By now, the history has been written about the quintessence of the Grateful Dead in 1960s and early 70s America and the particular place they hold in the far-reaching and often ill-defined realm of American hippiedom. They are a metonym for all things groovy and psychedelic—they were the heart and soul of the Acid Tests, their legions of Deadheads redefined what it means to be part of a music community, and they were the winking eye of the storm around which the strange and powerful winds of the counter-culture churned and whirled—shaking up the antiquated truisms that permeated the stuffy and repressive ideologies of pre-Baby-Boomer America.

Yet Mickey Hart (one half of the Rhythm Devils, the Grateful Dead’s percussion backbone) is not satisfied to bask in the glow still burning strong from the fire on the mountain. No, he has been working hard in his various musical laboratories to synthesize the vibrations of the universe into resonant frequencies that we can hear; he’s been inside the human mind to see what effect rhythm has on the brain for therapy purposes; he has been a lifelong Songcatcher, capturing the sounds of ancient civilizations for future generations to appreciate; and he has used his talents for good by advocating for numerous causes including writing the song “Jersey Shore” for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Hart is a generous conversationalist who is genuinely excited to discuss his passions and current projects. I spoke with him about his band’s new album Mysterium Tremendum and the Worlds Within Tour that is making its way to the Paradise Rock Club in Boston on May 19, as well as a host of other topics that walked a well-cultivated line between science and artistry. We went to the edge and back. Hopefully you, dear reader, can come along for the ride.

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KWS: You worked with George Smoot, who was the 2006 Nobel Prize recipient in Physics for his work with the Cosmic Background Explorer. How did the two of you join forces?

MH: George was a fan, and I had met him backstage a couple of times. Then when I started to investigate the cosmos, who better to go to than George? He measured the beginning of time and space, the Big Bang. I was really interested in how it all began, and George happened to be someone I knew. He pinned the tail on the donkey.

With this album you are focused on the astrophysics, the realm of the extremely large. Do you have any plans to go into the quantum?

Right now I am going into the micro, as opposed to the macro. Currently I am sonifying brain waves, stem cells, DNA to find out what the essentials of life sound like. I am trying to complete some kind of timeline from the beginning of time into the essential ingredients for life itself.

You’ve also worked with Adam Gazzaley, director of Neuroscience Imaging Center at UCSF; could you tell me about that? You were able to convert the Alpha, Gamma, and Theta rhythms of your brain to music.

He’s another colleague that is interested in the rhythm of things, the brainwave function is one of his specialties. I do my research at the Gazzaley lab where they have all the machines to measure the micro.  At the beginning, we were able to find out what your brain looks like and sounds like in real time and we were able to play with it, to be able to manipulate it in some way to make music with it. That is another way of investigating the mystery of rhythm. That’s what we’re finding out now about from these really important sciences—that the basis of all of this is rhythmic, and that is where I come in. This is my personal investigation into what powers rhythm has: medical powers, diagnostic powers. I’m studying what rhythm really does beyond just making us dance and enjoying life.

What are some of the things that you’ve found that rhythm has done beyond just making us dance?

One of the things that is most important is that we know that we are made of vibrations. We are all vibrations, even our cheesecake is vibrations, and the Carbon in the cheesecake comes from vibration. We know that rhythm is the basis of all life. On a cerebral level, rhythm reconnects the broken synapses. Usually in dementia or any kind of brain disease there is a breakdown or a disconnect, the rhythms in your body aren’t firing and there’s no clear channel. What we do know is that rhythm and music reconnects those synapses and allows for vital organs to function. So, we are just learning about the science behind that, and that’s what I’m involved in. What does rhythm do to the body? What does it do for Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s or Autism disease?

On this album much of the music is in a darker tonality that engages the listener not necessarily on a foot-tapping or finger-snapping level but instead sends you into a thoughtful space. Did the science you are working with influence this aspect?

That’s the science of music, that’s the science of emotion. Those kinds of sounds and those kinds of keys allow you to reflect a little bit. It lets you get inside and it creates a certain kind of trance. Music can do a lot of things: it can entertain you, it can make you laugh or cry, it makes you think, and it can dumb you out. So that is part of the investigation and it just so happens that this is the kind of music that helps with that kind of investigation. That’s how I picked the band, finding musicians—and these are great musicians—I chose the willing. These are individuals who are interested in going into space and other zones and making music while having fun there, but really being enthusiastic, passionate and visionary about it. I’m having a blast with this band. The band is growing, it’s getting deep—it’s like a super-organism. It’s a very complex but happy organism and it’s growing.

How long did it take you to find that place where you connect with the other band members?

A long time. It wasn’t so easy. I auditioned these people, I researched them and I went to go see them. I got to know them first, and it finally came together. They had to be willing to change from their original style of music to play Mysterium Tremendum. The music we’re playing is different, it’s a hybrid. That’s something you just can’t demand from someone, they have to really want to do it. This is a different kind of thing, these aren’t people who just want to punch the clock. Our whole life is devoted to this passion. I’ve spent thousands of hours in preparation to play this music. That’s important to me, I take that very seriously. It’s an opportunity for me too. It’s an opportunity for the people there, as well, to hear real music—something that is new, inventive, visionary, bold. Robert Hunter is writing beautifully now. We have something like ten new songs we’ll be playing from the next record that he’s written.

Robert Hunter has been an influence on me and countless other people out there, can you talk about his writing on Mysterium and the upcoming record?

The thing about Hunter’s words is that you find yourself in situations that you can’t explain, and all of the sudden one of his amazing epiphanies explains everything. When you first heard it you may not have known what it actually meant, but here we are years later and something comes up and there is only one way to describe it and that was through those amazing insights that he had. It’s really fun working with him now because he’s soaring in his writing. This next load of songs is the best I think that we’ve ever done. Hunter and I have had a wonderful relationship for the entirety of the 47 years that we’ve worked together. You don’t have to prepare with Hunter, he goes to places that we have no idea even exist.

In your book Songcatchers you go into the balance between rhythm, ritual and the trance. Is this album continuing on this search for the balance.

That’s the game and that’s the dance. You walk up to music and you look at it for transformation. That usually happens in some kind of a ritual, whether it be a personal or some kind of a group ritual. When do you cross over? Well that is the personal investigation you have with music. Ritual is really important in finding that place where you cross over into the trance. It’s not like it happens every time. You have to work your way into it. It’s an altered state of consciousness, just like getting high, after you do it a long time you know how it’s done. You have to have the ability not to go too deep or too far, because you sometimes lose your ability to play, your dexterity. It’s the edge, I’m an edger—I love the edge. That’s where I have the most fun. That’s the commodity, going to the edge and bringing people there and coming back three hours later. Nobody gets hurt, everybody gets moved, everybody has an emotional change. I take it very seriously every night. It becomes a vehicle for transcendence, it becomes more than just a rock and roll band playing notes. That is the goal for me, not to play the song perfectly, that’s the least of my concerns. The idea is to conjure the feeling.

The band is an organism made up of complex systems in close proximity, all trying to sync to each other. That’s really quite a dance. Music is a miniature of what’s happening in the grand scheme of things, what’s happening up there in the spheres and the cosmos—music replicates all that, and that is our connection to the vibratory world. That’s why music is so important, we don’t yet know how important, but I tell you what, this is the century to find out.

Once we find out all the science behind the music will it then be demystified or will it make us even more awe-inspired by its power?

It deserves demystification, because that is the mystery. Once you find the code you will be able to repeat it on a day to day basis. Then it becomes really value, then it becomes medicine, not anecdotal. It needs to reinvent itself as another form, not just as entertainment. It is so much more, just like Tesla, when he first fell upon the powers of electricity—we didn’t know what to do with it, it’s invisible. You can’t see it, you can’t taste it—but you can feel it. It is a very magical and mysterious thing that needs demystification—but demystification will not dilute its power, I assure you. It will only increase it. It’s like DNA, once we find the rhythm of DNA and what rhythms do what at what time and for what reason then we have real power. When we have music as medicine and can prescribe for diseases that are afflicting us, we have power.

That’s the most interesting part about music in this century for me. I have to find out what it does first.

How different is the experience of playing live versus working in the studio?

I need both, because in the studio it’s really a laboratory for me. The studio is really important, because they’re the incubators. You find things, you forage—you make, you do, you do more. You can look at is as a really solid handshake between science and art. This is real science, not pseudoscience, if you look at the players they’re respected scientists. This takes real investigation. Without the studio, without the laboratory it’s unsophisticated.

People don’t have to be part of my science experiment if they don’t want to be, they can just be enjoying beautiful music—that’s the art side of it. I’m living the best of both worlds right now, and it’s really exciting.

One of the integral aspects of music is being able to break down the barriers that separate different cultures. It also plays a role in helping generations shake off the old ways of thinking. Has your experience been at all related to those aspects of music?

When I was five or six years old I came upon Pygmy music, and it riveted my imagination, so I was listening to music from other parts of the world, that was my diet. I began to appreciate music as the sounds of the whole earth. I didn’t know what I was listening to, because they were just discs sitting in my house that I had no idea how they got there. That expanded my consciousness, and allowed me to become a Pygmy, to experience a part of their life. It started to dawn on me that there was a world of people out there, not just people we were at war with. There were forests where people lived and made music—it gave me a worldview. I wondered why every culture had their own kind of music, even back then it fascinated me. That’s a big idea, to think that we were all part of world music. It is a certain kind of language. It freed me from having to live in this tiny little attic with my Mom in a Cape Cod house. That wasn’t much fun, but when I started listening to the Pygmies living in the forest, and so when I saw that the forests were being destroyed I thought to myself, “there is music that is getting destroyed as well.”

It reached me and freed me.

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Check out the Mickey Hart Band on May 19 at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston and listen to Mysterium Tremendum to hear the sounds of the universe. You can download “Jersey Shore” on MickeyHart.net to help the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Also, keep an eye out for new songs including “The Sermon” with lyrics by Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.

Joe Bennett plays guitar during soundcheck for the Mickey Hart Band’s concert at the Halton Theater in Charlotte, N.C., on May 8. (Photo courtesy of Jim Brown)

Spartanburg native and original Sparkletones front man Joe Bennett has been battling some life-threatening health problems in the past year.

Bennett’s ailments include Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s-related dementia stemming from his exposure to Agent Orange while serving in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War, and he and his family have been trying to secure full Veterans Administration benefits to help cover the costs of his medical treatment.

Through all of his struggles, however, Bennett has not lost his love for music. And that passion led to the immensely skilled guitarist and highly respected music educator getting to reunite last week with a buddy from his military days.

Bennett caught up with Mickey Hart of Grateful Dead fame when the legendary percussionist performed last Wednesday at the Halton Theater in Charlotte, N.C.

During the mid-1960s, then-Air Force servicemen Bennett and Hart played together in a band called Joe and the Jaguars.

Bennett took part in what was presumably one of the highlights of the Mickey Hart Band’s concert last week in Charlotte, joining the group on guitar for a rendition of the Sparkletones’ 1957 rockabilly hit, “Black Slacks.”

“Mickey Hart is my best and dearest friend,” Bennett said in an e-mail. “We’ve been friends for about 46 years. It was an honor to be a guest on the Mickey Hart show in the beautiful Halton Theater and perform ‘Black Slacks’ with the great Mickey Hart and his phenomenal band.

“It was true music therapy for me. I could feel the healing power of music throughout my soul.”

Bennett’s home health care includes physical therapy and occupational therapy, according to his wife, Doris. She said that Bennett practices his guitar daily for music therapy, which is a result of his having watched the 2011 film, “The Music Never Stopped.” Hart was instrumental in the production of the movie, which deals with the therapeutic power of music.

“After watching it, Joe was motivated to get on a daily routine of playing his guitar and listening to his own music, as well as his favorite artists, especially Mickey Hart,” Doris said.

Doris said that Bennett hung out with Hart before last Wednesday’s show and that the two musicians “talked about their Air Force days in Spain, how music technology has really advanced since their performing and recording days in Spain, the importance of music therapy, what music means to them personally, what great and wonderful fans they have (and) how very important their families are to them.”

Jim Brown, who many might know for his work as stage manager at John Featherston’s Music Camp, escorted Joe and Doris Bennett to Charlotte for what was initially going to be just a pre-show meeting with Hart.

Brown said it was obvious Bennett wanted to stay for the show. Brown, however, needed to return to Spartanburg early.

“Mickey actually rented a limo from Charlotte and hired someone to drive Joe and Doris back to Spartanburg,” Brown said. “If that doesn’t show you the regard that Mickey has for Joe, I don’t know what will.”

Because of Hart’s generosity, concertgoer David Drum got to witness an on-stage moment he’ll never forget. Drum, a Spartanburg native with a prior connection to Bennett, was at the show as part of a cancer charity called drumSTRONG.

“Being a Deadhead and having a connection with Mickey already had me stoked for the show,” said Drum, who now lives in Charlotte. “Unexpectedly, Mickey brought Joe on stage, introducing him as an old friend and an early influence in his music career. I had no idea that there was a tie between Joe Bennett and Mickey Hart.

“Joe played and sang a smoking ‘Black Slacks’ with the Mickey Hart Band. The audience went wild. There were chants of ‘Joe’ coming from all around me during the standing ovation.”

Joe Bennett plays “Black Slacks” with the Mickey Hart Band at the Halton Theater in Charlotte, N.C., on May 8. (Photo courtesy of David Drum)

Drum said that, for the rest of the night, he couldn’t help but think of the mentoring role Bennett played in his own musical evolution.

“My mind kept wandering back to the many practice sessions with Joe and (my) band Morpheus,” Drum said. “We played on a Pauline goat farm. It was a haul for Joe to come out.

“He taught us technique and stage presence. He always wanted me to push the tempo, as I drag a bit. He was patient, intuitive and very funny. One night when we nailed an arrangement, Joe said, ‘now that was jam down and jelly tight.’ When I speak with some of my old band mates, we always use that quote.”

Drum added that Bennett once spent an entire Saturday at Arthur Smith’s studio in Charlotte, helping Morpheus record a demo tape for publicity purposes.

“Joe was a giving man with a passion for music and for nurturing other’s interest in it,” Drum said. “He mentored many other bands. It was after (Wednesday’s) show that I learned of Joe and Mickey being in the Jaguars together, Joe’s health issues and the difficulty getting resources that he is owed as a veteran and grandfather of rock ‘n’ roll.

“I’m hoping, like Mickey Hart, many of Joe’s students will rally around him at this time of need.”

It’s worth noting that the Mickey Hart Band gave a performance last Saturday in Kempton, Pa., in which some of the proceeds were to be used to assist Bennett with his medical expenses.

According to a news release on the Rex Foundation website, Hart “also wants to raise awareness about both the challenges Vietnam veterans like Joe are facing, as well as the power of music therapy to help people with health issues like Joe’s.”

The Rex Foundation was established in 1983 as a non-profit charitable organization by members of the Grateful Dead.

Mickey Hart is probably one of the most iconic drummers out there. Best known for being an original member of The Grateful Dead and now for his experimentation with sound alongside his group The Mickey Hart Band, he can’t be stopped. However, he still wishes he had the chance to jam with one of the greats-Pythagoras.

TIMES SQUARE (TS): What do we have to look forward to from the show on May 10th at Stage 48 in NYC?

MICKEY HART (MH): Excitement, adventure, romance. You know, lots of grooves, make you feel good. Music has plenty power, make you feel good.

TS: How did you come to write a song for Hurricane Sandy Relief called Jersey Shore?

MH: Oh, the Jersey Shore. Well, it came about after an interview with Brian Williams and Bon Jovi and then ten minutes later the song came out and the band came over and recorded it and I was hoping that the people could get hope from this song. Even if it was one person getting through the night it was worth it. Also, giving to the organization on the ground, that we could pick up and help the people after this tragedy-so that was the story on Jersey Shore.

TS: Can you talk more about how you work with rhythm and sound and deconstruct it?

MH: Well, the things called sonification where you change one sound that is outside of your range whether it be above your range or below your auditory range into the range of human hearing and then make music of it. In my case, the last record was geared towards…..I concentrated on the epic events of the universe and onto black holes, galaxies, supernovas, planets and sun, the moon and the earth and now I’m into us. How fast, how loud, the way everything’s in there connects us to the mind. The neuroscience of rhythm, of music, that’s really what controls everything. Rhythm centers the brain so how it interacts with music sounds, vibrations interact with the brain is the most important thing in music now.

TS: What do you consider music therapy?

MH: Once you understand the brains resonance then you can change it. You can train it, you can get in sync with it, you can do things with it that you’re not aware of doing now. So….we’re close. We’re getting closer and closer to figuring out why when I play a guitar or a drum helps someone with Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. It reconnects them to the vibratory universe. We just don’t know exactly how to repeat on a daily basis so it’s not real medicine yet just therapeutic in some way. So, now we’re trying to make science medicine where the doctor can prescribe.

TS: You’re working on a new album with the Mickey Hart Band?

MH: Oh yes, a bunch of new songs by myself and Robert Hunter so they’ll be a fresh batch of new creations. We’re going to play them on the road and then we’re coming back to finish the new recording which should be out by August.

TS: How has it been working with Robert Hunter again?

MH: I’ve always worked with Hunter, it feels great. You know, I mean, he’s essential.

TS: What do you think is the power behind your collaboration?

MH: Well, we’ve known each other forty some odd years….forty six years. He kinda knows what I really like, he kinda knows what I can really get my teeth into and he’s the best at what he does so we’ve always had a fluid relationship. What’s it like working with him, what’s it like working with Dylan, you know? They’re in their own class.

TS: What was the most exciting part about playing with The Grateful Dead?

MH: Well, it certainly taught me about ritual and the power of one and the power of many and the power when a whole bunch of people believe in a common good there’s a lot of life in all that. So, the Grateful Dead was about life and making a better life-not only the performers but all the people that came to listen to that kind of music. So, it brought a lot of good in to the world….it still does. People appreciate the effort.

TS: What does music mean to you?

MH: It means everything. Music is life. Without music I would not be whole. That’s the short of the long of it. Music completes me. It makes me happy-it makes me healthy, it’s everything. I mean, without music I wouldn’t get that kind of exercise not just cerebral but also physically. I mean, it keeps me in shape being able to move up and down like that three hours a day-that’s a really great workout.

TS: Is there anyone you really want to work with that you haven’t had the chance to work with yet?

MH: Yeah, Pythagoras. Music is math. Pythagoras is the one that in 500 BC realized that the heavens were just a replication of music. Music was an imitation of miniature of what was happening in space. The planets rotating and everything-the universe became an instrument. He gave mathematical equation to all the moving orbs and that’s when we got the octave, the fifth, the seventh, the scale from Pythagoras so music is vibrations of rhythms and rhythm is what you do with time. See, you break up time using rhythm-that’s what Pythagoras….who would I like to have dinner with and play with? I would have to say the father of the science of music. I would treat Pythagoras really well.

TS: What do we have to look forward to from Mickey Hart?

MH: Well yeah, there’s a lot of things but I think the most important-well, the tour is really important because that’s where the music is birthed so a lot has gone into creating these zones, these soundscapes by and have fun with them so that’s a big thing in the next record and also this DVD which will come out really soon. It’s called Rhythms Of The Universe-and that is a thirty-five minute DVD of my sonification of the universe. It talks about a lot of things including Pythagoras-so that will be coming out. We’re going to be doing that at The Smithsonian at The IMAX Theater in the fall. SO yeah, all kinds of stuff but its really the band and music that is my focus and trying to get a date with Pythagoras.

Photo by Larry Hulst

Mickey Hart is at it again. He just played what seemed like a one-off show with members of Planet Drum, he’s touring with his self-named band and he’s also working at self-professed “breakneck speed” on a new album he plans to release this year. Hart took a break to talk about Planet Drum, how he is reinventing some of his older music, and just what’s happening with his brother in music, Bob Weir.

I heard that you, Giovanni Hidalgo, Sikiru Adepoju and Zakir Hussain—Planet Drum, of course—played Berkeley, CA’s Ashkenaz. How did that happen?

Yeah, that’s true. What happened was the four of us were actually in town at this one time. And it was the [85th] birthday of Baba Olatunji. So we had dinner together and headed over to Berkeley and played together for the first time in years and it was magic. It was a magic rhythm carpet ride. The four of us have a real thing. It has got a real unique feeling. We are rhythm brothers from way back.

So do you think you’ll do more together?

We might be thinking about reconstituting Global Drum and Planet Drum and all that stuff and maybe going out on the road with this.

What got you interested in doing some of that now? You seem so busy.

Those records— Global Drum and Planet Drum —not only did they both win Grammys but they also set pace for instrumental percussion. People love the percussion ensemble and of course we loved it too, but everybody in the band has their own careers as well. Everybody [lives] all over the map. They have the major maestro and virtuoso statuses so they have those kinds of careers.

Now we are going to get together again and try it out again and see where it takes us.

Do you see yourselves recording or touring?

Probably both touring and recording. We think this may be the right time. I think we really want to play with each other again. You might stay our trigger fingers are itching. The only way you can satisfy that is with the four of us—the core of Planet Drum, Global Drum reuniting. You can’t get that anywhere else. That is the thing about music; if it feels good you want to do it again.

Can you share some details?

We just came up with the notion last week. We don’t know! We can go wherever we want to go. We just have to say we want to go, where we want to go. Now everybody’s looking at their schedules and saying ‘When do you want to go? How do you want to go this?’ Really this is just in the formative stages so it’s funny you should ask me this.

That’s one thing about you, is that you’re always willing to try new music and not always recycling past songs in exactly the same way.

I play a little bit of that. You have to know what part of the past to bring with you and you have to know how to reimagine it. It has to grow. If it just sits there and you’re playing the same song and you get into a rut, then I just don’t see the value of that unless it is just a payday and unless you are punching the clock. That is where I am personally. There are some great songs that the Mickey Hart Band can play and just really devour. That is what I look for. And I look at the stuff we played and the big songs I love so much.

This week we reworked “Playing in The Band” that I wrote for my first solo record and then Grateful Dead got it. Tower of Power played horns on it. Those horn parts were never played by Grateful Dead or anybody. It never was played live. We used a different arrangement. We have learned the original version of “Playing with The Band” and “Greatest Story Ever Told,” so now we are going back to the very original kernel, the birth of all these songs. The Mickey Hart band is taking some of the amazing parts we as Grateful Dead said “No. Too complicated. Let’s forget it.” We made it into a Dead song as opposed to a Mickey song.

Mickey Hart, perhaps best known for his rhythmic genius on drums with the rock band Grateful Dead, is now in the process of picking up where he left off in his highly successful Worlds Within Tour. In a special performance at the Howard Theatre on Tuesday, he performs with his current group, the Mickey Hart Band.

While fans can expect a few Grateful Dead hits, the show will consist primarily of music from the band’s new album, “Mysterium Tremendum,” where he utilized the talents of Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. And it is through this album and the 2007 Grammy Award-winning “Global Drum Project” that Hart’s true passion is most manifest.

“I have combined sonic images of the formation of our universe with sounds drawn from musical instruments,” he explained. “It’s all about the vibrations that make up the infinite universe.”

Sound, rhythm and vibrations, and the power to transport the human psyche to worlds beyond via worlds within, have fascinated Hart for almost as long as he can remember.

“I was into the rhythm — the way things moved and sounded — when I was 4 or 5 years old.” he recalled. “The rain fascinated me, the cars, the buildings being destroyed. I was fixated on that as music. Musicians know that music works on a lot of levels — now science is beginning to measure those stimuli as a serious [entity.]”

Hart wants to be part of the process — music as medicine, therapy and a giver of energy.

Hart, who notes that “the band is on fire … and ready to play,” is joined onstage by percussionist Sikiru Adepoju, vocalist Crystal Monee Hall, singer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Bagale, drummer Greg Schutte, guitarist Gawain Mathews and keyboardist Jonah Sharp, and who also serves as sound engineer. Also performing are the African Showboyz, four brothers from Ghana who mesmerize audiences through rhythmic dance and raw energy.

Hart noted that audiences enjoy the new directions his music has taken.

“They stop shouting the songs now that they know they can be part of this experiment and this adventure of being able to be transported to other places and come back safely after three hours,” he said.

When Hurricane Sandy devastated the east coast last year, drummer Mickey Hart said he sat around watching the news, saddened but inspired by the resiliency shown.

“It was heart-wrenching,” Hart, one of the four living members of the Grateful Dead, said in a recent phone interview. “I saw Bon Jovi on NBC News and all of a sudden the song just popped into my head.”

The song he is referring to is titled “Jersey Shore,” and is available for free download at mickeyhart.net. Hart said he wanted to give back to the people affected by asking for donations from those who download the song. You can download it for free, but the site encourages you to donate whatever amount you can. Hart is giving 100 percent of the proceeds to the Sandy Relief Fund.

Hart said that he and his group, the Mickey Hart Band, collaborated to come up with the song. He gave credit to bassist Dave Schools, also of Widespread Panic, in helping the song develop.

“It was my idea for the song, but the entire band contributed,” Hart said. “It just popped out, but everyone in the band lent a voice to it. … To me, music is many things, and one of those is that it helps to heal, to sing about what hurts and to illuminate pain. It’s like medicine and it boosts confidence.”

Hart’s band has been going strong for three years now, with an ever-changing cast of musicians. For a guy who is about to hit his 70^th birthday, Hart said he is as inspired as ever to write new music – he disclosed that a new album should be released by the end of the summer – while keeping the Grateful Dead spirit alive by putting a new take on old classics. The album does not have a title yet, but Hart said that he and long-time Dead lyricist Robert Hunter have collaborated on it, and that Hunter is rejuvenated.

“Hunter is writing at the top of his game,” Hart said. “He’s still chock-full of ideas for great songs, and we’re gonna play those songs on this tour.”

Hart joined the Grateful Dead in 1967, right around the time Hunter moved into the famed house at 710 Ashbury St. in San Francisco. Hart said his relationship with Hunter is just as strong as it was 46 years ago.

“There’s no one like him,” Hart said. “He has an egoless style.”

The band recently wrapped up the first leg of the Worlds Within Tour and announced a second leg, which focuses mainly on the northeast. The tour starts May 8 in Charlotte, N.C., and concludes May 24 at the Dark Star Jubilee in Ohio. In between are stops in Virginia, New York City, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Boston and Burlington, Vt.

On May 22, Hart brings his band, which comprises vocalist Crystal Monee Hall, keyboardist Joe Bagale, guitarist Gawain Matthews, percussionist Sikiru Adepoju, with whom Hart won a Grammy in their Planet Drum project in the 1990s, drummer Greg Schutte and multi-instrumentalist Jonah Sharp to the Westcott Theater in Syracuse. The following night, the band will perform at the Water Street Music Hall in Rochester.

Schools will not be involved with this tour, as he has previous commitments. Schools said he is prepping for Widespread Panic’s upcoming summer tour. Schools joined the band in late 2011, and has toured with band ever since.

“He’s got a day job, man,” Hart said. “But I can say that ‘BassMountain’ is still a big part of the band. He and I have a great dynamic in working together.”

Filling in for Schools on the Worlds Within Tour is Adam Theis, who will also play trombone, according to Hart.

On Jan. 6, 2012, the band performed at the Westcott, throwing down some amazingly brilliant and completely different takes on the Dead’s repertoire. Hall’s voice adds a layer of depth the Dead didn’t have vocally. Prior to joining Hart’s team, Hall was a part of the Tony Award-winning musical RENT.

Before that show, Hart talked about his plans for taking light waves captured from outer space by scientists from Lawrence Berkeley Labs in California and turning them into sound bytes. From there, Hart used those sounds as either inspiration, or built a song or rhythm around them.

To Dead fans, this may bring up the “Drums>Space” segment that happened at almost every show, but Hart cautioned otherwise, saying: “This is not space like (the Dead) used to do; we’re not interpreting what space is. This is us using the source material, the sounds of space, to play with our sound. This band can do that.”

The conversation then turned toward the obvious: Will the living members of the Dead ever tour again? Was 2009’s tour the last?

“I can’t answer that,” Hart said. “I look forward to any reunion of any kind, but it has to feel good.”

Hart concluded the conversation by connecting the fans and the band.

“These shows are gonna throb,” he said. “Fans will experience it with us. We need the audience, and they need us. Each night will be three hours of powerful music, and I consider it a privilege that I continue to do this. I might not be able to do some of the things I was capable of in my 20s, but I can say I am focused. I’m almost 70 and I don’t see myself retiring.”

Mickey Hart Band – The Sermon

As a legendary member of the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart has continued to spread the vibe with his solo projects for many years and as the second leg of The Worlds Within Tour begins Hart shows no signs of slowing down. After a brief break from the road, the Mickey Hart Band has taken a chance to continue work on a new album for this fall and start back fresh on the road.

Mickey Hart Band – Ramble on Rose

Joining the Mickey Hart band this night will be the African Showboyz, providing a very appropriate dose of rhythm to start the evening off right and bringing us a glimpse of culture from Binaba, a tiny village in the northeast region of Ghana, West Africa.

Shutter 16 caught up with frontman (lead singer/keys/guitar) Joe Bagale to talk about his experiences with the Mickey Hart band and his solo work. Joe, just off the release of his latest album, Yesterday Once Again, has kept busy with a record release show last week and then back in the studio for rehearsal and recording with the Mickey Hart Band.

So as you are looking to get over the mid-week hump, head on down to the Halton Theater to share in the groove with the Mickey Hart Band and the African Showboyz as Charlotte helps the bands kick off the second leg of their tour in style.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA- The Mickey Hart Band has announced new May tour dates for the second leg of their Worlds Within tour.  The band will once again bring along Babatunde Olatunji protege’s, the African Showboyz, as main support for the tour.

The band has also released three free live tracks from their 3/6/13 Solana Beach, CA show including the brand new song, “The Sermon” featuring  lyrics by Robert Hunter.  “The Sermon”, along with Grateful Dead classics “Ramble On Rose” and “Playing in the Band”, is available at http://www.mickeyhart.net/download.

Hart commented on the progression of the band in a recent interview with the Tahoe Daily Tribune.  “We played 100 shows last year and it really tells when we get on stage,” said Hart.  “The band is on fire.  We are ready to play and this is going to be a great year for us.”  

The band is currently in the studio working on the follow up to Mysterium Tremendum. The Worlds Within Tour has provided great opportunity for the band to test out new material, including songs co-written by Hart and Robert Hunter.  “We have traversed the macro, the stars, the planets, now we journey into the micro,” says Hart.  “This band is truly a living, breathing organism.” 

The African Showboyz recently became accustomed to the ways of the Deadheads on the first leg of the near sold out tour.  In an article by the Aspen Times, Napoleon Sabbah, the band’s leader, talked about seeing a fan at a show in Lake Tahoe a few weeks ago. Two nights later, he saw the same gentleman at a concert in Eugene, Ore., nearly 500 miles away.  “I thought maybe he was a sound engineer,” Sabbah said from a tour stop in Boulder. “I told security — this man followed us from there to here. He said, ‘That’s the way it is.’”  Sabbah also noted that they feel that not only are they learning from Hart, but that Hart is becoming a bit more African in his musical expression.  “He’s playing, and at the same time, he’s chanting,” Sabbah said. “Which makes it more special, spiritual. In the northern part of Ghana, we chant.”

Tickets for the second leg of the Worlds Within tour are currently on sale at http://www.mickeyhart.net/shows.  100% of the ticketing fees sold through Mickeyhart.net will go to fund Music Therapy Research at UCSF.   All tickets sold through the website will include a free Mysterium Tremendum poster.

To see footage of the Mickey Hart Band band performing from their recent stop in Boulder, CO, filmed by MoBoogie, go here http://bit.ly/Zo5LYd.

05/11/13 Kempton Music Center – Kempton, PA- Rex Foundation Fundraiser

05/13/13 Avalon Theatre – Easton, MD

05/14/13 The Howard Theatre – Washington, DC

05/15/13 World Café Live- Wilmington, DE

05/17/13 The Palace – Stafford Springs, CT

05/18/13 Flying Monkey Performance Center – Plymouth, NH

05/19/13 Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA

05/21/13 Higher Ground – So. Burlington, VT

05/22/13 Westcott Theater – Syracuse, NY

05/23/13 Water Street Music Hall- Rochester, NY

05/24/13 Dark Star Jubilee – Thornville, OH

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Ashkenaz-turns-40-with-10-days-of-shows-4333938.php#ixzz2NeVJxRnL

I wanted to let you know that my middle school science students experienced Heartbeat of the Sun as part of our study of energy.

After a discussion of Cosmic Education, the beginning of the Universe, and some Yoga and meditation; we lay on the floor in a darkened room, closed our eyes, and listened to the song.

Afterwards we sat in a circle and talked about what we heard, felt, and imagined during the song. The students’ comments were amusing and insightful. They ranged from, “It sounded like the stars were having a conversation” to “I felt like I was connected to everything in the Universe” and even “I imagined I was riding across the galaxy on a giant chicken!”

I thought you might enjoy hearing this story, so I hope you get to read this message. I look forward to the next time I get to hear Heartbeat of the Sun live. It’s always a truly amazing experience.

Thanks for giving the stars a voice!