Rhythm Devils feat Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann & Mickey Hart

The Rhythm Devils are a band led by founding Grateful Dead drummers Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart. The Rhythm Devils had their origins as an informal but frequent fixture in the Grateful Dead concert repertoire. Starting in the mid-to-late 1970s, and continuing until the Grateful Dead's last concert in 1995, most Grateful Dead concerts featured an extended segment during the 2nd set of improvisational drumming and percussion by Hart and Kreutzmann who took over the stage as a duo (with occasional guests). This segment was variously known to fans as "Rhythm Devils", "Drums", or conversationally as "the drums", and was usually followed in post-1979 concerts by another extended improvisation by the rest of the band, usually without the drummers, which known as "Space". The "Rhythm Devils" segment of a Grateful Dead concert almost always segued out of a full-band song, and the "Space" segment almost invariably would segue into the beginnings of another full-band song as the drummers resumed their thrones with the rest of the band. The Grateful Dead album Dead Set has a characteristic example of a 1980 "Rhythm Devils" segment which is titled as such, and which is followed by a "Space" segment.







Rhythm Devils has announced a lineup that includes Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann (assorted percussion), Tim Bluhm of the Mother Hips (guitar, vocals), Sikiru Adepoju (talking drum), Davy Knowles (guitar, vocals), and Andy Hess (bass). Together, they will take music beyond the horizon to a universe where rhythm is in constant flux and sound has infinite potential.