Leftover Salmon

Who Are They?

Leftover Salmon are a Colorado band, formed in 1989, who are quite simply one of the original jamgrass bands. Led by Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt, they took bluegrass instruments and threw everything else at them, Cajun and zydeco, rock, calypso, and long improvisational jams, and coined a name for the result: polyethnic Cajun slamgrass.

Their importance is foundational. As Marcel points out, they are among the oldest examples of the jamgrass subgenre, predating and directly inspiring the String Cheese Incident, the Yonder Mountain String Band, and the whole modern festival-bluegrass world.

The Story

Their story starts almost by accident, and turns into the founding of a whole scene.

1. 1989

   An accidental band

   When two Boulder bands, the Salmon Heads and the Left Hand String Band, merged for a single gig, Leftover Salmon was born and never stopped.

2. 1990s

   Slamgrass

   They built a rowdy, genre-melting live sound and a devoted following, becoming pioneers of what would be called jamgrass.

3. 1999

   The Nashville Sessions

   Their all-star album featured Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs, John Hartford, and more, a bridge between the jam world and bluegrass royalty.

4. 2002

   The loss of Mark Vann

   Founding banjoist Mark Vann died of cancer, and the band took a hiatus before regrouping.

5. 2000s onward

   Elder statesmen

   Having helped invent the scene, Leftover Salmon remain beloved festival veterans and a living link to jamgrass's origins.

Start Here

These three are the fastest way to hear the band: the signature, the classic, and the party.

The Essential Records 4 to start with

Four records covering the classic studio sound, the all-star sessions, and the live fire.

The Playlists

A hand-picked Essentials set of Leftover Salmon favorites, the way in for anyone new. Hit the button to open it in YouTube Music.

Slamgrass

Leftover Salmon invented a template. When they started in 1989, the idea of a string band playing bluegrass instruments but behaving like a rowdy, genre-hopping rock band was genuinely new. They mixed in Cajun and zydeco from the bayou, calypso from the islands, funk and rock from everywhere, and tied it all together with bluegrass picking and a party-hard live show. The half-joking name they gave it, polyethnic Cajun slamgrass, captures the gleeful mess of it perfectly.

That approach is the direct ancestor of everything jamgrass became. The String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, and the whole Colorado-centered jamgrass scene grew in ground that Leftover Salmon broke first. They proved you could take bluegrass to a festival crowd, jam endlessly, cover anything, and build a devoted, deadhead-style following, years before it became a whole movement.

They also stayed connected to the tradition. The Nashville Sessions, with Bela Fleck, Earl Scruggs, and John Hartford sitting in, showed that the band's wildness came from love and knowledge of the roots, not ignorance of them. The death of founding banjoist Mark Vann in 2002 was a hard blow, but the band endured, and today they are elder statesmen of the scene they helped create, still bringing the party every night.

Influences

Leftover Salmon grew from newgrass, the jam tradition, and a love of American vernacular music. These are the sources.

In Their Own Words

Vince Herman is one of the great characters in jamgrass. These interviews catch the band's spirit and history.

Going Deeper

Leftover Salmon are the headwaters of the whole modern jamgrass scene.

• The String Cheese Incident: the band that followed them out of Colorado. See the guide.
• Yonder Mountain String Band: the next jamgrass generation. See the guide.
• Sam Bush: the newgrass frontier that opened the door. See the guide.
• John Hartford: the freewheeling spirit that inspired them, and a guest on their records. See the guide.
• The Nashville Sessions guest list: a who's who of bluegrass royalty worth chasing on its own.

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