Leftover Salmon Members Join The String Cheese Incident At Revival Music Festival

The String Cheese Incident capped off their three-night appearance at the Revival Music Festival at Harmony Park on the shores of Lave Geneva in Minnesota on Sunday. SCI welcomed members of fellow Colorado jamgrass pioneers and longtime collaborators Leftover Salmon to help close out the festivities.

SCI got their first set underway with a pairing of “One Step Closer” and Jean Luc Ponty’s “Rhum N Zouc” followed by “Short Shack Willie.” Leftover Salmon’s Vince Herman on washboard, Drew Emmitt on mandolin, Andy Thorn on banjo and newly minted member Jay Starling on keyboards then came aboard for the bluegrass standard “Sittin’ On Top Of The World,” a fitting cover for the bands that practically invented the jamgrass genre. Leftover Salmon formed in 1989 around a New Year’s Eve show in Crested Butte, Colorado with SCI coming together a few years later in the same ski town. Salmon’s Drew Emmitt and SCI’s Bill Nershi also formed a collaborative group, the Emmitt-Nershi Band. Here’s what Drew said about Cheese in a 5280 article.

“We’d been a band for about five years when String Cheese started, and they told me directly that they basically began as a Leftover Salmon cover band. We’re all part of the bluegrass culture, but String Cheese did a totally different thing with it. They went more into other styles than we did—more into Afrobeats and incorporating techno into their sound.”

The longtime collaborators followed “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” with Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo (Mighty Quinn).” SCI then went it alone for the “45th Of November” and a set-closing segment of classics “Jellyfish” and “Rivertrance.”

SCI took the stage for the second set as Kris Kristofferson’s played over the speakers. Billy sang along to finish the setbreak soundtrack song. Keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth then led the band through the relatively new tune “Trip The Light Fantastic” and “Rosie” ahead of “Sirens” and “Stay Through” The band then delivered a big segued section to close the set beginning with “Galactic” and heading through an improvisation dubbed “Harmony Park Jam,” a cover of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be The Place,” a “Heads Up Jam” and the favorite “Texas” to end the second frame. SCI returned for a two-song encore of “Bhangra Saanj” and “Barstool.”

Check out photos from the performance below:

The String Cheese Incident and Leftover Salmon are set to return to Colorado for a run of shows at Dillon Amphitheatre and Red Rocks in July. Check out both bands’ tour dates:

Setlist (via SCI Facebook)

Set One: One Step Closer > Rhum N Zouc, Short Shack Willie, Sittin On Top Of The World*, Mighty Quinn*, 45th Of November, Jellyfish > Rivertrance

Set Two: Sunday Mornin’ Comin Down^, Trip The Light Fantastic, Rosie, Sirens, Stay Through, Galactic > Harmony Park Jam > This Must Be The Place > Heads Up Jam > Texas

Encore: Bhangra Saanj, Barstool

Notes:

* = w/ Leftover Salmon – Vince (washboard), Drew (mandolin), Andy (banjo), Jay (keyboards)

^ = Nershi acapella, finished setbreak soundtrack song