A dozen years ago this summer, I wrote one of the more impactful columns of my life. Not that it was necessarily impactful on the world — though it is something I still get asked about — but it certainly altered the course of my career. “Is Phish A Great Band?” was the headline. It’s funny how controversial that seemed in 2013, given the recent run of lengthy profiles in prestige publications about the band. Back then, “Is Phish A Great Band?” qualified as hackles-raising clickbait. But for me, it signaled a change of direction in my life as a writer and listener.

The column was about more than Phish, at least subtextually. It was also about my growing interest and engagement with the jam-band world. Before I wrote it, I had been dabbling in that space privately for years, naturally

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