Welcome to My Party

AMG Review of Welcome to My Party

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

On their fifth album, Welcome to My Party, Rusted Root decides to delve into full-fledged funkiness, tempering these elastic party grooves with their neo-hippie, acoustic earnestness. Both sides are polished rather heavily by producer Bill Bottrell, resulting in a record that feels like it positions the group to share territory with the Dave Matthews Band. Since they've been leaning in this direction for a while, this isn't an awkward move. Rusted Root remains as versatile as ever as musicians, and there are moments where the production and their sound gel.