Holly Bowling is not your typical pianist — far from it. The classically trained musician is also a diehard Phish fan, having attended over 300 shows. After being mesmerized, as so many of us were, by the famous “Tahoe Tweezer” of 2013, Holly set out to turn the 37-minute improvisational jam into a solo piano arrangement. The result was an unbelievably clever masterpiece that landed her on our radar (watch Holly’s interpretation of the Tahoe “Tweezer” here). 

The reaction was so favorable that she has since created an entire album full of Phishy tunes reimagined for the piano, and tackled all by herself (what a badass!). We’re lucky enough to premiere a song off the highly anticipated debut album, an interpretation of beloved Phish track “Harry Hood.”

“I’ve played classical piano my entire life, but I’m also madly in love with the music of Phish and spend a ton of time seeing shows,” says Holly. “I’ve been able to bring the two together and it couldn’t feel more like home. I love this track because of the dichotomy it contains between dark and light.  The composed part has a really heavy section but also has some of the sweetest piano work – especially the long descending run Page always plays, which just absolutely sparkles as it cascades down the keyboard. And it’s such a beautiful blissful build in the jam. It’s also one of my favorites because it has a little more room to play around in the jam. I love the really intricate composed stuff, like Mockingbird or some of the jam transcriptions I’ve done – but they’re very different from the songs that have an open canvas and an invitation to paint whatever you want.”

Distillation of a Dream: The Music of Phish Reimagined For Solo Piano is due out on October 2nd on Royal Potato Family, and you can pre-order it here.

TOUR DATES:

August 19 – Syracuse, NY – Funk N Waffles
November 5 – Baltimore, MD – 8×10
November 6 – Washington, DC – Gypsy Sally’s
November 7 – Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
January 6 – Miami, FL – Jam Cruise