Trey Anastasio has spent the last few months in his New York apartment, recording the raw, lo-fi album Lonely journey. But on Tuesday, he waited to become the first own guest of late television since March, performing his excellent new song “I Never Needed You Like This Before” with the Roots on Thy Evening Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The episode airs on Tuesday at 11.35pm ET on NBC.
Anastasio appeared only at the Rockefeller Center in New York, according to a source, with his amp and guitar. After taking a COVID-19 test and testing negative, he took the elevator upstairs to play with the Roots. Rather than performing in the Tonight ShowThe normal studio 6B, she opted for studio 6A, the old studio of Conan O’Brien, where it was easier to socialize.
It was all worth it: Anastasio and the Roots’ performance was full of power and swagger, Anastasio and drummer Questlove locked up for a fierce instrumental jam. She looked happy to be back.
Anastasio recorded “I Never Needed You Like This Before” and the rest of Lonely journey in the weeks after New York closed, she sent ideas back and forth with employees Tom Marshall and Scott Herman. “It felt therapeutic to write,” Anastasio said. “I wanted to join our community in some way. The unplanned nature of the recording meant that I did not have much together during this process. I had an electric and an acoustic guitar, a small amp, two microphones, some percussion, and two keyboards, including an old Kurzweil with very realistic drum sounds on it. Everything was recorded via a Spire 8 track. Lonely journey is truly a raw, low-fi recording. The album is only available digitally; it can be heard here.
