04/28/2026
This. THIS is the brain twisting and turmoil we must endure for the Hillside Album Hour at MerleFest.
Most excellent!
Thanks to The Waybacks!
2026 HILLSIDE ALBUM HOUR GUESS-A-THON: THE CLUES DECIPHERED!
OMG. Where do we start? Saturday’s Hillside set was emotionally cathartic and uplifting for us; hopefully y’all felt some of that as well. Seems like ya did, and we appreciate you sticking with us in the rain. The dance party happening off of stage left was epic and inspiring!
We presented our take on Bob Marley’s greatest hits collection “Legend," released in 1984 on Island Records. (Wikipedia claims that it's the best-selling reggae album of all time.)
As always we surrounded ourselves with world-class talent, without whom the Album Hour would not be the grand spectacle you've come to expect. This year's guests were our dear friend Lamont Van Hook, who handled the bulk of the lead vocals; Maggie Rose and AJ Lee who both contributed wonderfully soulful leads on a couple of tunes; Jens Kruger - resident banjo genius and perennial collaborator; MP Gannon who added stellar slide guitar; Jim Lauderdale (of course!); Sam Bush, who rocked the electrified mandolin and treated us to War Pigs and One Love; the truly phenomenal Jake Shimabukuro who made us feel ALL the feels; and our favorite keyboard wizard and honorary Wayback Red Young!
In typical Album Hour fashion we included brief tributes to recently departed icons Brian Wilson, Ozzy Osborne, Sly Stone, D’Angelo, Steve Cropper, Country Joe McDonald, and Spinal Tap (director Rob Reiner).
We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the ways you chose to engage with us in the weeks, days, and hours leading up to the big reveal. It proved to be great fun for us to follow you down the garden paths of logic and illogic as you applied yourselves to this annual guessing game. We may not have played the album you were hoping for, but we do believe that you were entertained!
For those of you who dutifully followed along with the six clues we dished out in advance of the show, here are the origins of each clue:
Clue #1: "Something's afoot."
What is a foot? A foot is a thing on the end of your leg. A leg end. Legend.
Clue #2: "We've been sailing with a cargo full of love and devotion."
This is a lyric from "Rock The Boat," a number one hit from 1974 by the Hues Corporation. The song title points to the "Don't rock my boat" refrain from Marley's tune "Satisfy My Soul."
Clue #3: "Call me Ishmael."
The opening line from Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick, a story about whalers. Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Clue #4: "Cement Mixer Put-Ti Put-Ti.":
This is the title of a charmingly silly novelty song by Slim Gaillard from 1946. A cement mixer stirs cement. This clue points to Bob Marley's tune "Stir It Up."
Clue #5: "Matronly Bear Trees Teenager."
We cranked up the analog anagram machine for this one.
Matronly bear trees = Robert Nesta Marley.
In the early 1960s Bob Marley, along with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer developed a ska vocal group called the Teenagers. The group soon changed their name to the Wailing Rudeboys and then to the Wailing Wailers before settling on The Wailers.
(For the record - we don't use a program or AI to generate anagrams, we crank them out the old-fashioned way on a travel Scrabble set!)
Clue #6: "Every night Joe Cocker had the strangest dreams."
Joe Cocker had a hit in 1969 with his version of Dave Mason's "Feelin' Alright." The second line of the first verse is "Every night I have the strangest dreams." The song title points to the refrain from Bob Marley's tune One Love - "Let's get (join) together and I'll feel alright."
We received two correct guesses. Paul Pawlowski was the first, and he backed up his entry by showing his homework. He nailed 3 of the 6 clues. Paul understood the assignment! David Scott Davis also got it right. Big thanks to EVERYONE for playing along!
