Leftover Salmon Stuffs The Stage With Special Guests For Annual Boulder Thanksgiving Run [Videos]

Leftover Salmon hosted their annual Boulder, CO Thanksgiving weekend shows at the historic Boulder Theater last Friday and Saturday night with special guests galore including “newgrass” pioneer and multi-instrumentalist Sam Bush. Thanksgiving is a time for families to come together and the Leftover Salmon clan is no different. With everyone in town for the holiday weekend, it’s the perfect chance to have a little reunion party for everyone, including the stuffed and joyful fans who packed the sold-out shows both nights with hoots, hollers, and plenty of boot-scootin’ thankful moves.

Few bands can boast the longevity of Leftover Salmon and one of the keys to their epic career is their collective willingness to accept and embrace change. While stalwart multi-instrumentalists Vince Herman and his partner-in-crime Drew Emmitt have remained, they have replaced every part of the band as needed due to tragedy and time. Their willingness to seek out youth when making these changes has gifted them with a seemingly perfect blend of new energy and wise leadership that promises many years yet to come in both the life of the band and traditions such as these post-Turkey Day hootenannies. Taking the stage following a crisp set from Mountain Grass Unit, it took but a moment of plugging in and strumming before the party got kicked into immediate high gear.

After setting a frenetic pace with show-opener “Ants in My Pants”, the miles-wide and inward-looking “Everything’s Round” benefited greatly from the more laid-back speed, not to mention the varied sonic and stylistic voices on the stage. From there it was time for an assortment of tunes about one of Leftover’s seemingly primary lyrical topics: getting out of the confines of civilization, like “Get Me Out Of This City”. Sam Bush even whipped out his fiddle to aid him in his agreement with the song author Drew Emmitt while Andy Thorn made his presence known with some full-fingered banjo work on the track.

Leftover Salmon — Boulder Theater — Boulder, CO — 11/29/24 — Preview

Vince took the lead with the innuendo-laden “Home Cookin’”, before stepping back to let their most welcome guest Bush lead the band back out under the stars, metaphorically at least to “Howl At The Moon”. Next up, Boulder hometown hero Thorn took the lead on melodic but still staccato “Big Rabbit” while lilting fiddle flourishes from Bush perfectly complemented the trilling banjo rolls. Drew Emmit even slipped in some rock-solid guitar hero work over the top of it all.

After a quick one-two of “Better Day” and “Gulf Of Mexico” that featured some fabulous soloing from the entire melodic front line, the instrumental “Danger Ma” maintained the stoic vocal-less vibe. Drew Emmit slipped in some of his finest mandolin work of the weekend, while the breakdown from bassist Greg Garrison put some soul into the show. Thorn’s “Aquatic Hitchhiker” and the last country-seeking tune of the set, “Down in The Hollow”, set the tone for what was to come in the second stanza and gave Leftover’s fans all the chances they needed to work up a fine thirst before the break.

One of Leftovers’ finest modern tunes, the infectious “Little Liza”, got the boogie back up and running as the opener for set two. After a brief embrace in “New Country Blues”, it was time to hop on “The Bluegrass Train” with Bush playing conductor on vocals and mandolin as he has so many times before. The first of a pair of tunes from the great “newgrass” pioneer John Hartford in the second stanza, “Granny Won’t You Smoke Some Marijuana” blazed to life as Herman quipped that twisting up a “Turkey Roll” was one of his favorite parts of the Thanksgiving holiday.

After squeezing in more rail trips on “Ridin’ On The L & N” and the Little Feat penned “New Delhi Freight Train” and “Sailin’ Shoes”, it was time to welcome the next guests of the evening, guitarist Luke Grant of show openers Mountain Grass Unit and banjo warrior Torrin Daniels of Kitchen Dwellers who snuck onstage unannounced. Daniels and Thorn had their run of stage right for their five-string shenanigans and there was barely enough room to contain their fretboard intensity.

Daniels took lead vocal duties on the J.J. Cale penned “If You’re Ever In Oklahoma” before Sam Walker of Clay Street Unit joined in on the fun for oldie “Sittin’ On Top Of The World”. Dwellers’ current mandolin touring player and son of Vince Herman, Silas Herman, came out (wearing a gorilla mask for no apparent reason), joining Bush and Drew Emmit for a tail-chasing mandolin trio take on the second Hartford tune “Work In Tall Buildings”.

As all nights must, this one came to an end, but not before Salmon and the evening’s guests took the stage one last time for a rousing bid for “Freedom”. The crowd was just as exhausted as the band after their collective Thanksgiving Day excesses, and after a collective bow by the band they all retired to their homes, friend’s houses, and hotel rooms for some much-needed rest.

Setlist: Leftover Salmon | Boulder Theater | Boulder, CO | 11/29/24

Set One: Greeting, Ants In My Pants, Everything’s Round. Get Me Out Of This City, Home Cookin’, Howl At The Moon, Big Rabbit, Better Day > Gulf Of Mexico, Danger Ma, Aquatic Hitchhiker, Down In The Hollow
Set Two: Little Liza, New Country Blues, The Bluegrass Train, Granny Won’t You Smoke Some Marijuana (John Hartford), Ridin’ On The L & N, New Delhi Freight Train (Little Feat), Sailin’ Shoes (Little Feat)*@, If You’re Ever In Oklahoma (JJ Cale)#@, Sittin’ On Top Of The World (Mississippi Shakes)*^, Show Me Something Higher, Big Mon (Bill Monroe)+, In Tall Buildings (John Hartford)+, Y’all Come (Arlie Duff)*+
Encore: Freedom 90#^

* With Torrin Daniels Of Kitchen Dwellers On Banjo
# With Torrin Daniels Of Kitchen Dwellers On Banjo And Vocals
@ With Luke Black Of Mountain Grass Unit On Guitar
^ With Sam Walker Of Clay Street Unit On Guitar And Vocals
+ With Silas Herman On Mandolin

Not even 24 hours later, Leftover Salmon—with Sam Bush in tow—retook the stage after a fun set from openers The Fretliners, ready to “Sing Up To The Moon”. After using “Moon” as a shakedown tune, Leftover was ready to go full speed into their “All Night Ride”, with Jay Starling throwing in some stellar dobro work and Sam Bush showing off his considerable fiddle bona fides.

Up next, things got a touch supernatural in the zydeco-tinged “Hoodoo Bash”. From there Bush hopped on his mandolin for a delicate but electrifying “Mandolin Duet” before the band waded into dark waters for “Stingray”. After alluding to the decades of experience that the frontline has in them, Herman steered the band through a dense duet with Drew Emmitt on “Troubled Times”.

Leftover Salmon — Boulder Theater — Boulder, CO — 11/29/24 — Preview

Vince’s son Silas returned to back up a lead-singing Bush on “I’m Still Here” while Herman practically lit the stage with his proud papa waves of energy and love at the spectacle. After an entertaining visit to a certain “Southern Belle”, flatpicking guitarist extraordinaire Tyler Grant came out and kicked things up a notch. Grant was, in days past, a founding member of the Emmitt-Nershi Band alongside Drew and String Cheese Incident guitarist Bill Nershi and a sideman for Abigail Washburn. Grant stayed out for the last two songs of the first set, giving a strong spine to the “Breakin’ Through” and “Same Old River”.

With the weekend run winding down Vince Herman wasted no time kicking things into overdrive when Leftover Salmon retook the stage with a wild, note-bending “Euphoria” frenzy that seemed loaded with double meanings and positive vibes. In a seemingly relentless push, Leftover ran through “They’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone” and Bob Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue”. After a fun, forward-looking “Carnival Time” Tyler Grant returned, now on acoustic guitar, to add some bluegrass feel to “Fly Through” which directly built into what was to be the heart of the second set, a spectacular run of tunes that started with “The Bird Call”.

Grant stayed out and provided melodic support alongside Thorn and Starling when drummer Alwyn Robinson and bassist Greg Garrison took command to show off their percussive chops on a cover of the dense Grateful Dead tune “Unbroken Chain”. Peter Rowan’s “Walls Of Time” welcomed the rest of Leftover and Bush back out before one of the more pleasant unexpected moments of the evening.

Surprisingly, Eric “Benny” Bloom of funk space jam purveyors Lettuce popped out, fresh from another gig in town, trumpet in hand to provide some well-received horn work and even some stellar vocals on crowd-pleasing covers of “You Don’t Love Me” and Merle Haggard‘s “Working Man’s Blues”. After that lengthy jam with the clock once again winding down, Herman decided to take the crowd back to the roots of bluegrass with a cover of Bill Monroe’s “High Country”.

Leftover Salmon, Sam Bush, Eric “Benny” Bloom — “Working Man’s Blues” (Merle Haggard) — 11/30/24

[Video: steelmedia]

From that peak, Leftover came barreling down from “Up On The Hill Where They Do The Boogie” like a runaway train with their encore, “White Freightliner Blues”, just after Vince let it slip that it was, in fact, Sam Bush’s birthday. What a way to celebrate! The entire engagement took on added significance with that revelation and the magic of the two-night run finally synergized into a weekend for the ages. There were no words left to say, and no energy left to say them at the conclusion of the show as the smiles and cheers rang out. After a holiday season opening like this, the bar is set pretty high and all we can do is hope the rest of the year lives up to this past weekend’s celebration.

Find full-show audio of Friday and Saturday night’s audio on Internet Archive.

Leftover Salmon, Sam Bush — “Stingray” — 11/30/24

[Video: Owen Perkins]

Setlist: Leftover Salmon | Boulder Theater | Boulder, CO | 11/30/24

Set One: Sing Up To The Moon, All Night Ride, Hoodoo Bash, Mando Duet > Stingray, Troubled, I’m Still Here*, Southern Belle, Breakin’ Through#, Same Old River#
Set Two: Euphoria, They’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone, Tangled Up In Blue (Bob Dylan), Carnival Time, Fly Through The Country, The Bird Call > Unbroken Chain (Grateful Dead)^ > Jam+ > Walls Of Time (Peter Rowan)@, You Don’t Love Me%+, Working Man’s Blues (Merle Haggard)%$, High Country (Bill Monroe), Up On The Hill Where They Do The Boogie
Encore: White Freightliner Blues

* With Silas Herman On Mandolin
# With Tyler Grant On Electric Guitar
@ With Tyler Grant On Acoustic Guitar
^ Trio Consisting Of Tyler, Greg,, And Alwyn
+ With Eric “Benny” Bloom Of Lettuce On Trumpet
% With Taylor Scott On Guitar
$ With Erc “Benny” Bloom Of Lettuce On Trumpet And Vocals