page Samuel McConnell (born May 17, 1963) is an American multi-instrumentalist, most noted for his work as the keyboardist and a songwriter for the band Phish. McConnell joined Phish in 1985, and is the only member of its long-standing quartet li ...

– keyboards, backing vocals *

Mike Gordon Michael Eliot Gordon (born June 3, 1965) is an American bass guitarist and vocalist most recognized as a founding member of the band Phish. In addition to bass, Gordon plays banjo, piano, and guitar. He is a filmmaker ('' Rising Low'', '' Outs ...

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

Jon Fishman Jon Fishman (born February 19, 1965) is an American drummer and co-founder of the band Phish, which was, in part, named after him. He is credited with co-writing nineteen Phish songs, eight with a solo credit. Early life Fishman was born in Ph ...

– drums, backing vocals Additional musicians *

Jerry Douglas Gerald Calvin Douglas (born May 28, 1956) is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prol ...

– dobro on "The Inlaw Josie Wales" *John Dunlop – cello on "Dirt" *Roy Feldman – viola on "Dirt" *

Béla Fleck Béla Anton Leoš Fleck (born July 10, 1958) is an American banjo player. An acclaimed virtuoso, he is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, playing music from bluegrass, jazz, classical, rock and various ...

– banjo on "The Inlaw Josie Wales" *Dave Grippo – saxophone on "Gotta Jibboo" *David Gusakov – violin on "Dirt" *Jennifer Hartswick – trumpet on "Gotta Jibboo" *James Harvey – trombone on "Gotta Jibboo" *Laura Markowitz – violin on "Dirt" *Andy Moroz – trombone on "Gotta Jibboo"

References

External links

Phish's official website
* Live at Big Cypress NYE 1999 (ABC TV) {{Authority control 2000 albums Jammy Award winners Phish albums LivePhish.com Downloads Elektra Records albums Country rock albums by American artists Folk rock albums by American artists