This Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass outfit has come a long way sincethe Salmon Heads teamed up with the Left Hand String Band for a New Year’s showin Crested Butte. On that wintery night in the mountains a legend was born andthey’ve been shaking stages and bringing smiles as Leftover Salmon ever since.This night at Washington’s in Fort Collins, Colorado would be a celebration ofeverything they’ve accomplished in the last 30 years. Author Tim Newby wasthere to start the show with a reading from his recently released book‘Leftover Salmon: 30 Years of Festival!”. He also teed up a short film thattook us all on a trip down memory lane. Archival footage of Mark, Drew andVince from the early days surrounded by the totality of their friends that havecalled Leftover Salmon home at one time or another danced off the screen.Reminiscing is cool and all but these days Salmon is a band with a solidinjection of youth in the form of drummer Alwyn Robinson, keyboardist ErikDeutsch and banjoist Andy Thorn. This band has been soaring high as of late andthey show no signs of slowing down.
This concert was billed as “An Evening With” and the floor wasseated. The show was also part of their “Living Room” tour with the bandperforming acoustic and telling a few tales from the good ol’ days. We weretold by security that if we wanted to dance, upstairs was the place to be, sowe found a spot dead center on the balcony overlooking the stage. As the filmended, the screen rose and the members of Leftover Salmon moseyed to the stage;Andy Thorn was wearing a walking cast from a recent ski injury. They openedwith Drew singing their now classic original “Muddy Water Home.”
The boys played two full sets at Washington’s that would featurea nice spattering from their catalog including old stuff, new stuff and a fewfamed covers. Throughout the show various members (primarily Vince and Drew)would saunter into a story. On this particular evening Vince discussed hisfirst meeting with Drew, the “problem” with Colorado and “banjo bullies.” TheseLiving Room Stories have been collected from the entire run on the band’sSoundcloud page FYI.
They continued with David Bromberg’s ode to life on the road “NewLee Highway Blues.” Fans could no longer stay in their seats during theirrendition of the Grateful Dead’s “Cold Rain & Snow.” “Sun Dog” is a newertrack that showcases the undeniable banjo talents of Andy Thorn. We weretreated to the Greg Garrison sung “Fayetteville Line” which is a bass-heavybluegrass tune before the whole band threw down on “Kentucky Skies.”“Whispering Waters” is a deep track off of Leftover’s self-titled album pennedby Jim Messina back in the mid 90’s. It was nice to see them pulling out sometheir lesser known tracks as part of this commemoration of all things Salmon. Iwas personally surprised and elated to hear their version of Prince’s “Seven,”which was pure fire.
The break was very short, Leftover returned with their now famoushomage to Boulder’s original independent grocer “Alfalfa’s.” After a wild takeon Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up in Blue” they treated attendees to anostalgia-inducing “Dance On Your Head.” The “Down In The Hollow” featuringEmmitt’s hauntingly beautiful vocals was equally heartwarming. They closed downtheir second set with a the Lead Belly spiritual “Lining Track.” Vince andcompany returned to send us on our way with the irreverent but oh so much fun“Wake & Bake.” There is no doubt that Leftover Salmon is a band anew readyto share their unbelievable story with fans across the country. With a newbook, a continuous drive to put out new music and a heavy touring scheduleSalmon continues to put on one of the best live shows out on the road today.They have a zest for life that oozes out of every performance. They are what’sright with live music right now. Do yourself a favor and get some Salmon inyour life. You wont’ regret it. s[t];for(va
