Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival
By Tim Newby
Note: Obviously, this is a book, not an album.
Few bands stick around for thirty years. Even fewer bands leave a legacy during that time that marks them as a truly special, once-in-a-lifetime type band. And no band has done all that and had as much fun as Leftover Salmon. Since their earliest days as a forward-thinking, progressive bluegrass band who had the guts to add drums to the mix and who was unafraid to stir in any number of highly combustible styles into their ever-evolving sound, to their role as pioneers of the modern jamband scene, to their current status as elder-statesmen of the scene who cast a huge influential shadow over every festival they play, Leftover Salmon has been a crucial link in keeping alive the traditional music of the past while at the same time pushing that sound forward with their own weirdly, unique style.
As Leftover Salmon nears their 30th year, their inspiring story is set to be told in the new book, “Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival!”
In this book, critically acclaimed author of “Bluegrass in Baltimore: The Hard Drivin’ Sound & It’s Legacy,” Tim Newby presents an intimate portrait of Leftover Salmon through the personal recollections of its band members, family, friends, former bandmates, managers, and the countless musicians they have influenced. “Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival!” is a thorough guide covering a thirty-year journey of a truly remarkable band. It is a tale of friendships and losses, musical discoveries and wild West adventures, and the brethren they surround themselves with who fortify Salmon’s unique voice. Their story is one of tragedy and rebirth, of unimaginable highs and crushing lows, of friendships, of music, but most importantly it is the story of a special band and those that have lived through it all to create, inspire, and have everlasting fun.
“History is made by those who write it, not the musicians who can’t remember it,” said Leftover co-founder Vince Herman. “Tim Newby knows our history and now it’s up to him to teach us what happened!”
Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin added that “Newby has somehow managed to capture the unique combination of personalities that is Leftover Salmon; a feat that I would have thought fairly impossible. As unique as their music, Tim weaves his story through the sensibilities of the individual players which creates a wonderful kaleidoscope resulting in the definitive biography of a band that is still constantly changing and growing into their fourth decade.”
The band now features a line-up that has been together longer than any other in Salmon history and is one of the strongest the legendary band has ever assembled. Built around the core of founding members Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman, the band is now powered by banjo-wiz Andy Thorn, and driven by the steady rhythm section of bassist Greg Garrison, drummer Alwyn Robinson, and keyboardist Erik Deutsch.
Salmon is a band who, over their thirty-year career, has never stood still; they are constantly changing, evolving, and inspiring. If someone wanted to understand what Americana music is they could do no better than to go to a Leftover Salmon show, where they effortlessly glide from a bluegrass number born on the front porch, to the down-and-dirty Cajun swamps with a stop on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, to the hallowed halls of the Ryman in Nashville, before firing one up in the mountains of Colorado. And somehow, Newby finds a way to articulate all of this in the book.
Boogie at the Broadmoor | March 22-24
