How a young five-piece out of New Jersey turned deep record-collector taste and fearless improvisation into one of the most talked-about live acts of the new jam scene.
The Short Version
Who Are They?
Dogs in a Pile are a jam band who came up out of the New Jersey shore scene in the late 2010s and quickly became one of the most buzzed-about young groups in the improvisational-rock world. The five-piece plays long, exploratory shows that pull from rock, funk, jazz-fusion, soul, and psychedelia, rarely playing a song the same way twice.
Two things make them stand out. First, the range: they move from tight, songwriterly studio tunes to wide-open live jams without losing the thread. Second, the chemistry: like the bands that inspired them, their real instrument is the group interplay, the way five players listen and turn on a dime together.
They are very much a working live band, building their reputation one night and one shared recording at a time. If you want to understand where the modern jam scene is heading, this is a great place to start.
The live room, where a jam band actually lives.From The Jersey Shore to the National Jam Circuit
The Story
Dogs in a Pile's rise reads like a classic jam-band story: build it in the clubs, earn it on the road, and let the live reputation pull the rest along.
Small Northeast rooms, the proving ground for a young improvising band.
Late 2010s
Forming on the shore
The band came together around the New Jersey shore music scene, five players bonded by a shared love of improvisation and a deep, wide-ranging record collection spanning rock, funk, jazz, and soul.
2021
Not Your Average Beagle
Their debut studio album arrived, capturing the group's songwriting and eclectic instincts on tape and giving new listeners a fixed set of tunes to learn before chasing the live versions.
2022
Building the road reputation
A run of singles and relentless touring pushed the band beyond the Northeast, earning festival slots and a growing tape-trading fanbase drawn to the improvisation.
2023
Bloom
Their second studio album sharpened the songwriting while the live shows kept stretching out, the two sides of a modern jam band feeding each other.
2023 onward
The live catalog
Following jam-scene tradition, the band began releasing official live recordings and archival "Doggie Bag" collections, so the real story keeps unfolding show by show.
A Few Doors In
Start Here
With a jam band, the studio tracks are the map and the live shows are the territory. Start with a couple of studio tunes to learn the melodies, then chase the live versions where they open up. These search links drop you into each one on YouTube.
01 · The Studio Tune
"Today" (2023)
The opener of Bloom and a clean way in: a tight, hooky studio track that shows the band's songwriting before you follow it out into the live jams.
02 · The Fan Favorite
"Stranger" (2023)
A staple of the live sets that also lives on Bloom. Learn the song, then hear how far it can travel when the band lets it stretch.
The real introduction. Their official live releases (start with the Raleigh and Hammonton sets) capture what the records only hint at: five players improvising as one.
Dogs in a Pile are a young, live-focused band, so the studio catalog is small and the live releases carry a lot of the weight. Here are the two studio albums to learn first, then let the live recordings take over.
2021
Not Your Average Beagle
The debut. It lays out the band's songwriting and eclectic range across nine tracks, the fixed set of tunes to learn before you chase the live versions that stretch them out.
The best place to begin. A sharper, more confident studio set, from the opener "Today" to "Stranger" and "Rum & Roses," it captures the band's songwriting at its tightest before the live jams open it wide.
With this band the live releases are the main event. Look for the official concert recordings (Raleigh 2025 and Hammonton 2023) and the archival Doggie Bag collections to hear the jams the studio tracks only hint at.
Where to Drop the Needle
The Playlists
Two YouTube Music sets: a First Listen of studio tunes to learn the songs, and a Deep Cuts set that leans into the longer, jammier live-leaning material. Hit the button on either card to search it out on YouTube Music.
Dogs in a Pile are a five-piece, and the whole point is the interplay. Each player pulls from a different corner of the record collection, and the sound is what happens when those tastes collide on stage.
Five tastes colliding, the real engine of the band.
Jimmy LawGuitar / vocalsA lead voice of the band on guitar and vocals, driving the melodic themes the live jams grow out of
Brian MurrayGuitar / vocalsThe second guitar and vocal presence, trading and weaving lines in the group's twin-guitar interplay
Jeremy KaplanKeysKeyboards and organ that color the band's funk, jazz, and psychedelic corners
Sam LucidBassThe low-end anchor holding the improvisation together as the songs stretch out
Joe BabickDrumsThe rhythmic engine, steering the tempo shifts and grooves that a jam band lives on
The Roots of the Sound
Influences
Dogs in a Pile come out of a deep improvisational lineage, the bands and records that made the modern jam scene possible. Here is where the language comes from.
Jam
Grateful Dead
The fountainhead. The Dead's blend of songcraft, open-ended improvisation, and a tape-trading community set the template every jam band builds on.
The other great pillar of modern jam. Phish's genre-hopping virtuosity and improvisational risk-taking are a clear touchstone for young bands like this one.
The composer's edge. Zappa's fearless mix of complex composition, humor, and improvisation feeds the more adventurous, unpredictable side of the band's sets.
As a young band still writing their story, Dogs in a Pile's best interviews come from jam-scene podcasts, festival press, and radio sessions. They are worth seeking out for the record-collector talk behind the music.
Interview · The Scene Press
On the Road and the Records
In podcast and festival interviews the band talks about their influences, their approach to improvisation, and life on the touring circuit.
Interview · Live Sessions
Radio and In-Studio Sessions
Radio and in-studio sessions pair short performances with conversation, a good window into how the band thinks and plays when the room shrinks. Search YouTube for the sessions.
Once the two studio albums have you, the real Dogs in a Pile world is the live one, an ever-growing trail of shows, jams, and recordings.
The official live releases. concert recordings like Live 4.19.2025 (Raleigh, NC) and Live 6.23.23 (Hammonton, NJ) are where the band's improvisation lives in full.
The Doggie Bag collections. archival "Doggie Bag" volumes gather standout live moments, a curated way into the deep well of shows.
The tape-trading tradition. like the jam bands before them, their live shows circulate among fans, so no two versions of a song are ever quite the same.
The wider new-jam scene. explore peers like Goose and the bands around them to hear where this generation of improvisers is heading.
The Way to Listen
Do yourself one favor: learn Bloom front to back so the melodies are in your ear, then put on a full live set and follow the same songs as they open up. The studio record is the map; the live show is the trip.
