Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt at the Redstone Room -- February 28.

Friday, February 28, 8 p.m.

The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA

Gifted bluegrass and Cajun musicians who have been performing together for more than three decades, Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt – co-founders of popular touring act Leftover Salmon – bring their special acoustic-duo set to Davenport's Redstone Room on February 28, treating crowds to the toe-tapping talents that brought their band fame for albums including 1995's Ask the Fish, 1997's Euphoria, and 2018's Something Higher.

Leftover Salmon formed in 1989, when members of the band Salmon Heads – featuring Herman, Dave Dorian, and Gerry Cavagnaro – combined with two members of the Left Hand String Band – Emmitt and Glenn Keefe – to play a New Year's Eve show in Crested Butte, Colorado. Guitarist and singer/songwriter Herman had previously played with mandolinist, guitarist, fiddler, flutist, and singer Emmitt in the Left Hand String Band, and it was reported that the musicians chose the name for their new outfit Leftover Salmon on the drive to the show. With the concert a success, Leftover Salmon recorded the independent release Bridges to Bert in 1993 and delivered the live follow-up Ask the Fish two years later, soon after gaining a spot on the H.O.R.D.E. festival tour and a contract with Hollywood Records. Their Hollywood debut and second studio album Euphoria, featuring guest keyboardist Pete Sears, continued to define Leftover Salmon's eclectic sound and introduced many songs – including “Better,” “Baby Hold On,” and “Cash on the Barrelhead” – that would become among their most notable. Leftover Salmon consequently released four albums with the Disney-owned Hollywood label.

By the end of 2004, the group announced they would go on hiatus, but a 2007 reunion tour with several festival dates brought Leftover Salmon back together, and the musicians continued to play sporadically throughout the rest of the decade while their members, including Herman and Emmitt, maintained various side projects. Among them were Herman's founding of the band Great American Taxi while Emmitt fronted the Drew Emmitt Band, but with the arrival of banjo player Andy Thorn in 2010, Leftover Salmon began to again tour with regularity. Now signed to the Los Records label, the group released Aquatic Hitchhiker in 2012 – the group's first new album since 2004 – and subsequently followed it with 2015's High Country and 2016's 25, the latter a double-album compilation of live cuts released to commemorate Leftover Salmon's 25th anniversary. Working with longtime collaborator Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Leftover Salmon's Something Higher was released in 2018, yet Herman and Emmitt also continue to tour the country as an acoustic duo, performing both Leftover Salmon hits and numbers from their individual repertoires.

Vince Herman and Drew Emmitt play the Redstone Room on February 28 with an opening set by the Jon Stickley Trio, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is $30-35, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)326-1333 or visiting RiverMusicExperience.org.

Support the River Cities' Reader

Get 12 Reader issues mailed monthly for $48/year.

Old School Subscription for Your Support

Get the printed Reader edition mailed to you (or anyone you want) first-class for 12 months for $48.
$24 goes to postage and handling, $24 goes to keeping the doors open!

Click this link to Old School Subscribe now.



Help Keep the Reader Alive and Free Since '93!

 

"We're the River Cities' Reader, and we've kept the Quad Cities' only independently owned newspaper alive and free since 1993.

So please help the Reader keep going with your one-time, monthly, or annual support. With your financial support the Reader can continue providing uncensored, non-scripted, and independent journalism alongside the Quad Cities' area's most comprehensive cultural coverage." - Todd McGreevy, Publisher