At Lake Tahoe, the kokanee run in the fall and at New Year’s Leftover Salmon will play.
The Colorado-based Americana-jam band will headline the Crystal Bay Casino’s Crown Room shows on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 30-31. Both shows have sold out.
The band formed in Boulder when members of the Salmon Heads and Left Hand String Band coalesced. Leftover Salmon’s high-spirited live shows led to a national following. 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 drums and Erik Deutsch, the newest member, plays keyboards.
The group possibly has played the High Sierra Music Festival more than any other. During the 2016 festival, Herman and Thorn talked about the importance of live music. The interview with Tahoe Onstage was conducted in one of the fairground’s horse stalls, which served as the camping spot for Leftover Salmon.
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.”
-Tim Parsons
- Saturday, Dec. 30 in the Crystal Bay Casino
Leftover Salmon
Opener: Dead Winter Carpenters at 9 p.m.
Red Room after-party: Low Flying Birds
Tickets: SOLD OUT - Sunday, Dec. 31
Crystal Bay Casino in the Crystal Bay Casino
Leftover Salmon
Opener: The Mother Hips at 9 p.m.
Red Room after-party: Dusty Green Bones Band
Tickets: SOLD OUT
Tahoe Onstage photo by Larry Sabo.
Photo by Clare Foster
Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage
Tim Parsons / Tahoe Onstage
‘Pretty Little Filly’ by Mr. Ed
