Mickey Hart Band drums up US tour

Grateful Dead drummer/percussionist Mickey Hart [ tickets ] has plans to take his band out for a 20-city spin this summer.The musicians will start early next month with festival performances in Santa Rosa, CA, and Lawrence, KS, and then move into July, when they'll play a host of US theaters and festivals across the East Coast and Midwest. Details are listed below.The Mickey Hart Band features guitarist Steve Kimock, bassist George Porter Jr., vocalist Jen Durkin, drummer Walfredo Reyes Jr. and talking-drum master Sikiru Adepoju. On the road, the group will perform the Robert Hunter-penned songs debuted by the Rhythm Devils in 2006--including "Fountains of Wood," "The Center" and "Your House"--in addition to Grateful Dead staples such as "New Speedway Boogie" and "Fire on The Mountain," according to a press release.The outing comes just as the Rhythm Devils, co-founded by Hart and fellow Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, are getting ready to drop a two-disc DVD collection, "Rhythm Devils Concert Experience." The set was filmed in Chicago during the band's 2006 tour and includes interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.Last year, Hart reunited with Adepoju, Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and conga player Giovanni Hidalgo to record "Global Drum Project," a follow-up to 1991's "Planet Drum," which won the first-ever Grammy for Best World Music Album. Other performers on the October release include Taufiq Qureshi (percussion/vocals), Niladari Kumar (sitar) and Dilshad Khan (sarangi). Sampled vocals are provided by the late West African percussionist Olatunji, who also played on "Planet Drum."In March and April, the Shout! Factory label reissued a series of titles from Hart's catalog, including "Planet Drum," "At The Edge," "Diga Rhythm Band," "Superlingua" and "Mystery Box." The albums are also available as digital downloads for the first time.