Widespread Panic

Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring. The band's original guitarist and sometime songwriter, Michael Houser, died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, and the original drummer, Todd Nance, left in 2016 and died in 2020.

The band was formed in Athens in 1986, and is influenced by southern rock, blues rock, progressive rock, funk and hard rock genres. They have been compared to other jam bands including the Grateful Dead and Phish. Widely renowned for their live performances, they have held the record for number of sold-out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

John Bell and Michael Houser met in 1981 in their dorm at the University of Georgia in Athens. Bell had been playing guitar as a solo act and invited his new friend Houser, also a guitarist, to join him. They later performed as a duet under the name “Severe Driving Problems.” They roomed together and collaborated on music in 1981, writing still-popular songs such as "Driving Song" and "Chilly Water" together. Bassist Dave Schools met Bell and Houser in 1984 and first played with them on February 24, 1985, at an A-Frame house on Weymanda Court in Athens. On February 6, 1986, Houser called Todd Nance, a drummer and his childhood friend, to sit in with Houser, Bell, and Schools for a charity event in Athens. It was their first show as "Widespread Panic." The band was named for Houser's once frequent panic attacks. Texan percussionist Domingo S. Ortiz ("Sunny") began sitting in with the band regularly later that year.

The band played in fraternities and bars regularly before Widespread Panic signed a contract with Landslide Records in 1987. In February 1987 the band played the now-legendary series of one dollar Monday night shows at the Uptown Lounge in Athens and the crucial local press began to take notice. Shan Clark, a Flagpole and Athens Observer art columnist emphasized Widespread Panic's musical virtuosity, songwriting, and professionalism. In September 1987, they recorded their first album, Space Wrangler, at John Keane's studio in Athens. Col. Bruce Hampton is rumored to have delivered the first pressing to the band. Songs on the album include "Chilly Water", "Travelin' Light", "Space Wrangler", "Coconut Image, originally, which ended up as ‘Coconuts", "The Take Out", "Porch Song", "Stop-Go", and "Driving Song." After Space Wrangler, touring expanded to include additional northeastern dates, along with Texas, Colorado, the west coast, and Vancouver, Canada. About this time (late 1988 or early 1989) Domingo Ortiz joined the band full-time. They played their first show in Colorado in March 1990, opening for Jerry Joseph's band Little Women. Jerry would later introduce them, at an after show at The New Sheridan Opera House in Telluride, Co., and on the heels of a big splash performance at the [Bill Graham] Mid Summer Music Fest that same day, as “The Best Band In America.”

Widespread Panic signed with Capricorn Records in January 1991. Later that year, they released their major label debut, Widespread Panic (a.k.a. Mom's Kitchen). In the same year, Billy Bob Thornton directed the movie Widespread Panic: Live from the Georgia Theatre which was recorded over two nights in Athens. As the band began touring more often, John Hermann ("JoJo") joined the band as a keyboardist in March 1992 replacing Dixie Dregs keyboardist T. Lavitz who had been with the band a year. The band continued to tour throughout the entire US in 1992 joining the famous H.O.R.D.E. tour with Blues Traveler, Phish, and the Aquarium Rescue Unit, among others. They released Everyday in March 1993 and Ain't Life Grand in September 1994. Widespread Panic marked their rise playing on network television for the first time in November 1994.

On April 18, 1998, to celebrate the release of their first live album, Light Fuse, Get Away, Widespread Panic offered a free "CD release party" concert in Athens. An estimated 80,000–100,000 fans descended on the city, transforming it into one of the largest CD release parties in history. In 2002, the band received gold certification for their concert DVD Live at Oak Mountain. They headlined two nights of the first annual Bonnaroo Music Festival which drew a crowd upwards of 70,000 people.

In early 2002, guitarist Michael Houser was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Houser continued to perform with the band into the middle of that year, but after a performance on July 2, 2002, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa he left the tour because of declining health. Guitarist George McConnell, a former bandmate of JoJo Hermann's in Beanland, took over as lead guitarist for the remainder of the band's scheduled dates. Houser died on August 10, 2002.

In 2003, the band released Ball, the first studio album with McConnell as the guitarist. The album was unique among the band's offerings in that none of the songs included had been performed live by the band prior to the recording. All of the material included was written specifically for the album with the exception of "Time Waits", a song which John Bell had performed in solo appearances, and "Don't Wanna Lose You", a song John Hermann had performed with his side-project Smiling Assassins. Late in 2003, the band announced that they would be taking a hiatus from both recording and performing in 2004. However, they released three live albums in 2004, engineered by Billy Field: Night of Joy and Über Cobra—both of which were recorded during a November 2003 three-night run of shows at the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina—as well as Jackassolantern, a compilation of cover songs performed during the band's Halloween shows over the years. A third release from the Myrtle Beach shows, Live at Myrtle Beach was released in early 2005.