TRASCRIZIONE 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:18.890 --> 00:00:22.429
Welcome back to Shecky's Jam Bands. I'm Shecky,
00:00:22.850 --> 00:00:25.449
and today's episode begins with two essential
00:00:25.449 --> 00:00:30.030
facts. Fact one. Billy Strings, the reigning
00:00:30.030 --> 00:00:33.590
superstar of bluegrass music, the guy selling
00:00:33.590 --> 00:00:36.810
out red rocks for multiple nights running, once
00:00:36.810 --> 00:00:40.350
told Drew Emmett of Left Over Salmon that he
00:00:40.350 --> 00:00:44.909
was quote, my other son. Billy Strings said that
00:00:44.909 --> 00:00:48.920
to Drew Emmett. Fact two. The genre Leftover
00:00:48.920 --> 00:00:53.479
Salmon invented is called Polyethnic Cajun Slam
00:00:53.479 --> 00:00:57.439
Grass. I didn't make that up. They did. It's
00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.799
exactly as wonderful as it sounds. Today we're
00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.899
talking about Leftover Salmon, the Rolling Stones
00:01:03.899 --> 00:01:07.640
of Jam Grass, the band that accidentally invented
00:01:07.640 --> 00:01:11.599
a genre on a drive to Crested Butte on New Year's
00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:16.780
Eve 1989. And they spent the next 35 years plus
00:01:16.950 --> 00:01:20.730
refusing to stop. This is their story and it
00:01:20.730 --> 00:01:25.269
starts with some leftover fish. The year is 1985.
00:01:25.769 --> 00:01:28.230
Vince Herman had just driven from Morgantown,
00:01:28.409 --> 00:01:31.450
West Virginia to Boulder, Colorado in search
00:01:31.450 --> 00:01:35.250
of what he himself called the mythical bluegrass
00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:39.290
scene. He walks into a bar his first night in
00:01:39.290 --> 00:01:42.629
town. The sun in the door said live bluegrass
00:01:42.629 --> 00:01:46.239
music tonight. He walks in. On stage is Drew
00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:49.500
Emmett playing with his band, Left Hand String
00:01:49.500 --> 00:01:52.680
Band. Herman stays. He and Emmett hit it off
00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:56.200
immediately. Over the next few years Emmett keeps
00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:59.260
playing with the Left Hand String Band, a progressive
00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:03.040
bluegrass outfit he had remade through his desire
00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:06.500
to combine rock and roll with bluegrass. While
00:02:06.500 --> 00:02:10.439
Herman eventually forms his own group, the Salmonheads,
00:02:11.180 --> 00:02:16.189
a Cajun and Calypso -obsessed combo, fiddles
00:02:16.189 --> 00:02:19.449
and washboards, and the specific energy of a
00:02:19.449 --> 00:02:22.949
band that is having more fun than anyone has
00:02:22.949 --> 00:02:25.550
the right to have. Then comes New Year's Eve,
00:02:25.689 --> 00:02:30.270
1989. The Salmonheads have a big gig booked in
00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:33.650
Crested Butte. About half the band decides they
00:02:33.650 --> 00:02:36.030
don't want to make the drive through the Colorado
00:02:36.030 --> 00:02:39.490
mountains in winter, which is fair, but it leaves
00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:42.949
Herman short. He
Load full transcript
calls Emmett, he calls Glenn
00:02:42.949 --> 00:02:46.340
Keefe, from the left -hand string band, they
00:02:46.340 --> 00:02:49.539
agree to fill in, five musicians pile into a
00:02:49.539 --> 00:02:51.639
vehicle and start driving toward the mountains.
00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:54.979
Somewhere on that drive, the question comes up,
00:02:55.419 --> 00:02:58.000
what do we call this thing? The Salmon Heads
00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:01.879
plus left -hand string band. Two fish, two bands,
00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:05.759
one name needed urgently before they arrived
00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:08.520
at the venue. And by the time they pulled up
00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:13.830
to the Eldo in Crested Butte, they had it. Leftover
00:03:13.830 --> 00:03:17.490
Salmon. The leftover parts of two bands merged
00:03:17.490 --> 00:03:20.629
into one name, heading into a New Year's Eve
00:03:20.629 --> 00:03:23.550
show that would accidentally change the course
00:03:23.550 --> 00:03:26.930
of Colorado music history. As the Colorado Music
00:03:26.930 --> 00:03:30.250
Hall of Fame later noted, a sense of humor was
00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:33.669
a constant, beginning with its formation in 1989.
00:03:34.129 --> 00:03:37.710
The sense of humor never left. Leftover Salmon
00:03:37.710 --> 00:03:40.449
added electric guitars and drums to the Bluegrass
00:03:40.449 --> 00:03:44.439
and Cajun foundation. and they label the result
00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:48.620
polyethnic Cajun slamgrass, a genre name that
00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:52.919
simultaneously satirizes the music's critics'
00:03:53.219 --> 00:03:56.699
need to categorize everything and signals to
00:03:56.699 --> 00:03:59.659
listeners that this band will go anywhere, play
00:03:59.659 --> 00:04:03.020
anything, and have a great time doing it. The
00:04:03.020 --> 00:04:06.020
Colorado Music Hall of Fame called it a phrase
00:04:06.020 --> 00:04:10.219
that at once satirizes the desire of critics
00:04:10.569 --> 00:04:14.990
to put every act into a pigeonhole exactly right.
00:04:15.710 --> 00:04:20.250
They earned a slot on the H -O -R -D -E festival
00:04:20.250 --> 00:04:24.889
tour, the traveling festival that in the 1990s
00:04:24.889 --> 00:04:28.149
was the most important stage for emerging jam
00:04:28.149 --> 00:04:32.050
and alternate acts in America. A Hollywood Records
00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:36.209
deal followed. Their 1997 album Euphoria and
00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:40.990
99's Nashville Sessions featuring Lucinda Williams,
00:04:41.449 --> 00:04:46.329
Taj Mahal, Del Macquarie, and Bella Fleck to
00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:49.790
find the peak of their commercial reach. More
00:04:49.790 --> 00:04:53.769
than 2 ,000 shows a year, festival headliners
00:04:53.769 --> 00:05:00.310
a following that called itself family. My one
00:05:00.310 --> 00:05:03.389
song for Leftover Salmon is High Country from
00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:07.810
the 2014 album of the same name. High Country
00:05:07.810 --> 00:05:11.949
is the song that does what only the best leftover
00:05:11.949 --> 00:05:15.490
salmon material does. It puts you somewhere specific.
00:05:16.170 --> 00:05:19.850
You hear it and you're in Colorado. Not a postcard
00:05:19.850 --> 00:05:24.209
Colorado, real Colorado. The altitude, the distance
00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:27.569
between things, the feeling of standing somewhere
00:05:27.569 --> 00:05:31.529
vast with the sky pressing down from above and
00:05:31.529 --> 00:05:35.069
the mountains pressing up from below. Emmett's
00:05:35.069 --> 00:05:39.149
mandolin and fiddle work has that quality, rooted
00:05:39.149 --> 00:05:42.209
in bluegrass tradition reaching towards something
00:05:42.209 --> 00:05:47.589
larger. Live, High Country is a launching pad.
00:05:47.990 --> 00:05:51.410
The fiddle and mandolin intro gives way to full
00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:54.970
band improvisation that can stretch in any direction.
00:05:55.529 --> 00:05:58.949
Bluegrass, rock, cajun, calypso, whatever the
00:05:58.949 --> 00:06:01.990
night calls for. Reviewers constantly describe
00:06:01.990 --> 00:06:06.259
it as the moment in Leftover Salmon set, everything
00:06:06.259 --> 00:06:09.500
they are gets distilled into a single piece of
00:06:09.500 --> 00:06:13.360
music. Start here, then go find Rivers Rising,
00:06:14.139 --> 00:06:18.360
Zombie Jamboree, Ask the Fish, and the whole
00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:21.579
Nashville Sessions album, then go find a live
00:06:21.579 --> 00:06:24.519
show. Alright, some things worth noting about
00:06:24.519 --> 00:06:27.560
Leftover Salmon. As I mentioned, they played
00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:31.439
over 200 shows a year at their peak. During the
00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:35.980
height of their touring in 1990s and early 2000s,
00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:38.439
Leftover Salmon played more than 200 shows per
00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:42.699
year. At that pace, you'd either become a great
00:06:42.699 --> 00:06:46.759
band or you collapse. They became a great band.
00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:51.339
The Nashville Sessions featured Lucinda Williams,
00:06:52.019 --> 00:06:56.500
Taj Mahal, Bella Fleck, and Del Macquarie. Their
00:06:56.500 --> 00:06:59.889
1999 Hollywood Records album, brought together
00:06:59.889 --> 00:07:02.810
some of the most respected names in Americana
00:07:02.810 --> 00:07:07.149
and Bluegrass in a single collection. That guest
00:07:07.149 --> 00:07:12.050
list is a who's who of the genre's royalty, all
00:07:12.050 --> 00:07:14.209
of them showing up because they wanted to play
00:07:14.209 --> 00:07:18.790
with leftover Simon. Lastly, Andy Thorne relit
00:07:18.790 --> 00:07:21.930
the spark. After the hiatus and years of searching
00:07:21.930 --> 00:07:25.269
for the right chemistry, a young banjo player
00:07:25.269 --> 00:07:29.769
from North Carolina named Andy Thorne sat in
00:07:29.769 --> 00:07:35.629
around 2010 and immediately felt right. PBS NewsHour
00:07:35.629 --> 00:07:39.170
reported the spark was re -lit instantly. Thorne
00:07:39.170 --> 00:07:44.209
had been the band's banjoist ever since. The
00:07:44.209 --> 00:07:48.910
stool found its third leg. Here's what I keep
00:07:48.910 --> 00:07:51.810
on coming back to with Leftover Salmon. They
00:07:51.810 --> 00:07:54.970
named themselves on a drive to a gig because
00:07:54.970 --> 00:07:57.509
half their band didn't want to make the trip.
00:07:57.769 --> 00:08:01.410
They invented a genre and gave it the most ridiculous
00:08:01.410 --> 00:08:04.750
name they could think of. They played over 200
00:08:04.750 --> 00:08:08.670
nights a year for more than a decade. They lost
00:08:08.670 --> 00:08:12.490
their third leg, Mark Vann, and the stool wobbled
00:08:12.490 --> 00:08:16.649
for years before Andy Thorne walked in and studied
00:08:16.649 --> 00:08:20.850
it again. Billy Strings calls Drew Emmett dad.
00:08:22.389 --> 00:08:25.269
String Cheese and Yonder Mountain call themselves
00:08:25.269 --> 00:08:30.519
inspiration. and 35 years plus after that New
00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.220
Year's Eve in Crested Butte, they're still playing
00:08:33.220 --> 00:08:36.980
a hundred headline shows a year. Rolling Stones
00:08:36.980 --> 00:08:41.899
of Jamgrass, the Grandfathers of Slamgrass, the
00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:45.539
accidental architects of an entire genre, all
00:08:45.539 --> 00:08:48.240
of it starting with a band name cobbled together
00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:52.179
in a car because some musicians didn't want to
00:08:52.179 --> 00:08:55.440
drive through the mountains. Find High Country
00:08:55.740 --> 00:08:59.259
Find the Nashville Sessions. Find any live recording
00:08:59.259 --> 00:09:02.340
from any era. There are decades of them. And
00:09:02.340 --> 00:09:05.039
if Leftover Salmon is playing anywhere near you,
00:09:05.299 --> 00:09:07.799
and at 100 shows per year, they probably are,
00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:10.440
bring someone who's never heard them before.
00:09:10.919 --> 00:09:13.539
Watch their face when the fiddle and electric
00:09:13.539 --> 00:09:17.220
guitar and banjo all find each other at the same
00:09:17.220 --> 00:09:20.960
moment. That expression is what polyethnic Cajun
00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.299
slam grass looks like from the outside. It looks
00:09:24.299 --> 00:09:28.179
like joy. That's Leftover Simon. That's Shecky's
00:09:28.179 --> 00:09:30.759
Jam Bands. Thank you for listening and we'll
00:09:30.759 --> 00:09:31.700
see you next time.