Tahoe Onstage photo by Larry Sabo
Leftover Salmon became popular all across the nation because of its live concerts.
Each year during the holidays, the Boulder, Colorado band appears at the Crystal Bay Casino. It will have the Crown Room stage all to itself on Friday, Dec. 28. “An Evening with Leftover Salmon” will start at 9 p.m. World’s Finest will perform in the Red Room after the show. Tickets are $27 in advance or $30 on the day of the show.
Formed in 1989, Leftover Salmon is a combination of players from the Salmon Heads and Left Hand String Band.The group went on hiatus after original bassist Mark Vann passed away in 2002 following a fight with cancer. It reformed after a series of reunion tours in 2007 and 2008.
Two players have been with the band all 26 years — guitarist Vince Herman and mandolin and fiddle player Drew Emmitt. Greg Garrison has been the bassist since 2000. Andy Thorn plays banjo, Alwyn Robinson is on drums and Erik Deutsch, the newest member, plays keyboards.
Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage
Herman and Thorn spoke recently to Tahoe Onstage, answering the question, Why is live music important?
Vince Herman: “Live music is important in American culture because you’ve got sports, you’ve got church, and then you have music. Those are the main institutions in our culture. If you’re not into sports and you’re not a church-going person, then you’ve got to go get music to get with your tribe because that’s what humans have done since we’ve evolved into social beings. Festivals bring the best out of people out of all those options.”
Andy Thorn: “People should go to it. It’s important. It brings people together in a way that nothing else really does. I think everybody should try to play music, too, regardless of whether they’re ever going to be good at it. I’ve made my most important friends and contacts through playing music and just going to shows before I was playing music.”
