Tim Reynolds comes to the Triumph Brewing Company

Known mostly for his appearances with the Dave Matthews Band, Tim Reynolds proved on November 11th that he can hold his own without Dave and company. Playing in a small club in New Hope, New Jersey, the guitar wizard and his band, TR3, showed the room of only 175 people an intimate set of variety and fun. While I knew Tim Reynolds for his time with the band DMB and his solo acoustic work, I was pretty unfamiliar with the Tim Reynolds Trio (TR3). Joined with a bass player and a drummer, Reynolds played many songs of many styles - soft, loud, instrumentals, blues, heavy rock, danceable, and ambient, there were no limits. Many songs obviously featured Reynolds' virtuosic guitar work and his ability to manipulate sound which happened to be my favorite parts of the night. But in addition to these, there were also simpler upbeat songs where Reynolds took the microphone.

One of the highlights of the night included their rendition of James Brown's "Sex Machine." This was one of many points in the night where the crowd was able to see Reynolds' goofy personality with this fun carefree jam, complete with crazy hats and a dancing Elmo. My two personal favorite original songs of theirs were both from their newest album Radiance: a slow blues called "Test of Time" and "Sweet Spot" an upbeat shuffle.

The trio ended the night with a version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," hinting at parts of "Kashmir" in the middle. The band played around 20 songs for two hours, leaving everybody in the room breathless and with smiles on their faces. Reynolds and the rest of TR3 showed the audience that they are three tremendous musicians who go on stage every night and have a good time.

I strongly recommend that fans of the Dave Matthews Band and solo guitar players, such as Stevie Ray Vaughn and Eric Johnson, see this show.