Perhaps part of the reason I have wandered from DMB – although by no means do I suggest I stopped listening altogether – is that a lot of their recent work has simply not been their best. This is something Dave himself will admit (now, at least), and even though some of the recent music has been good, it hasn’t had the lasting impact much of their earlier work has had. So I was both eager and nervous about the new album that dropped last week, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.

There’s no way I wasn’t going to buy this album, listen to it, and most likely I was going to enjoy it. But would I love it? The short answer is that I love it. Perhaps there was a bit of extra purpose behind this album as it’s the first the band has made after the tragic death of Leroi Moore, their unbelievably talented sax man, or perhaps the band has simply re-found a certain magic that had drifted on previous albums. All I know is that I can’t get Funny the Way it Is out of my head and each song is more gripping than the next.

I find it a bit ironic that most of my time with DMB has been spent introducing others to their music, and I’ve found that time and again people embrace and really like the music, even want to go to concerts with me. I’ve been more likely to introduce somebody to Sufjan Stevens than DMB lately, but with this latest album it’s like DMB is trying to find me again. The pre-order offer included a bundled live concert 3-cd set from an Alpine Valley show – a place I’ve seen the band perform more than any other – and yesterday Dave Matthews himself sat down for a rare one hour interview, on CBC Radio of all places. The album even debuted at #1 on the charts, which must be a first for the band.

So now I find myself looping a lot of DMB again and it feels awfully darn good. Embedded below are some goodies from the band and their frontman.

Dave Matthews on Q with Jian Ghomeshi, telling a monkey story. It’s a radio show, but they film it and it airs on CBC tv as well. For the full interview you can download the podcast (mp3) or find it on iTunes.

Funny The Way It Is music video. If it doesn’t play for you it’s also on YouTube (where you can also view it full screen.