HERRING ORIGINALLY PANICS FIRST CHOICE AFTER HOUSER

It seems Jimmy Herring, who has taken over as Widespread Panic’s lead guitarist for George McConnell, was originally the first choice of the band after founding member Michael Houser’s death. But with Herring having a busy touring schedule performing with Phil Lesh and Friends, The Allman Brothers and The Dead, Panic went with George McConnell and it was with McConnell’s help that Widespread Panic where able to continue on without Houser and for that they are forever grateful for what George brought to the band. However, the time was right to make the change and Jimmy Herring has been touring with the band for the past Fall Tour and as they continue to write new material together for another album. We caught up with Sunny Ortiz and Todd Nance to find out how the second lead guitar transition is going for the band.

Widespread Panic are also set to release Earth to Atlanta, a two DVD set from the bands performance at the Fox Theater in Atlanta, which in a ground breaking move, the band simulcast the concert live to 115 Regal, Edwards and United Artists cinemas nationwide. For the first time ever, over 60,000 ticket holding fans across the country were given the ability to experience the evening live with Panic without actually having to travel to Atlanta. Widespread Panic have also announced a return to Atlanta, this time with a two show New Years Run December 30th and 31st with special guests Aquarium Rescue Unit. (Photo Jimmy Herring courtesy Michelle Weindruch)

“Like Todd said our first choice after Michael’s passing was Jimmy Herring, but he had already made his commitments to The Dead, Phil and The Allman Brothers. We had a few friends and George was one of them, that we came up with. George did a great job keeping this band on the road and we owe a lot to George. After Michael passed it wouldn’t be good for us to stop playing, we had to find out if we could do it or not and he was a key element in making that happen. Jimmy Herring, George McConnell, Michael Houser, Al DiMeola they’re all different guitarist but the main thing is Jimmy seems to fit and he’s more of us than I think anybody else can be. We don’t have to look at each other very much, it just happens. Yeah you don’t have to worry about him, you just have to worry about himself. That’s something that I think we were missing that togetherness.”