Cellar Sessions: Leftover Salmon - Heart Of Gold November 10th, 2017 City Winery New York

Leftover Salmon sit down for a One On One Session at City Winery New York on November 10th, 2017. Watch the full session here: https://youtu.be/sAk13Pb5Ugc For more info visit: http://www.leftoversalmon.com/ Audio & Video by: Ehud Lazin

Setlist:

Liza (Vince Herman)

You Don't Know Me (John Dawson)

Heart Of Gold (Neil Young)

For the past quarter-century, Colorado’s Leftover Salmon has established itself as one of the great purveyors of Americana music, digging deep into the well that supplies its influences; rock ‘n’ roll, folk, bluegrass, Cajun, soul, zydeco, jazz and blues. They are firmly settled in the long lineage of bands that defy simple categorization, instead setting their own musical agenda. They are the direct descendants of bands like Little Feat, New Grass Revival, Grateful Dead and The Band, born of the heart and soul of America itself, playing music that reflects the sounds emanating from the Appalachian hills, the streets of New Orleans, the clubs of Chicago, the plains of Texas, and the mountains of Colorado.

Leftover Salmon are considered to be the architects of what has become known as Jamgrass – where bands clearly schooled in the traditional rules of bluegrass break free of those rules through non-traditional instrumentation and an innate ability to push songs in new psychedelic directions live. This has created an altogether new dimension for bands such as The String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Railroad Earth, Greensky Bluegrass, The Infamous Stringdusters and countless others to inhabit. Leftover Salmon’s willingness to never be boxed in by “normal” music standards has given the bands that have followed in their wake the license to do and try what they want.

The history of Leftover Salmon begins in 1989 when members of Herman’s Salmon Heads could not make a New Year’s Eve gig at the Eldorado Cafe in Crested Butte, Colorado. Herman called on his buddy, fellow Boulder picker Emmitt, to help supply a few players from his band, the Left Hand String Band, to fill out the lineup for the evening. The energy that night was unmistakable and Emmitt immediately realized, “this could be something really cool.” Emmitt and Herman soon shelved their respective bands and focused all their energy into the new one – which they named Leftover Salmon.

Leftover Salmons’s 1997 major label debut Euphoria, released on Hollywood records, was a raucous celebration of Leftover Salmon’s signature slamgrass style. Their follow up, 1999’s groundbreaking Nashville Sessions, pushed the bar even higher while exploring what could be accomplished by a band that was not afraid to break free of traditional labels. The album pulled together an army of A-list musicians from all walks-of-life including Waylon Jennings, Earl Scruggs, Del McCoury, Taj Mahal, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Lucinda Williams, and John Bell who teamed with Leftover Salmon to create a truly grand celebration of American music.

In 2002, founding member Vann lost his battle with cancer. Before his death, he implored the band to continue after he was gone. The band’s legacy was already well secure, but they heeded his advice and continued touring with the help of a cadre of banjo-playing friends including Jeff Mosier, Scott Vestal, Tony Furtado, and Matt Flinner. Leftover Salmon released a live tribute album to Vann in 2002, entitled Live, which featured the last lineup that Vann was a part of. This was followed by another groundbreaking collaboration, 2003’s O’Cracker Where Art Thou?, which found the band backing up David Lowery and Johnny Hickman from the alternative rock band Cracker. The album re-imagined Cracker tunes in ways not thought possible before. The following year brought the self titled Leftover Salmon – the band’s first studio album since Vann’s passing. Over the ensuing years, the band continued to tour non-stop as they had always done before.

In 2005 after fifteen years together, the band took a break from the road in order to focus on other projects and individually regroup from the impact Vann’s passing had on the band. However, the power of Leftover Salmon was just too much to contain, and in 2007 the band returned in full force. Since then the line-up has solidified around Emmitt, Herman, Garrison, Robinson, Thorn, and newest member Deutsch.

Leftover Salmon has released two studio albums since their return; 2012’s Aquatic Hitchhiker, and 2014’s High Country, both produced by Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin. The band celebrated their 25th Anniversary in 2015 with the release of the live album 25, which complied performances from the previous two years and the band’s collaborations with Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne. Leftover Salmon continues to deliver powerful performances on stages and at festivals across the country, reaffirming their presence as one of the most engaging and charismatic bands to ever hit the touring circuit.