Ernest Joseph "Trey" Anastasio III (born September 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Phish, which he co-founded in 1983. He is credited by name as composer of 152 Phish original songs, 141 of them as a solo credit, in addition to 41 credits attributed to the band as a whole.
In addition to his work with Phish, Anastasio has released 11 solo albums. He has also been part of several side projects; these include the Trey Anastasio Band, Oysterhead, Ghosts of the Forest, Phil Lesh and Friends, and Surrender to the Air.
He has performed his own compositions with the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, and many others. With Amanda Green, he wrote the score for the Broadway musical Hands on a Hardbody. In 2013, they were nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score at the 67th Tony Awards, and were awarded the 2013 Dramatists Guild Frederick Loewe Award for best theatrical score composition.
In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Anastasio at number 53 on their list of the 250 greatest guitarists of all time.
Anastasio was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and moved to Princeton, New Jersey, when he was three. His father, Ernest Anastasio Jr., was an executive vice president at the Educational Testing Service. His mother, Dina, was a children's book author and editor of Sesame Street Magazine. He grew up with his sister Kristy. In 1967, Trey was the inspiration for the lead character in the children's book What Does The Cloud Do?, which was written and illustrated by his grandparents, Jean and Cle Kinney.
Anastasio attended Princeton public schools through the fourth grade, then transferred to Princeton Day School. He graduated from the Taft School along with Steven Pollak, better known as the Dude of Life, who later helped pen such Phish compositions as "Suzy Greenberg", "Fluffhead", "Run Like An Antelope", "Slave to the Traffic Light", and "Dinner and a Movie". At Taft, he formed his first two bands, Red Tide and Space Antelope.
He enrolled at the University of Vermont (UVM) as a philosophy major, where he met original Phish bandmates Jon Fishman, Mike Gordon, and Jeff Holdsworth. On December 2, 1983, the group played their first gig at a dance in the Harris-Millis Cafeteria at UVM. The setlist consisted of cover songs, including "Long Cool Woman" and "Proud Mary" which was performed twice. The band was very primitive at this time and used hockey sticks as mic stands. After performing one set, Michael Jackson's Thriller album was put on by a party-goer to drown out the band. The band would not return to play but were still paid for the performance. At UVM, he hosted an early morning radio program, Ambient Alarm Clock.
While living at home for a semester he attended Mercer County Community College. While there, he reconnected with his childhood friend Tom Marshall, and the pair began a songwriting collaboration and recorded material that would appear on the Bivouac Jaun demo tape. In addition to Marshall, Anastasio also reconnected with another childhood friend, Marc Daubert, who also became a collaborator. After seeing a Phish show, pianist Page McConnell joined Phish in the autumn of 1985. Anastasio, along with Jon Fishman, transferred to Goddard College.
During this time he began a musical association and close friendship with composer Ernie Stires, who taught him composition, theory, and arranging. While at Goddard, he composed the song cycle The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday as his senior project. These songs became mainstays of the Phish catalog. He graduated from Goddard in 1988.
Anastasio is a founding member of the rock band Phish, serving as lead guitarist and vocalist since their inception. Phish is noted for their musical improvisation, extended jams, exploration of a broad range of genres, and original live performances. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 (with the current line up solidifying in 1985), the band includes bassist and vocalist Mike Gordon; percussionist, vacuum player, and vocalist Jon Fishman; and keyboardist and vocalist Page McConnell. Phish performed together for over 20 years, releasing 10 studio albums, disbanding in August 2004. They reunited in March 2009 for a corresponding tour, released a reunion album Joy and have since resumed performing regularly.
Bivouac Jaun in 1984 was a project featuring Anastasio, Phish lyricist Tom Marshall, and one-time Phish collaborator Marc Daubert. The group recorded a four-track project during Phish's short hiatus in the summer of 1984. Much of the project would be retooled and later featured on the first Phish album, The White Tape, in 1986.
Bad Hat, formed in the spring of 1994, included Jon Fishman on drums, Jamie Masefield on mandolin, and Stacey Starkweather on bass. They casually played improvisational jazz around Burlington, Vermont, for a few months, with the first of several shows at Last Elm Cafe. They billed themselves as "the quietest band around".
Surrender to the Air was a free jazz ensemble led by Anastasio and featuring Fishman, as well as Marshall Allen, Damon Choice, and Michael Ray (trumpeter) of The Sun Ra Arkestra, John Medeski, Marc Ribot, Oteil Burbridge and several other musicians. The group performed two concerts at the New York City Arts Academy in April 1996 and disbanded shortly thereafter. The concerts, like the group's sole album, consisted of completely improvised music.
8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes, played a show on April 17, 1998 at Higher Grounds featuring Anastasio, Tom Lawson, Heloise Willimas, Tony Markellis, and Russel Lawton.
Phil Lesh and Friends (commonly referred to as Phil Lesh and Phriends) in 1999 featured Anastasio and Page McConnell, Grateful Dead members Phil Lesh and Donna Jean Godchaux, guitarist Steve Kimock, and drummer John Molo performing three nights of Dead and Phish material at The Warfield in San Francisco. It was the first time members of both Phish and the Dead shared the stage together. On February 12, 2006, Anastasio joined Lesh again for a full show at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. He did so again on October 20, 2007, in Glens Falls, New York.
SerialPod is a trio featuring Anastasio, Gordon and Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. On December 17, 2005, the band performed at the 14th annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in Asheville, North Carolina. The group performed a series of Grateful Dead and Phish classics, plus covers from Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, and others. Ivan Neville joined the group on keyboards for much of the performance.
A quartet consisting of the Benevento/Russo Duo, Gordon and Anastasio traded opening and closing spots with Phil Lesh and Friends during their co-headlining summer 2006 tour before touring on their own for a number of shows in July 2006.
Ghosts of the Forest is a side project for Anastasio and Fishman, which also features vocalist Jennifer Hartswick, guitarist Celisse Henderson, bassist Tony Markellis, and keyboardist Ray Paczkowski. The group was formed in 2018 and performed a short tour in the spring of 2019. The Ghosts of the Forest album, which is credited to Anastasio as a solo artist, was released on April 12, 2019.