Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm Shecky
and I wanted you to picture something for a moment.
It's a Sunday evening, Foley Beach, South Carolina.
There's a little bar right on the edge of the
ocean called the Surf Bar. Wood stoves burning,
surf videos flickering on the wall, sand between
the floorboards. On every Sunday night, the same
three musicians set up, start playing and the
whole town shows up. Nobody announced it. Nobody
printed a flyer. The music just started and the
people came. That is how Danger Muffin built
their following one Sunday night at a time at
a bar where Gershwin once walked the same shore
in a town so alive with music it was almost named
Gershwin Island. A trio whose sound could only
have come from exactly that place at exactly
that time played by exactly those people. Today
we're talking about Danger Muffin and by the
end of this episode you're going to want to drive
to Foley Beach, walk into the surf bar and stay
forever. Foley Beach is a barrier island just
south of Charleston, South Carolina. It's not
a big place, about two square miles, a main strip
of bars and surf shops. and the Atlantic Ocean
pressing in on all sides. George Gershwin lived
there in 1934 while writing Porgy and Bess. That's
the energy of Folly Beach, creative, unhurried,
infused with the salt and heat of the Carolina
coast. Dan Lodi arrived there with a guitar,
a set of songs, and a voice that reviewers would
later describe as carrying an unmistakable light
rasp. the kind of voice that sounds like it has
already lived a few good stories. He connected
with guitarist Mike Savilli whose sly driven
guitar work could pivot from bluegrass twang
to almond brothers flavored southern rock without
a moment's notice and they found their rhythmic
anchor in Steve Sandifer, a Nashville veteran
percussionist who played with the Drew Emmett
band and Adrian Young, and who can move from
Calypso to the world beat to a down -home shuffle
often within the very same song. The three of
them started playing the surf bar on Sunday nights.
No big strategy, no tour manager, no label meetings,
just the surf bar, the wood stoves, the surf
videos on the wall, and a growing crowd of Folly
Beach residents who came back every week because
the music made them feel like they were exactly
where they were supposed to be. That residency
became reputation. That reputation became bookings.
And those bookings eventually became a national
touring career. Over a hundred shows a year,
coast to coast, opening for Xavier Rudd and Widespread
Panic, playing Jazz Aspen in Colorado, earning
a slot at the Wani Festival and gathering of
the vibes. All of it growing directly from one
bar, one island, one Sunday night at a time.
Danger muffin. Let's sit with that for a second.
On one hand, it's completely ridiculous. Danger.
Muffin. Two words that have no business being
next to each other. On the other hand, and this
is the part that matters, it's absolutely perfectly
undeniably them. Relix magazine's editor -in
-chief, Josh Barron, captured it exactly when
reviewing the band. Don't let the name fool you.
Danger Muffin is not another run -of -the -mill,
directionless jam band. Just like many a funny
name band before them, Fish, The String Cheese
Incident, Umphrey's McGee, Danger Muffin is likely
to become synonymous with those fans who love
bands and deliver something new and promising
each show. Their bio describes the music as a
punchy folk jam pastry for the sweet toothed
soul of the South. A pastry. They're definitely
leaning into the muffin thing with commitment.
And I respect that completely. One song for Danger
Muffin is Coffin Island. the closing track from
their 2010 breakthrough album Moonscapes. And
I'm picking it because it's the most complete
single statement of what this band is capable
of. And because the arc of that song is one of
the most surprising and satisfying listening
experiences in any album from this era of jam
music. It starts as a swaying in the palm trees
acoustic ballad a ukulele, gentle and coastal
and completely disarming. You think you know
exactly where you are. You think you know what
kind of song this is going to be. Lodi's voice
comes in with a light rasp and the whole thing
floats. And then, over the course of eight minutes,
it completely transforms. The ukulele gives way
to electric guitars. The guitars get louder.
The dynamics start climbing. And by the time
Coffin Island reaches its conclusion, Mike Savilli
is delivering what one reviewer called an eight
-minute guitar assault that leaves the hair on
the back of your neck standing on end. The same
song start to finish from ukulele lullaby to
full -scale sonic demolition with complete logic
connecting every step of the journey. That is
Danger Muffin Magic in one track. the deceptive
gentleness at the opening, the depth hiding underneath,
the willingness to go somewhere you didn't see
coming, and the technical ability to pull it
off without ever losing the thread. The whole
Moonskates album is extraordinary. The title
itself comes from Lodi's observation that when
the tide goes out on Folly Beach, the tidal pools
left behind looks like moon craters. a band named
after a muffin making philosophical observations
about tidal pools and the moon. That is Danger
Muffin. Start with Culfin Island, stay for everything
else. Alright, some things you need to know about
Danger Muffin. Well, the first fact is the Allman
Brothers manager compared them to the Grateful
Dead. Bert Holman, the longtime manager of the
Allman Brothers band, one of the most respected
figures of Southern rock, heard Danger Muffin
and said publicly Relix Magazine named them Jam
-Off Winners. In April 2009, Relix Magazine,
the Bible of the Jamworld, ran their Jam -Off
competition and named Danger Muffin the Winners.
That recognition opened national doors immediately.
Sirius XM's Jam -On and Outlaw Country stations
began airing their music regularly, giving them
satellite radio airplay alongside artists with
far more established track records. Third fact,
Dan Lody won the Songwriters Hall of Fame New
Writers Showcase. In 2005, before Danger Muffin
was even a band, songwriter Dan Lody won the
Songwriters Hall of Fame New Writers Showcase.
That is a currential that has nothing to do with
genre or the scene. It's pure songwriting recognition
for the most prestigious institutions in American
music. The man at the center of Danger Muffin
is not just a performer, he's a genuinely exceptional
songwriter. Fourth fact, Keller Williams played
bass on their album. The track Little Douglas
from Songs for the Universe features Keller Williams
on bass and backing vocals. Keller described
it as a lighthearted song about herbal enlightenment,
which tells you everything you need to know about
the mood. Williams has been a beloved figure
across multiple episodes of this podcast. His
willingness to show up for younger bands and
bring his gift to their sessions is one of the
great ongoing stories in the scene. Another fact,
they wrote a film score and backed Carrie Fisher's
daughter. After taking a step, From touring around
2018, Dan Lodi and Mike Savilli co -founded a
production company called Morning Moon. Through
that work, they backed actress and singer Billie
Lourd, Carrie Fish's daughter, during live performances
and composed the score for the film, Wildflower
starting Kiernan Shipka. A band that started
playing Sunday nights at a beach bar ended up
writing Music for Hollywood. That is a full arc.
Last fact. Their 2024 album was recorded in a
church -turned -legendary studio. The self -titled
2024 comeback album was recorded at Echo Mountain
in Asheville, North Carolina. A former church
that has hosted band of horses and the Avett
brothers. Lodi described the room as a very special
place to play music. The walls of that church,
with their history and their renaissance, became
part of the album sound and the ways that can't
be manufactured anywhere else. Okay, here's what
I keep on coming back to with Danger Muffin.
They started a bar on an island where George
Gershwin once wrote Summertime and the livin'
is easy. And they built something that has the
same quality and music that makes you feel at
a cellular level like life could be simpler and
more beautiful than you remembered not naive
not surface level underneath all that breezy
coastal folk jam warmth there is real depth coffin
island eight -minute guitar explosion the Cherokee
creation myths and the Unitarian Church vocals
and the mountain solitude that fed Lodi's writing.
It's all there. The Allman Brothers manager heard
the Grateful Dead in them. Relix magazine gave
them their Jam -Off Award. Sirius XM played them
on two different stations simultaneously. A Hollywood
production company came knocking. All of it started
from three people and a Sunday night at the surf
bar. Find Coffin Island on Moonscapes. Find songs
from the universe if you want to go deeper into
the philosophy. Find the self -titled 2024 album
if you want to hear what Danger Muffin sounds
like fully grown, recorded in a church in Asheville
with the mountains pressing in and 20 years of
music behind them. And if you are ever anywhere
near Foley Beach on a Sunday evening, you know
what to do. Show up. The music will find you.
That's Danger Muffin and that's Shecky's Jam
Bands. Thank you for listening and I'll see you
next time.