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The newly revealed band has already recorded eight original songs, including an eight-minute-plus version of “Kicking Over The Traces.”
By Scott Bernstein Aug 21, 2026 • 9:30 am PDT
Taylor Goldsmith has spent the past several weeks teasing a new musical project without revealing its name. Now, the curtain has finally been pulled back on Rainbow Body, a new supergroup featuring an impressive collection of musicians.
Rainbow Body consists of Goldsmith, his Dawes bandmate and brother Griffin Goldsmith, Goose guitarist Rick Mitarotonda, Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno, Terrapin Family Band guitarist/bassist Ross James and Circles Around The Sun keyboardist Adam MacDougall.
Goldsmith previously said that Dead & Company bassist Oteil Burbridge was also involved in the project, though Burbridge was not present for a group photo shared by Goldsmith and, notably, is not listed among the six musicians in Rainbow Body’s announcement on the band’s newly launched official Instagram page. His exact role in the project remains unclear.
The project began in January 2026, when the six musicians gathered in Topanga Canyon to write a record. One month later, the band traveled to Northern Iceland to record eight original songs at Flóki Studios near the Arctic Circle.
Rainbow Body describes their sound as “moving between psychedelic rock, Americana, soul, folk and improvisation,” with the project built around “songs, chemistry, and the freedom to follow the music wherever it leads.”
The existence of the group was first teased in January with a photo posted by Krasno and James. Goldsmith initially offered a glimpse at the collaboration in July, when he revealed that something was in the works. At the time, he couldn’t divulge the band’s name or plans for live performances, but confirmed that both existed. In a subsequent installment of his Little Bit Of Everything Substack, Goldsmith provided another piece of the puzzle while continuing to keep the project largely under wraps.
“We’ve been getting a lot of questions about this band pictured above since it was briefly discussed in our last Little Bit Of Everything post,” Goldsmith wrote. He identified the musicians pictured from left to right as James, Goldsmith, MacDougall, Krasno, Griffin Goldsmith and Mitarotonda, while adding “the band also includes Oteil Burbridge [and] Nicki Bluhm but they weren’t there the day we took this picture.”
Goldsmith also received permission from his bandmates to share a demo of one of the songs recorded for the project. “Kicking Over The Traces” is presented in its stripped-down form on Goldsmith’s Substack, with the songwriter performing the track alone with an acoustic guitar. The demo runs a little over four minutes, while the full-band studio recording stretches beyond eight minutes.
The paid version of Goldsmith’s Substack currently gives subscribers access to the acoustic demo, offering an early glimpse at a song that expanded considerably when the full band got involved. Goldsmith specifically suggested that fans who enjoyed Dawes’ more experimental Misadventures of Doomscroller era will find plenty to appreciate in the new project.
For now, Rainbow Body’s plans with and beyond the eight-song recording remain under wraps. Goldsmith previously confirmed that the project had plans to play shows, but no performances have been announced yet.
Rainbow Body launched an official website this week. Fans can sign up to receive updates from Rainbow Body. Stay tuned. Check out a trailer below:
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