Leftover Salmon Archives - Page 2 of 4

Leftover Salmon back with Compass Records

Leftover Salmon, among the longest surviving musical outfits of the post-1970s progressive bluegrass scene, has announced their re-signing with Compass Records in Nashville.

Considered by many as the founders of the jamgrass scene, the Salmon has been running for 30 years with their eclectic bluegrass sound, heavily influenced by rock, Cajun, zydeco, blues, and jazz flavors. With original members Drew Emmit on mandolin and Vince Herman on guitar, they trace their musical lineage from New Grass Revival and The Grateful Dead to Little Feat and The Band.

They may not be the ideal act to close a night at Bean Blossom, but Leftover Salmon has a large and constantly growing audience that shows up at concerts and jamgrass festivals in large numbers – when such things are allowed. By mixing bluegrass instruments with an alt-lifestyle persona, and the requisite extended instrumental jams, these guys bring the grass to folks who wouldn’t know Bill Monroe from Chuck Berry.

With Emmit and Herman these days are Andy Thorn on banjo, Greg Garrison on bass, Erik Deustch on keys, and Alwyn Robinson on drums.

Compass Records co-founder Garry West says that they are very pleased to see the band back on the Compass roster.

“Few bands on the acoustic music scene have withstood the test of time and the changes that come with it. Not only has Leftover Salmon managed to do so, they’ve evolved in the process, adding new elements and textures, all coupled with songwriting that just gets better and better. And somehow in the process they have managed to retain their festival campground, bluegrass jam roots. We’re thrilled to be welcoming them back to the Compass fold.”

Drew agrees, saying that it feels like home for he and Vince, and all the guys.

“After putting out LIVE and three solo albums with Compass Records in the past, it’s a beautiful feeling to be back with Garry and Alison and the Compass family.”

A new Leftover Salmon project from Compass is expected by late spring, with new music coming soon. Keep an eye on the band web site for updates.

Leftover Salmon launches Boogie at the Broadmoor

Leftover Salmon is moving their annual winter newgrass experience to a new venue in 2019.

After 4 years at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, they are moving to the Broadmoor resort in Colorado Springs, March 22-24. The event has been rechristened as well, in true Salmon style, as Boogie at the Broadmoor. The band promises three days of first class dining, five star service, and many of their favorite entertainers at a classic old hotel.

When we spoke with guitarist and vocalist Vince Herman about it this week, he was clearly excited about this new venture, and what they could offer to folks who make the trip out to Colorado Springs to be with them.

“After many years of thinking about a winter festival, we finally did it at The Stanley near Denver. But when we looked to go bigger, we couldn’t get the same deal there.

People need a festival in the winter. It’s a pretty nice tent you get to stay in. There’s nothing wrong with staying in a nice hotel, especially as we get older. It’s a fun substitute for the summer fest.

The Broadmoor is an historic hotel, close to 100 years old. They offer horseback riding, hiking, climbing, fly fishing, all sorts of things.”

Invited to perform are a who’s who on the more progressive side of the bluegrass/acoustic spectrum. Of course Leftover Salmon will be there all three days, with appearances by Sam Bush, The Bluegrass Generals, The Sweet Lillies, and many others.

Herman says that they are especially pleased to welcome The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who will play on Sunday as one of the stops on their 50th anniversary tour.

“Really psyched to have the Dirt Band. They really fit the vibe of what we’re trying to do. It’s a special thing when they get together, and it’s the kind of fun we like to have.”

Some of the artists may not be familiar to everyone who follows bluegrass, so we asked Vince to describe the overall vibe of the bands who will be featured.

“It’s definitely a bunch of progressive bluegrass, some neo-Memphis soul, great folky bands, bands like us that like to play a whole lot of styles. The lineup represents a pretty wide use of bluegrass instruments, with a strong acknowledgement of the roots. Just comfortable stuff that we like.”

For their Sunday set, Leftover Salmon will do their Living Room show, which is based around the stories in the new book by Tim Newby, Thirty Years of Festival, which cover the entire history of the band. The book releases this month, and will be available for sale during Boogie at the Broadmoor.

“Doing this acoustic tour we’re all sitting down, so that is good for Andy who is still recovering from a broken leg. The Living Room tour has been really fun, pushing stories for the book. It’s gotten a great reaction – didn’t know how the crowds would take it, but it has worked.

Getting into our 30th year, we are pursuing the sort of things that we enjoy doing.”

You can find full details about Boogie at the Broadmoor online.

Leftover Salmon bio coming in February

Rowman & Littlefield publishers have announced a February release for Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival, by Tim Newby. It will tell the three decade story of the band, who have pushed hard against the boundaries of bluegrass from the start, through interviews with the members, and with many other musicians who have been influenced by their music.

The Salmon played their first show together on New Year’s Eve in 1989, and they have made NYE a special night for fans ever since. Faces in the group changed a good bit in those early years, but most folks think of the core of the band as founders Drew Emmitt on mandolin, Vince Herman on guitar, along with early banjo player Mark Vann. They blended their bluegrass roots with influences from blues, cajun, and rock, forming a style all their own signified by an eclectic sound, and Herman’s distinctive singing voice.

When Vann died from cancer in 2002, the band went on hiatus until 2007, after which they played mostly reunion shows and special tours. But in 2012, they recorded their first new album since Mark’s passing, with Andy Thorn on banjo. The current group, now touring regularly, still includes Herman and Emmitt, with Greg Garrison on bass, Alwyn Robinson on drums, and Erik Deutsch on keys.

Newby came to prominence in the bluegrass and acoustic world with his book, Bluegrass in Baltimore: The Hard Drivin’ Sound & Its Legacy, published in 2015. He reached out to the Salmon several years ago about a book on their storied career, and has completed many hours of research and interviews in getting the story ready for an audience.

To celebrate and promote the book, Leftover Salmon will embark on a Stories From The Living Room tour starting in late January, which will feature a segment with the guys on stage in a sitting room setting, talking about the book and the long road from ’89 to ’19.

Details on the tour can be found online, including the run of shows on and leading up to their New Year’s Eve bash in San Rafael, CA.

Pre-orders for Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival can be placed online as well.

Something Higher – Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon find that rare divide between bluegrass tradition and the populist preferences of the jam band world. On their latest release, Something Higher, it allows for a steady influx of sounds and styles that make any attempt at typecasting a decidedly worthless endeavor. Free spirits in every sense, their astute musicianship, unbounded ambition, and obvious accessibility has allowed their mix of nu-grass, bluegrass, grassicana, rock, country, and zydeco to make them ongoing fan favorites. It’s little wonder then that this Boulder, Colorado-based band have become regulars on the festival circuit, and beloved by those who savor tradition along with the trappings of innovation and experimentation

“Don’t want no digital,” they insist throughout the tangled trappings of Analog, a song that finds them attempting to reconcile music of a vintage variety with the pull of technology. Yet while certain songs — the celebratory musical travelogues Places and Burdened Heart, the beautiful yet yearning Southern Belle and the brass-infused Show Me Something Higher — have an undisputed allure, it’s not all giddy and carefree. The cosmic Astral Traveler and a wary, disparaging House of Cards are both dark and descriptive, the latter a reflection of the unsettled state of the nation.

Happily, all is not lost in the latter. “Love is gonna win again,” they insist, suggesting that hope, not the current happenstance, will inevitably prevail.

Nevertheless, it is somewhat surprising to find the band caught up in these deeper concerns given their usual carefree attitude. Producer Steve Berlin may ultimately be the one most responsible for this change in tack. The band credits him with pushing them in new directions while helping to reinforce their consistent groove, an approach that may appear deceptively simple, but is actually the result of experience, expertise, and virtuosity.

Longtime fans will find the familiar trappings of their bluegrass origins in songs such as Evermore — a heartfelt salute to their Colorado environs where rapid-fire banjo, mandolin, and keyboards find a common syntax — as well as the uplifting yet down home delivery of Let In a Little Light, the rambling Foreign Fields, the celebratory Winter’s Gone, and the effusive instrumental Game of Thorns. Each effectively illustrate the band’s finely tuned group dynamic.

Ultimately though, Something Higher stays true to its title, a set of songs that aspire to a greater purpose. And indeed, when it comes to weaving a common bond, Leftover Salmon again show how it’s done.

More photos from DelFest 2017

Here’s another gallery of Gina Elliott’ Proulx’s fine photos from DelFest 2017.

Leftover Salmon celebrates 25 years

Leftover Salmon has posted high quality, multi-camera video from their 25th anniversary concert on New Year’s Eve in Chicago last month. It includes live music from the show, the presentation of a special birthday cake, vintage footage from the early days of the band, and anniversary congratulations from many of their friends in the music biz.

Track a day stream from Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon is offering fans a free listen to their upcoming album, High Country, one track a day over the next 12 days (Nov 10-21). Each track will be available for listening for 24 hours (starting today), and will be replaced each morning by the next through the 21st.

Then on the 28th (Black Friday), the CD will be available for sale through participating Record Store Day retailers. Digital sales will be offered online starting December 30, with vinyl coming sometime in 2015.

Today’s song is Get Up And Go, written by Salmon guitarist/vocalist Vince Herman about the value of getting outside and feeling the sun on your face.

High Country was tracked with the current version of the band. In addition to Herman, Drew Emmitt is on mandolin, Andy Thorn on banjo, Greg Garrison on bass, and Alwyn Robinson on drums. Andy Hall does guest duties on resonator guitar. It’s also the first recorded product since former Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne has joined the band.

Hear a track a day here online.

High Country coming from Leftover Salmon

Jam band heroes Leftover Salmon have a new album ready for release, and set to drop November 28. It’s called High Country, a double entendre that fans of the Salmon will readily understand.

The group is led by founding members Drew Emmitt on mandolin and Vince Herman on guitar, who reunited in 2007 after laying the Salmon down for several years in 2005. Each had solo careers, but continued to do reunion shows together until deciding it was time to return to regular performing status for Leftover Salmon a few years later.

Other regular members include Andy Thorn on banjo, Greg Garrison on bass, Jose Martininez on drums, and their newest member, Bill Payne from the legendary ’80s blues/rock band, Little Feat, on keys.

The guys are using this live video, shot in September at the Ryman Auditorium, as a tease.

The band will do a pair of shows in Boulder to celebrate the release November 28-29, and their traditional New Year’s Eve shows in Chicago, followed by more active touring in 2015.

Find all the details online.

Thornpipe from Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon has a new single, Thornpipe, a driving banjo tune written and performed by Andy Thorn. It’s the second in a set of four new tracks to be pre-released in collaboration with Colorado’s Breckenridge Brewery.

Free download codes are available in specially-marked sampler packs of Breckenridge beers and ales, and at Breckenridge pub promotions this summer, tied to the band’s tour stops across the country. Once you retrieve a song using these codes, you’ll be entered in a contest to win a trip to Colorado, an autographed guitar, or a collection of art prints from this series.

Thorn says that he wrote this one some time ago, but when the band hooked up with fiddle master Casey Driessen at a festival recently, the tune took off. Driessen was invited to join the band – Vince Herman on guitar, Drew Emmitt on mandolin, Greg Garrison on bass, Jose Martinez on drums, and Thorn on banjo – in the studio to record the tune..

Andy describes it this way…

“In music you’ve got your hornpipes and your jigs, but this tune is a Thornpipe. It’s a pretty simple banjo tune with a few twists and turns to have fun with.

Renowned poster artist Jeff Wood of Zen Mystic Studio created the artwork for Thornpipe.”

The four tracks in this Breckenridge download promotion will eventually be part of an upcoming Leftover Salmon CD.

Moon from Rumpke Mountain Boys

We all know about bluegrass, and have become accustomed more recently to jamgrass. But what about trashgrass?

Well that’s what Cincinnati’s Rumpke Mountain Boys call their take on the music, and it served as the title of their debut CD in 2012. The vibe comes from the Rumpke Sanitary Landfill just north of town, which the locals call Rumpke Mountain. Rumpke Mountain Boys… get it?

The band consists of Ben Gourley on mandolin, Adam Copeland on guitar, Jason Wolf on banjo, and J.D. Westmoreland on bass, with a sound that leans towards the Leftover Salmon, Larry Keel side of the spectrum.

Their next CD, Moon, is due to hit on August 9, with a release party scheduled at Headliners Music Hall in Louisville, KY that night. There are no audio samples yet online, but you can get a feel for their sound in this live radio show video from last Fall.