Leftover Salmon
Coolgrass!
by Michael Parrish

Leftover Salmon's name suggests something that might induce indigestion or worse. Considerably more palatable is the Colorado band's unique blend of what they have whimsically dubbed "polyethnic Cajun slamgrass." The five-piece band, which just celebrated its 10th anniversary, has gone from playing Boulder bars to headlining their own festivals. Mid-afternoon before a recent concert in Chicago, the band members talked over a late, late breakfast (as guitarist/vocalist Vince Herman quipped, "It's morning in Salmon world!"). They have just recorded a new disc, The Nashville Sessions, that finds them jamming with some of their musical heroes, including Sam Bush, Del McCoury, and Earl Scruggs.

Leftover Salmon had its origin when members of two different Colorado bands, bluegrassers the Left Hand String Band (led by mandolin-guitar-fiddle player Drew Emmitt) and Cajun band the Salmonheads (led by vocalist/guitarist Vince Herman), ended up forming an ad hoc assemblage for a New Year's gig when some members of the 'Heads were unavailable. Herman explained that his history with the Left Handers went back a bit further: "I actually was the guitarist in the Left Hand String Band in '87. When I first came to Colorado from West Virginia I walked into a bar, and Drew's band was playing the very first place I went to in Boulder. Off the highway, into a Left Hand gig! Two years later, I was playing guitar with them and [chortling] I got fired! A year or two after that I had the Salmonheads band going. A few of the guys couldn't make a gig for New Year's in Crested Butte. I called up Drew and Len, who was the bass player in the Left Hand String Band, and we put that together as Leftover Salmon as a joke."

Herman's Cajun influences predated his move to Colorado. "I came to that through the Augusta Heritage Festival. I got to play with Dewey Balfa, Ray Fontenot, Larry Miller, these great players there. When I moved to Colorado, a few months later this Cajun fiddler from West Virginia came out and we started this sort of Cajuny jug band. Hugh has now gone on to lead the Colorado Cajun Dance Band. Jerry Cavagnaro was in that band, and he's now leading Jerry C and the Zydeco Playboys. There's this big High Country Cajun thing."

Mark Vann grew up and learned his craft as a banjo player on the East Coast. He, too, was drawn into the Salmon net, joining the Left Hand String Band shortly before they metamorphosed into Leftover Salmon. "The first time I played with these guys was at the Telluride Bluegrass festival. I was living in Virginia at the time, and we threw a band together for the band contest that included some of the Salmonheads, some of the Left Hand String Band, and a guy from a band called the Chicken Spankers, so the first version I played in was called the Left Handed Salmon Spankers. There were all kinds of permutations going around at that time."

"That year at Telluride pretty much convinced Mark to move to Colorado from Virginia," said Herman.

"We tried to get, like, 15 people onstage for the contest, but they wouldn't let us," said Vann. "That's the kind of thing we like to do. It's the spirit this record comes out of – let's get everyone out on stage to pick like we did at Telluride. It's more like a festival on a record."

This is an excerpt. Read the full article in Dirty Linen #88 (June/July 2000).