One of the earliest moments in Phish’s musical history that showed the type of star power they would come to find themselves surrounded by regularly was their release of the album, Hoist. Joining them on that album were the Tower of Power horns, Bela Fleck was picking his banjo on a few spots, and Alison Krauss joined the band for the beautiful “If I Could,” always a top contender for the fans’ pick for Top Phish Ballad on the lists that regularly crop up on PT. Even Trey said at the time, “the most exciting thing for us was having Alison on the record. We listen to her albums all the time.”
The album, released on January 1st, 1994, went on to bring Phish into the dorm rooms on many that hadn’t heard the band before, especially with a music video on MTV for “Down with Disease,” and it’s definitely become a major fan favorite as a result.
Later in the year as the band toured throughout the US, they made a stop in Antioch, TN to play the Starwood Amphitheatre on May 3, 1994. Rain forced the band into the larger part of the venue (and forced them to use Hank Williams Jr.’s gear), and after the second set kicked off with “David Bowie”, the band actually welcomed Alison Krauss to the stage for the Hoist ballad.
Beautiful. 🙌🏻
