Some years back, before the pandemic took hold, I caught Eli Winter playing a small and intimate show in New York, to a room full of starry-eyed onlookers. The energy and emotion he was able to coax out of his instrument and the amount of soul he could reveal in his performance were impressive and even at times close to being overwhelming. There was magic in the atmosphere that night, and now thanks to the good heads at Three Lobed Recordings, everyone can now finally experience a taste of that magic.

Available now as a digital download, A Day Behind The Deadline features five live tracks culled from the last five years, and include Winter performing solo and as a power trio with Tyler Damon on drums and Sam Wagster on pedal steel. The full band tracks have the sonic breadth of a full cinematic orchestra, with rock, free jazz and experimental Americana elements all bleeding together into a totally unique sound. If experimental composers like Pauline Oliveros had their material translated by a stripped down Crazy Horse-backed Sonny Sharrock, then you might get something like this.

The record’s one solo performance, the title track from 2019’s excellent The Time to Come, to my great surprise, was actually from the astounding performance I saw in Queens all those years ago. The song’s raw emotional core shines brightly through Winter’s nimble fingerpicking, surpassing the album version with its gentleness and quiet. This bittersweet instrumental speaks directly to your heart with its reserved subtly. You could easily see why there was hardly a dry eye to be found at the venue that night. Winter plays from the very marrow of his being, and this is perhaps the greatest example of that.

Click here to get your copy of this live document today.

-KH