Rusted Root

The following musicians are (or were) members of Rusted Root:

Mike Glabicki (guitar, vocals)
Patrick Norman (guitar, bass, vocals)
Jim Donovan (drums, percussion)
Jim DiSpirito (drums, percussion)
Jenn Wertz (vocals; left the band in 1995)
Liz Berlin (guitars, vocals, lots of other stuff)
John Buynak (flute, visual arts (such as the liner notes and album covers), lots of other stuff)

(It's worth noting that Berlin and Buynak are the sort of musicians who should be characterized by the instruments they can't play, simply because they can play just about anything that comes their way. Of course, I've never actually seen them throw down an instrument and declare they can't play it, so I can't be any more specific than I've already been.)

Rusted Root have released the following albums:

1. Cruel Sun (1992?)
2. When I Woke (1994)
3. Evil Ways (EP) (1996)
4. Remember (1996)
5. Rusted Root (1998)

I was first introduced to Rusted Root during my college years spent at Slippery Rock University. This was back in 1993-94 when Cruel Sun was their only album.

Then I went away to Slovakia for two years. Soon after I came back in 1996-97, their first commercial album, Rusted Root was released.

They had done a number of things to make themselves more palatable. They reduced the overall length of their songs by removing their truly fantastic unending solos, watering down their overall sound, and applying the ‘studio magic’ that removed their otherwise rich lo-fi sound.

I was disgusted. Cruel Sun is such a superior work, the mind boggles In the imaginary world where I make up things and they are true, Rusted Root died in an airplane crash in 1993, and left behind a single perfect work.