#leftover salmon

[bluewillowmoon]

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— Leftover Salmon, "Shine On," Let's Party About It LP (Compass Records, 2025)

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Leftover Salmon ft. Daniel Donato - “New Speedway Boogie” (Live, Aug. 2, 2024)

Vince Herman asked the crowd to sing a verse; they responded with the refrain. But perhaps they were just following the Leftover Salmon leader who had troubles of his own with the lyrics.

With electric guitarist Daniel Donato in tow, Salmon on Aug. 2, 2024, was offering its take on Grateful Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie” in New York. Lyrical lapses be damned, the rendition is a musical melting pot of cosmic country and progressive bluegrass as the electric is woven into the acoustic over nine minutes of improvising and simultaneously following the template as Jerry Garcia composed it.

The results, which betray a few in-house mixing issues, have just been released on professional video - a worthwhile diversion despite the glitches therein.

Grade card: Leftover Salmon ft. Daniel Donato - “New Speedway Boogie” (Live - 8/2/24) - B

7/16/25

[commandergoretusk]

I got 9 more hours on this bus ride…

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Sam Grisman with Vince Herman and Max Flansberg - “Althea” (Live, Jan. 23, 2025)

The sound is different, but don’t tell Sound Bites “Althea” ain’t got no heart when Sam Grisman, Vince Herman and Max Flansberg present it in an acoustic-trio format.

Such a presentation was captured Jan. 23, 2025, in New York state and released as a standalone video. This “Althea” is limber and loose - not sloppy, however - as bassist/backgrouder Grisman and guitarist/singer Flansberg alternate rubbery lead and rhythm duties that follow the contours of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter’s Grateful Dead song while just as often going merrily outside the lines.

Herman strums an acoustic guitar, but is essentially a non-factor. Which is no problem as Grisman and Flansberg have it all covered on this cover that proves recreation, which this is decidedly not, is often inferior to reinterpretation, which this totally is.

Grade card: Sam Grisman with Vince Herman and Max Flansberg - “Althea” (Live - 1/23/25) - A-

5/27/25

[krispyweiss]

Song Review(s): Billy Strings - “Running,” “Taking Water” -> “Ice Bridges” (Live, Oct. 19, 2024)

After a day listening to Leftover Salmon at a barbecue festival, Billy Strings took the stage Saturday night in Alabama to do his own entertaining and cooking.

Guitarist Strings and his bandmates Jarrod Walker (mando), Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Masat (bass fiddle) and Alex Hargreaves (fiddle, fiddle), were feeling it from the get-go Oct. 19 with instrumental and vocal precision abounding on “Running,” which opened the gig and was one of three giveaways from the associated pay-per-view livestream.

As strong as the kickoff was, the following “Taking Water” found Strings and company in compounding-excellence territory with each minute of stage time. This “Water” was a touch slower than typical renditions - an effective tack - and had no reverb on the vocals, allowing the quintet to coalesce around their harmonies and fire off into a jam that was both probing and full of direction.

It led to an obviously planned and perfectly executed segue to the instrumental “Ice Bridges,” which quickly melted into a fiery display of bluegrass prowess. Songs often require words to command rapt attention; this one let the music doing the talking.

And it was raving.

Grade card: Billy Strings - “Running,” “Taking Water” -> “Ice Bridges” (Live - 10/19/24) - A-/A/A+

10/20/24

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Mighty Poplar - “Chico River” (Live, 2023)

Mighty Poplar summoned the power of quietude to deliver a devastating performance of “Chico River” at the 2023 Green Mountain Bluegrass & Roots festival.

Now out on professional video, the bluegrass supergroup’s rendering of Mapache’s number is astonishing in its finesse as mandolinist Andrew Marlin, guitarist Chris Eldridge and bassist Greg Garrison climb to the top of their ranges on the chorus:

Abigail/Abigail

The mic into which they sing also serves as the band’s amp, to which fiddler Alex Hargreaves, then Marlin, then banjoist Noam Pikelny move closer so their respective, pre-chorus solos can be dispersed to the audience.

It ends with Marlin and Eldridge weaving a soft, delicate tapestry that flirts with silence. It leaves the audience hushed and the band smiling in quiet, hard-earned, self-satisfaction.

Grade card: Mighty Poplar - “Chico River” (Live, 2023) - A+

3/18/24

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Mighty Poplar - “Grey Eagle” (Live)

“Content to only steal the show,” as his bandmates put it, fiddler Shad Cobb proves himself much more than a standin for Alex Hargreaves on Mighty Poplar’s live rendering of “Grey Eagle.”

Captured on professional video during the bluegrass supergroup’s appearance at the 2023 FreshGrass festival in Massachusetts, the clip may feature Cobb’s sawin’ prominently. But Noam Pikelny’s banjo pickin’, Avdrew Marlin’s mandolin fannin’ and Chris Eldridge’s guitar stylin’ are not inessential ingredients, as evidenced by the explosion of applause that follows each musician’s turn in the spotlight.

Grade card: Mighty Poplar - “Grey Eagle” (Live) - A+

11/22/23

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Mighty Poplar - “Up on the Divide” (Live, 2023)

Viewers and listeners are forgiven if they mistake Mighty Poplar for long-time bandmates after experiencing the group’s in-concert performance of “Up on the Divide.”

As tight as most any bluegrass band, the Mighty Poplars are a supergroup with only Punch Brothers Chris Eldridge (guitar) and Noam Pikelny (banjo) playing regularly together. But singer/mandolinist Andrew Marlin (Watchhouse), bassist Greg Garrison (Leftover Salmon) and fiddler Shad Cobb (subbing for Alex Hargreaves) sound like a veteran collective on this number, recorded at Massachusetts’ FreshGrass 2023 and freshly issued.

Practice may make perfect. But raw talent makes something else just as special.

Grade card: Mighty Poplar - “Up on the Divide” (Live, 2023) - A-

1/25/24