Donna Jean and the Tricksters is the debut album by an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 group that has been known by three different names. Originally, their name was Donna Jean and the Tricksters, but was changed and has been billed as the Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson, and Donna Jean Godchaux Band. Donna Jean and the Tricksters was released on Dig Records, in 2008.

Within the dynamics of this band, Jeff Mattson

Jeff Mattson

Jeff Mattson born July 3, 1958 is an American musician. A founding member of the jam band, the Zen Tricksters, Jeff is the guitarist in the Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson, which features the Grateful Dead’s Donna Jean Godchaux...

, who has been included in one incarnation of the band's name, has been an integral member both as lead guitar

Lead guitar

Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

ist, and as co-songwriter on three of the album's songs, and sole credit for the song, "A Prisoner Says His Piece", the same number of songs that Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay herself has written.

Track listing

1. "All I Gotta Say" (Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay) – 4:59
2. "So Hard" (Dave Diamond) – 5:49
3. "No Better Way" (Will McFarlane) – 4:34
4. "Weight of the World" (Dave Diamond) – 5:26
5. "Shelter" (Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Jeff Mattson
   Jeff Mattson
   Jeff Mattson born July 3, 1958 is an American musician. A founding member of the jam band, the Zen Tricksters, Jeff is the guitarist in the Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson, which features the Grateful Dead’s Donna Jean Godchaux...
   
   ) – 5:38
6. "Travelin' Light" (Jeff Mattson, M. Marston) – 7:07
7. "He Said/She Said" (Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay, Jeff Mattson) – 5:14
8. "Moments Away" (Tom Circosta) – 4:27
9. "Farewell Jack" (Keith Godchaux
   Keith Godchaux
   Keith Richard Godchaux was a musician best known for his tenure in the rock group the Grateful Dead.-Biography:Keith Godchaux was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Concord, California...
   
   , Brian Godchaux) – 4:22
10. "A Prisoner Says His Piece" (Jeff Mattson) – 6:57
11. "Me and Kettle Joe" (Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay) – 13:24
12. "Reno" (Klyph Black, John Edward McNeill) – 4:00

Donna Jean and the Tricksters

• Klyph Black - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , vocals
• Tom Circosta - electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , vocals
• Dave Diamond - drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
  
  , vocals
• Donna Jean Godchaux-MacKay - vocals
• Wendy Lanter - vocals
• Jeff Mattson
  Jeff Mattson
  Jeff Mattson born July 3, 1958 is an American musician. A founding member of the jam band, the Zen Tricksters, Jeff is the guitarist in the Donna Jean Godchaux Band with Jeff Mattson, which features the Grateful Dead’s Donna Jean Godchaux...
  
   - lead guitar
  Lead guitar
  Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
  
  , vocals
• Mookie Siegel - keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  , vocals

Additional musicians

• Jason Crosby - violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
   on "He Said/She Said" and "A Prisoner Says His Piece"
• Dave Eggar - cello
  Cello
  The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
  
  on "Shelter" and "He Said/She Said"
• Randi Mattson - handclaps on "Shelter"

Production

• Donna Jean and the Tricksters - producer
• James Brooks - executive producer
• Joe Napoli - recording
• Tom Stiegler - additional engineering
• Jason Corsaro - mixing
• Michael Ferretti and Dante Portella - assistant engineers
• Chris Gehringer - mastering
• Gary Houston - cover art and layout
• Susana Millman - photography
• Dennis McNally - publicity, management