What happened at the Basement East on Thursday night, May 8, may not be unique in Nashville. Local music lovers may be spoiled: we go to a show to see one band and then—voila! Look who else shows up to perform! Leftover Salmon’s Let’s Party about It album release was just such a Nashville night.
Opener Jason Carter and his band set the bar high. Carter recently announced his departure from the Del McCoury Band and the Traveling McCourys after 32 years with the band. In his new role fronting his own band, Carter carries the vocal leads at the same level he has also played the fiddle.
The band opened with “King of the Hill” and “The Likes of Me” from Lowdown Hoedown, his first solo album released in 2022. They also covered songs from Cage the Elephant, Phish, and the Butthole Surfers, as well as “Dark Hollow,” played by Del McCoury band and the Grateful Dead, and Doc Watson’s “Southbound,” also covered by the Travelin’ McCourys.
Carter’s band was composed of guitarist Jacob Burleson (Volume Five), bassist Jed Clark, Josh Gooding on mandolin, and on banjo, Frank Evans on banjo (Slocan Ramblers) who, Carter noted, “brightens up every room he plays in.” After playing “Paper Angel,” Carter was joined special guest fiddler Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, his wife, who joined him on “Pepper” and a medley of “Back on the Train” and “Why Do I Feel Like Running?”
When Leftover Salmon took the stage for their set, Carter remained on stage playing fiddle through the night.
“It’ a Nashville night!” Let’s get at it!” Leftover Salmon co-founder Vince Herman announced, as they opened with “Way Down in the Holler.” Veteran member Drew Emmitt, also with the band for thirty-five years, shared vocal leads with Herman, also playing mandolin, electric guitar, and occasionally, adding another fiddle into the mix. Other members of the band were drummer Alwyn Robinson, Greg Garrison on bass, and Jay Starling on keyboard and dobro. Filling in on banjo was Chris Pandolfi of Infamous Stringdusters.
The night was a rich blend of bluegrass, reggae, and jam band magic, emphasized by their rendition of Ronnie Reno’s “Boogie Grass Band,” recorded first by Conway Twitty and appearing on Leftover Salmon’s Brand New Good Old Days.
Carter kicked off “Twisted Pine” which Del McCoury performs on the new album. Emmitt told the crowd, “It’s fun to make a new record ‘cause we got to learn a bunch of new songs.”
On “Storms,” Herman sang the lead, noting “storms are getting stronger, water is rising,” but repeating, “I don’t want to say I’m too old to do something about it.”
They mixed in the new music with songs from their back catalog, including “Bend in the River” and “Two Highways,” which invites audience singalong on the chorus: “Two highways leading me on—one goes on forever, and the other takes me home.”
Midway through their set, Herman presented a tee shirt-wearing mannequin to Michelle, his realtor, as a birthday and going-away gift. The mannequin played into the shenanigans for the rest of the show. At one point, her arms helped play banjo.
Waverly and Mason Via joined the band on stage to perform “Oh Lordy Me” from his new album, with Mason encouraging the crowd to sing along, describing the song as “one of those mountain verses like your Peepaw would sing,” while Waverly joined Carter on double fiddles.
When Keith-Hynes rejoined the stage with Kyser George (Shadowgrass) on guitar, Herman announced, “Folks, I do believe we have ourselves a festival!”
Waverly Via joined Jason and Bronwyn for triple fiddles on the next instrumental that featured Kyser on guitar while Vince played washboard. He invited Carter to sing “Queen of the Nashville Nights,” from his solo album, introducing the pair as “Mr. and Mrs. Fiddly Fiddly.”
The band played “Show Me Something Higher,” before Herman announced the need for a train song, introducing “Riding on the L&N,” making way for some blisteringly fast, fiddle-heavy bluegrass.
After playing the title track from the new album “Let’s Party About It” and encouraging everyone to buy the record, “open your windows and play it for your neighbors,” they brought Lindsay Lou and Kyle Tuttle on stage.
“It’s another bluegrass couples night” Herman quipped. Heaven McCoury also joined them on guitar as Lindsay Lou belting out a rousing rendition of “I Belong to the Band (Hallelujah).” As Tuttle started to exit the stage, he was called back to sing “When We Make It to the Promised Land,” playing double banjos with Pandolfi.
The band returned to stage for an encore of “Gulf of Mexico,” on what might be considered just another great Nashville night.