RCA Records have released a press release regarding the free download of Funny The Way It Is, which went online earlier today. The press release also goes into detail about the tracklist of the album, the artwork, and what the different packages of the pre-order will contain.

Two previously unknown songs can be confirmed, Seven and My Baby Blue. Some song titles have changed; You N Me Stripped Down is now You and Me, Cockadile is Alligator Pie (Cockadile), Skwirm is Squirm, and the intro has a name, Grux. This brings the total to 13 songs, and the positions are also confirmed.

In regards to the pre-order, “it will be available in three versions: standard, deluxe (with scenes from Big Whiskey, a documentary on the making of the album) and super-deluxe, which includes bonus tracks, a photo book and lithographs in addition to the CD and documentary.” Also, all fans who pre-order the CD off the website will receive Live Trax 15, Alpine Valley Music Theatre, for free.

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The Dave Matthews Band released the cover art for their upcoming album, ‘Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King’ on their website as a puzzle. On the site were the 8 images that were released over a couple days, that were scrambled. Once you unscramble them to get the border, the missing piece was filled in, completing the puzzle and revealing the complete cover art.

The cover art features a GrooGrux King float, being the late LeRoi Moore, in what appears to be a New Orleans funeral parade. It is filled with symbolism, most of which we have yet to discover.

The cover art is drawn by the band’s very own Dave Matthews.

The discography has been updated. Full sized image after the break. Enjoy!

Warning: The image is a fairly large file, so old computers beware.

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With the new album edging nearer, Antsmarching.org sources now know that Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King will have a total of 10 tracks, plus the LeRoi Intro. Dive In, which was previously thought to have been the longest song at around four and a half minutes, will not be the longest song. Nevertheless, there won’t be any songs on the album that pass the six minute mark, joining the likes of Everyday and Stand Up. Regardless of this comparison, feedback on the album from those that have heard it has been positive, as far as Dave Matthews himself saying, “If this is my last album that I ever make, it’s the only album that I hope people listen to.” The last track of the album is now also known, being You N Me Stripped Down.

With the album art slowly coming together piece by piece, and a single being released soon, Antsmarching predicts a pre-order for the album to come up sometime as soon as this week.

With all that info, we now can make an updated track list, which can be viewed after the break. The positions are unknown, however, except for the intro followed by Shake Me Like A Monkey, and the last song.

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Billboard has put up an article about the Band, titled ‘Dave Matthews Band’s ‘Big Whiskey’ Is A Toast To LeRoi Moore‘. In it, the impact the new album would produce on the tour was discussed.

The band plans to make new material part of the set list and, as is typical, the “GrooGrux” songs will find a new life onstage. “We’ve played them all but we’re going to have some extensive rehearsals before the tour starts – get them all oiled, lubed up and ready to go,” Beauford says. “By the time we step onstage for the first show these tunes are going to be ready. By the middle of the summer, it’s going to be a whole other story then, because most of the new tunes that we do always develop and grow into something fresh and new by the middle of the tour.”

The article then links to a fairly extensive interview with Dave Matthews, where they talk about the nature of the album, how LeRoi is incorporated, Dave’s songwriting, and many songs, including Dive In, Space Man, which we find out is a love song, and Cockadile, a new addition to the confirmed songs list.

The band will be featured on the cover of Issue 15.

Lastly, an album preview video was created, where you can hear clips of Shake Me Like a Monkey, what appears to be a 12-string Sister, and Funny The Way It Is, the single slated to be released on April 14. The video can be viewed after the break.

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The Dave Matthews Band seems to be pulling a little stunt, posting what appears to be a cropped piece of a larger piece of artwork on the official band page with the title whiskey, as well as posting it on Facebook. Twitter is also connected, as Dave Matthew’s last post was ‘I’m scribbling the cover art.‘ Whether or not this is actually the cover art for the upcoming album Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King is unknown. It could be just what Dave said, a scribble, or it could be the actual thing. The sketch is clearly influenced by New Orleans, where the album was recorded.

Interestingly, as DMBnews.net pointed out, the drawing shows what appears to be a person Falling Off the Roof, a song played just once in 2007.

UPDATE: A second piece has been uploaded by the DMB team to Facebook and on their official site.

UPDATE 2: A third piece has been put on the site. It’s also confirmed that there will be in fact 9 images in total, and that they do in fact make up the cover art for the new album.

UPDATE 3: All pieces have been added. Please see the following post for the full image: http://dmbfansite.org/11153, and for discussion on the album art can be found here: http://forums.dmbfansite.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=47

Images after the break…

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A lot of info has come in on the upcoming Dave Matthews Band album, set to be released on June 2nd. The title is now known; Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King. The “GrooGrux King” mentioned in the title is most likely a reference to the late LeRoi Moore, as this was his nickname within the band. No cover art for the album has surfaced yet, but song names have come up. Confirmed song names include: Lying In The Hands of God, Why I Am, Funny The Way It Is, Shake Me Like A Monkey, Dive In, Time Bomb, Squirm, and Spaceman. From the look of this info, it appears that most, if not all songs, will be completely new and unheard. However, there have been two “leaks” of what the songs sound like; the first, widely believed to be Why I Am was shot in the studio and then released online. The video is found on Antsmarching, and can be found here: http://www.antsmarching.org/video/studio2009-video1.php.   The second is an official leak, and is believed to be the first song of the album. That video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKOUUFpSeFQ. The video features 15 lucky Canadian fans that are invited to the studio for a listen, and that’s exactly what they get. The song starts about halfway through the video.

However great the leaks are, all fans are anxious to hear some full songs. On April 14th, that’s exactly what they’ll get, as the first single, Funny The Way It Is, is slated to be released. This coincides with the first show of the spring tour, to take place the same day at MSG.