Progressive funk collective The Motet are back on the road this winter/spring, including a home-state ski town run throughout Colorado, New Orleans plays during this year’s Jazz and Heritage Festival, and more.  Already on the books for summer – the band’s highly anticipated return to Red Rocks Amphitheatre, this time with co-headliners Lettuce, and festival plays including Electric Forest, Summer Camp, High Sierra Music Festival and many others.  See below for the complete list of currently confirmed Motet dates, with many more still to be announced.

This May, The Motet bring their own brand of funk to the birthplace of funk, playing New Orleans Jazz Fest late nights.  Look for The Motet at Maison on May 2 (original sets) and at The Howlin’ Wolf gig on May 3, where they’ll play their epic “Mixtape 1975” show for one night only. The Motet’s famed cover set shows, where the band performs music of their favorite funk influences (either an album in its entirety or a “mixtape’ of songs popular in a chosen year) are joyous, full of surprises and legendarily raucous. Started as over as decade ago in Colorado, they have since become a beloved Halloween tradition.  And while band tours nationwide throughout the year delivering their deep catalogue of original material, it’s rare they bring these special sets out on the road. The cover shows have served not only to pay back the band’s fans for their loyalty but also to enhance The Motet’s understanding of who they are. Says The Motet’s drummer and founder Dave Watts, “We feel that it’s crucial to know the roots of any style of music so that you can speak the language.”

The complete list of The Motet’s currently confirmed dates is as follows:

Thursday, March 26 The Kessler Theater Dallas TX with Mingo Fishtrap

Friday, March 27 Head for the Hills Kerrville TX

Saturday, March 28 Canyons Resort Park City UT

Thursday, April 2 Club RED Mountain Village CO

Friday, April 3 Belly Up Aspen Aspen CO

Saturday, April 4 Gondola Plaza Steamboat Springs CO

Thursday, April 23 Gypsy Sally's Washington  DC

Friday, April 24 Some Kind of Jam Festival Schuylkill Haven PA

Friday, May 1 Luminosa Festival Trinity TX 

Saturday, May 2 The Maison New Orleans LA

Sunday, May 3 The Howlin Wolf  New Orleans LA

Friday, May 22 Summer Camp Chillicothe IL

Friday, June 5 Red Rocks Amphitheatre Morrison CO with co headliners Lettuce, plus Exmag and DJ Jazzy Jeff

Friday, June 19 4 Peaks Festival Bend OR

Thursday, June 25 - Friday, June 26 Electric Forest Rothbury MI

Thursday, June 25 Built to Last Festival Morristown MN

Saturday, July 4 - Sunday, July 5 High Sierra Music Festival Quincy CA

Friday, July 31 Salmonfest Festival Ninilchik AK

Saturday, August 1 Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds Haines AK

Sunday, August 16 For The Funk of it Festival Belden CA

Saturday, September 5 Backwoods Music Festival Stroud OK

Additional dates being announced all the time.  Tickets and information available at www.themotet.net

Earlier this year, The Motet launched 2015 with a sold out NYE show in Portland, Oregon at The Crystal Ballroom. Watch a video HERE. After performing Jam Cruise 13 in early January, The Motet hit the road with singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Keller Williams for a run of west coast plays presented by O.penVAPE. The musical pairing proved incredibly successful – with sold out shows at The Roxy in Los Angeles, The Fillmore in San Francisco, Crystal Bay Club in Tahoe, and others. Attendees along the tour caught a slew of impromptu musical collaborations between The Motet and Keller.  (Check out this VIDEOof The Motet’s Gabriel Mervine on trumpet, performing with Keller Williams in a special O.penMIC session from the road.) Most recently, The Motet backed Matisyahu for an official Apres Avon performance during the Alpine World Ski Championship in Vail, Colorado.

About The Motet: Started ten years ago by seasoned drummer Dave Watts as a rotating cast of musical friends, today progressive funk band The Motet has refined their sound and vision into a dynamic and expressive force. The Motet features an astonishingly talented cast of musicians who enjoy a palpable rapport when put together – Dave Watts (drums, musical director), Garrett Sayers (bass), Joey Porter (keyboards), Ryan Jalbert (guitar), Jans Ingber (vocals) and horn players Gabe Mervine (trumpet) and Matt Pitts (sax).

Today, The Motet is touring nationwide. Recent months have found the band’s audiences growing exponentially - with sellout shows from coast to coast including Portland’s Wonderland Ballroom, Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium, and Brooklyn Bowl, and huge 2014 festival plays such as Wakarusa, Summer Camp, Oregon County Fair, and Arise Music Festival, among others.

In January 2014 the band released their 7^th album – self titled The Motet. The nine tracks on The Motet(released January 2014) seamlessly showcase an evolved, keenly refined musical vision of The Motet; a band committed to pushing the sonic envelope, while remaining dedicated to the musical traditions - funk, afrobeat, disco, jazz, and soul - that have long defined their sound. The Motet are well known in Colorado and beyond for keeping audiences in a dancing frenzy by layering precise and vibrant live instrumentation and electronic rhythms into a style that is uniquely their own. And in this age when EDM reigns over the dance music scene, The Motet is proof that funk is not even close to dead.  For this studio recording, each member of the band contributed to the writing and arranging of the album’s nine original songs.  Using traditional analog recording methods including tape, tubes and transistors, the music on The Motet offers all the crunch and bite of a classic 70’s funk record and is warm, rich, and organic in tone. But the music is fresh and forward – as much a glimpse into the future of music as it is homage to the past.

To stay up to date on all news on The Motet, please visit www.themotet.net and the official Facebook,Twitter, YouTube and Soundcloud pages.