Circles Around the Sun Hand the Guitar Chair to John Lee Shannon

Circles Around the Sun announced on July 31, 2021 that guitarist Scott Metzger had left the band, with the departure attributed to unforeseen circumstances. John Lee Shannon was named the band’s guitarist for upcoming performances.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Scott Metzger will unfortunately not be continuing with Circles Around The Sun,” the band wrote in a statement posted to social media. “We had a blast working with him and are so grateful for his time with us. We wish him all the best.”

The note went on: “Joining us on guitar for upcoming shows is our friend, @johnleeshannon. Thank you for your Love and support as we continue on this journey.”

A Western run six weeks out

The change lands ahead of a tour already on sale. The band, known to its audience as CATS, announced an eleven-date September run through the West Coast, Pacific Northwest and Colorado, opening September 8 at the Troubadour in West Hollywood and closing September 18 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.

The itinerary in between takes in Terrapin Crossroads in San Rafael, the Aladdin Theater in Portland, The Neptune in Seattle, the Domino Room in Bend, The Olympic in Boise, Soundwell in Salt Lake City, the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins, Boulder Theater and Strings Music Pavilion in Steamboat Springs.

With Shannon in place, the lineup is bassist Dan Horne, keyboardist Adam MacDougall and drummer Mark Levy.

A band built from setbreak music

Circles Around the Sun grew out of music Neal Casal composed to play between sets at the Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well shows at Soldier Field in 2015. The five-performance run marked 20 years since the band’s final concerts with Jerry Garcia.

Filmmaker Justin Kreutzmann, son of Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann, was commissioned to create the interval music and hired Casal to assemble the players. Casal made the calls himself: MacDougall first, his bandmate in Chris Robinson Brotherhood, then Levy on drums and Horne of Beachwood Sparks on bass.

“He wanted music that felt connected to the Grateful Dead but not mimicking it,” Casal said in 2015. “So it was trying to ride the fine line of doing something familiar to fans but not be too derivative.”

That commission became Interludes for the Dead in 2015. Let It Wander followed in 2018.

Casal died on August 26, 2019, leaving a note that asked his bandmates to continue and release the record they had just made. The band’s self-titled LP, out March 13, 2020, holds its final recordings with him, cut at engineer Jim Scott’s Southern California studio a week before his death.

“Our mission is to extend Neal’s musical legacy,” drummer Mark Levy said. “He was a classy dude and had a regal vibe about him.”

Not the first change in that chair

Metzger’s exit is not the first turnover the band has absorbed. After Casal’s death the group carried on with a rotating cast of guitarists, among them Eric Krasno, who played the fall 2019 tour.

Metzger, who is based in Brooklyn, first played with CATS on their New Year’s Eve run in Colorado at the end of 2019 and was named the permanent replacement earlier in 2021.

He is also a member of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, and he closes out the same weekend as this announcement with a two-night stand alongside that band at Westville Music Bowl. He is due back out with them later in August.

Sources: Jambands.com, Circles Around The Sun, JamBase, Live For Live Music, Glide Magazine, Tahoe Onstage, JamBase, Coachella Valley Independent.

Photo: Arkady Lifshits, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Generic crowd image, not this event.