54 years ago today, Trey Anastasio was born in Fort Worth, TX. He grew up in New Jersey, headed to Vermont for college, and, from there, headed out to take on the world with Phish. Thirty-some-odd years later, Trey Anastasio has played countless shows in countless places throughout this country and across the world. During that time, Trey unsurprisingly racked up plenty of amazing stories. Lucky for us, he likes to tell them.

While 2017 will always be known as the year of the Baker’s Dozen, it also brought Trey’s first-ever solo acoustic shows. The highly intimate performances were exceptionally well received, so Anastasio booked another run of solo acoustic dates for early 2018 and is mounting a West Coast tour this December.

Along with the obvious joys of hearing the Phish guitarist play familiar tunes in a new, stripped-down setting, Trey’s solo shows are often highlighted by his recurrent stream-of-conscious banter, which often takes the form of funny tales from the road. In honor of Trey Anastasio’s 54th birthday, we’ve gathered a few of our favorite editions of “Acoustic Storytime with Trey” from the recent acoustic shows.

Trey played his second solo acoustic show ever at Troy, NY’s Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, where he told a hilarious story about Fishman climbing on the roof of their slippery, wet tour bus in Europe while traveling 80 miles per hour down the highway…Hear him tell it below:

Fish Did Something Bad Story – 3/10/2017

[Video: scott shaver]

During the Ithaca show, February 9th, 2018, Trey told the story of Sweet Pete—a tale about Phish giving away the keys of their early touring vehicle, a Plymouth Voyager, to man in Ithaca named Sweet Pete (“I want it back. You tell Sweet Pete, motherfucker”)—and why Mike Gordon was never allowed to drive when touring (“This guy in front of me was driving 45 miles on the highway and really pissing me off… I pull up next to him, and it’s Mike, and he’s writing in his journal on the steering wheel”). Watch both videos from Ithaca below:

Sweet Pete Story – 2/9/2018

[Video:]John Ruffner]

Mike Driving Story – 2/9/2018

[Video: tahcofan]

At Cambridge, MA’s Sanders Theatre on the Harvard University campus, Trey told a story about walking in on Jon Fishman during an interesting phase when he was really into wheatgrass–“I walk in the house, and he’s got a syringe in one hand and a towel in the other.” Watch the amazing clip from Trey’s Cambridge show below:

Fishman Wheatgrass Enema Story – 2/10/2018

[Video: mk devo]

At the first of the 2018 Trey Anastasio solo acoustic shows in Morristown, NJ, Trey told one of our favorite Phish stories ever about the time after a show in Atlanta when they took mom’s orders and gave one dumbfounded young fan a story none of his friends would ever believe…until Trey told it at a show in New Jersey years later.

“Peyton Hooten, Your Mother Is Worried Sick About You”

[Video: mhealy007]

Happy birthday Trey, and thank you for the love and light that you shine on us all!