About Leftover Salmon
Leftover Salmon is an American jam band from Boulder, Colorado, formed in 1989. The band's music is a blend of bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun/Zydeco . Over their thirty years as a band, Salmon has released seven studio albums and three live albums. The band celebrated their continuing thirty-year career with the release of the biographical book, Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival! and a vinyl box-set re-release of all of their studio albums.
The band formed in 1989 when members of the Salmon Heads combined with members of the Left Hand String Band to play a New Year's Eve show in 1989 at the Eldo in Crested Butte, Colorado. Herman had previously played with Emmitt in the Left Hand String Band and had called on his former bandmates Emmitt and Keefe to fill in for some missing members of the Salmon Heads for the New Year's Eve show. They chose the name Leftover Salmon on the drive to the show.
The synergy worked and the result was Leftover Salmon. The lineup changed significantly over the years, but the "Big Three" – Drew Emmitt, Vince Herman, and Mark Vann — remained the heart of the band until Vann's death in 2002.
After the independent release of Bridges to Bert in 1993 and the 1995 live follow-up Ask the Fish, Leftover Salmon gained a spot on the H.O.R.D.E. festival tour and a contract with Hollywood Records. Their Hollywood debut and second studio album, Euphoria with guest keyboardist Pete Sears, continued to define their eclectic sound and introduced many songs that became their most notable. They released four albums with the Disney Music Group-owned label. In 1999, Nashville Sessions was released, with guests Waylon Jennings, Jerry Douglas, Lucinda Williams, John Bell, Del McCoury, Ronnie McCoury, Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, John Cowan, Todd Park Mohr, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Jeff Hanna, Sally Van Meter, Jeff Coffin, Jo-El Sonnier, Taj Mahal, Danny Boone and Reese Wynans. In 2000, Bill McKay, formerly of The Derek Trucks Band, joined the band on keyboards and vocals and the band recorded several of his songs. He remained with the band until late 2011.
In March 2002, founding member and banjoist Mark Vann died from cancer. He was succeeded by Matt Flinner and then Noam Pikelny.
In 2003, the band teamed up with David Lowery and Johnny Hickman of Cracker to release the critically acclaimed 10-song album, "O' Cracker Where Art Thou?" , 2003, which was a compilation of ten of Cracker's best songs done Leftover Salmon style.
Map & Directions To Venue
