"With the demise of Grateful Dead, Leftover Salmon has assumed the top spot among jam bands, drawing thousands to its shows..." So spoke Hollywood Records, Jim Herrington, recently. They are picking up the trail blazed by equally independent minded acts like Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic, and the former Phish. Leftover Salmon has built a huge following.
Leftover Salmon plays an average of 200 concerts a year, to packed houses.
The group has built a mailing list of tens of thousands of fans.
It's no wonder. They're fun. Damn fun. The exuberance of the band members as they mosey around on stage with smiling faces is contagious. They pull the audience in, making them a significant part of the show.
And the really great musicians want to sit in with this band. Their "Nashville Sessions" album, for Disney's Hollywood Records, was a star studded affair that paired Leftover Salmon with an A-list of Nashville icons, such as Waylon Jennings, Lucinda Williams, Earl Scruggs; along with the A-list of Nashville's most notable session players: Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, John Cowan, Taj Mahal, and Sally Van Meter, and friends from the road including Blues Traveler's John Popper, and John Bell from Widespread Panic.
Leftover Salmon has toured relentlessly over the past eleven years playing countless clubs and theatres and appearing at every festival known to mankind wowing their audiences with their crazy antics. Salmon member Mark Vann has won the Telluride Bluegrass Fesival's banjo competition several times. They have blended bluegrass with country, rock, blues, funk, jazz, and now rap. And, their sound is forever expanding.
This is not music for people who take themselves, the tunes they listen to, or the world in general too seriously. These are musicians playing for the pure hell of it, enjoying the moment and sharing it in an unpretentious, balls-to-the-wall way with their audience.