If bluegrass music is as American as apple pie, then Leftover Salmon and The Infamous Stringdusters are definitely apple pie à la mode. Over their respective careers, the two wildly innovative groups have topped old musical traditions with sweet, modern flavors, delivering blistering live performances and amassing fervent followings around the world. And to top it all off, they’re both picking August 20 at Ravinia to dish up hearty helpings of their tasty twangs.
Leftover Salmon’s origin story casts back to 1989 with the coupling of two Boulder, CO, acts. Knowingly, or unknowingly, this fortuitous bandmate merger informed Salmon’s melting-pot musical philosophy—recharging bluegrass by adding drums then folding rock, Cajun, and more American roots traditions into the mix. Over 30-plus years, founding members Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman have shepherded an ever-changing, ever-evolving lineup of the best players around, cementing the band’s place in music history as architects of the freewheeling, improvisational genre that has come to be known as “jamgrass.”
Sixteen years after Leftover Salmon’s genesis and three states east, Nashville’s Infamous Stringdusters formed, taking a bit of Salmon’s jamgrass style and combining it with a deep love and reverence for classic, acoustic bluegrass. Their 2007 debut album, Fork in the Road, earned them three International Bluegrass Music Association awards: Emerging Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year. A slew of stellar albums, amazing collaborations, and a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album (Laws of Gravity) followed, making the Stringdusters’ greatness undeniable and their artistic future boundless.
May 2021 saw the release of new albums from each group—Leftover Salmon’s Brand New Good Old Days and A Tribute to Bill Monroe from The Infamous Stringdusters. Both are thrilling new additions to their respective catalogs and worthy of many repeat listens, but to truly experience their musical mastery and contagious positive energy, they must be experienced live. No matter where you are in the audience, you’ll want to move with the grooves, and if you’re jamming along, you won’t want to stop.