It was back in early 2006, when I was spending an inordinate amount of time touring with The Ragbirds, that I was introduced to Matisyahu. It was early spring, and we were on the way to a gig. Someone had put a disk in the CD player, and my response upon hearing it was, “What is THAT? It’s amazing!” Well, it was Matisyahu.

Hat Hanger

Randy proceeded to explain that he’s a Hasidic Jew who beat boxes, raps and sings over reggae-influenced music.

Matisyahu Hands

Um. Geez. I still can’t get over that description, not to mention the fact that it actually works, and works beautifully.

Matisyahu Beatboxes

It was great to see him this close up, and without the aid of anything other than his guitar player. Who didn’t actually play all that much. He was riveting to watch. Charismatic in an extremely quiet, humble, low-key way.

As Stacy and I were walking away from this Sunday morning performance, I said “wow…I just had church with a Hasidic Jew and a bunch of dirty hippies out in the rain at Bonnaroo. How cool!”