Guitarist Jim Weider, who was a 17-year-old Woodstock resident, will bring the sound he helped define there to a converted 19th-century church in Springfield's Forest Park neighborhood on Friday, October 16. The Weight Band takes the stage at 52 Sumner at 8 p.m., playing a catalog that stretches from deep Americana roots to original material co-written in the Hudson Valley.
The show is the latest booking at 52 Sumner, a space operated by the non-profit Springfield Performing Arts Ventures Inc. inside the former Faith United Church, a 125-year-old building designed by architect William Van Alen, who later achieved international fame designing New York City's Chrysler Building, according to Explore Western Mass. Renovations removed the traditional pews and added modern lighting and sound, part of an effort to widen access to affordable live performance in Greater Springfield, as BusinessWest reported.
A Direct Line Back to The Band
Weider's connection to the material runs deeper than most tribute acts. He joined a re-formed lineup of The Band in 1985, stepping in for original guitarist Robbie Robertson, and toured internationally for 15 years alongside original members Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko, until Danko's death in December 1999 ended the group, according to Guitar World. As reported by MassLive, Weider performed on The Band's studio albums “Jericho,” “High on the Hog” and “Jubilation,” and he has described the group's sound simply as “the Woodstock sound.”
Per the MassLive account, Weider was a 17-year-old Woodstock resident when he attended the Woodstock Festival in 1969, saying he went mainly to see The Band perform, while also praising the festival sets by Sly Stone, The Who and Joe Cocker. He has cited influences ranging from Elvis and Chuck Berry to The Ventures, Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds, John Mayall, B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King and Jesse Ed Davis — a lineage that helps explain the band's blend of classic Americana, roadhouse rock, funky swamp pop, blues, country soul and folk, the outlet notes.
From Levon Helm's Barn to Original Albums
The Weight Band itself traces back to 2013, when Weider formed the group inside Levon Helm's Woodstock studio barn, where it began by playing Band songs, according to Relix. The band has since released two studio albums, “World Gone Mad,” recorded in 2018, and “Shines Like Gold,” whose nine original tracks were recorded live over four days at Clubhouse Studio in Rhinebeck, New York, during the pandemic. Longtime collaborator Colin Linden produced the album and co-wrote its title track with Weider, per Americana UK.
Friday's setlist in Springfield will draw from both records as well as Band staples including “The Weight” and “Up on Cripple Creek,” alongside covers from the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan and others, the MassLive report states. Dylan combined blues and rock with folk music, while The Band's own sound fused blues, rock and roll, rockabilly and country — the twin influences that still anchor the Woodstock sound the group is carrying forward.
A Band Built From Band Alumni
The current lineup features musicians who passed through the extended Band and Helm orbit. Keyboardist and vocalist Brian Mitchell performed with the Levon Helm Band, according to The Evening Sun. Bassist and vocalist Albert Rogers shared the stage with Levon Helm and Garth Hudson, per the MassLive account, while drummer and vocalist Michael Bram splits his touring schedule between The Weight Band and a run as Jason Mraz's drummer that lasted seven years, according to Infinity Music Hall.
Keyboardist and vocalist Matt Zeiner toured extensively with Allman Brothers Band co-founder Dickey Betts, Infinity Music Hall notes, rounding out a group whose combined resumes read like a who's who of roots-rock touring history.
A Multi-Use Hub for Springfield's Forest Park
Beyond touring acts like The Weight Band, 52 Sumner is intended as a broader arts hub for the neighborhood, with an arts mission that has drawn interest from local groups.
Tickets for Friday's 8 p.m. show are priced at $39 and $55, according to the MassLive report. For a city still working to grow its cultural footprint one restored building at a time, a sold-out night built on Woodstock pedigree would be a notable marker of how far the renovated Forest Park sanctuary has come since its pew-filled days as Faith United Church.
