Widespread Panic gets ‘Dirty’ on its new release

Take the recording of “Dirty Side Down,” which will be released on May 25. The band took a very measured approach to recording it so it didn’t sound — well, measured.

“There is a two-pronged thing going into the studio,” bassist Dave Schools, who is originally from Richmond, said. “It’s a sort of continuing education honing the songwriting craft and the other thing that is counterintuitive is capturing the wild feel in a sterile studio environment.”

Almost as soon as the Athens, Ga., band debuted in 1986, it has been hailed as a jam band of importance. Its masterful mix of Southern rock, blues-rock, funk and hard rock sound has put it in the same league as the Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead and even Phish.

The balance to achieve the sound in the studio that will play well on the road isn’t always easy to achieve.

“It’s really easy to wrap ourselves into one or the other,” Schools said of the studio and tour. “The more we do that, the more comfortable we are.”

That’s why the band opted to record its last album at John Keane Studios in Athens. The recording was a homecoming of sorts for the band that had recorded albums there in the past. The return gave the band some new artistic steam, he said.

“There is a comfort at being home,” Schools said. “We are up for adventure as much as anyone but it’s also important to get back to the roots for the records.”

Fans who hope the band will return to its classic sound are in for a treat. Not only are the band members at top form but the songs — including “This Cruel Thing” written by the late Vic Chestnutt — are as down and dirty as jams get.

“We set up in a big circle and we cut the track live and we use as much as we can,” Schools said. “It’s tough on the engineers because they want to vacuum out the grit but we want the imperfections. They all add up to our sound.”