By Alan Sculley
Correspondent
PERHAPS NO OTHER guitarist could have better understood the challenges George McConnell faced during his four-year stint in Widespread Panic than the man who replaced McConnell in the lineup - Jimmy Herring.
McConnell was brought into the band in summer 2002 at a traumatic point in Widespread Panic's history. Guitarist Michael Houser, a founding member whose unique guitar style had been a defining element of the band's sound, had pancreatic cancer and had become too ill to tour. That August, he died.
Houser had urged his mates to push forward, and rather than taking a break to mourn their friend, the group decided to continue touring and recording the CD that came out in 2003, "Ball."
McConnell stepped into the lineup and, by all accounts, endured difficult times from fans who missed Houser. According to a September/October 2006 Relix magazine feature, McConnell received hate mail, even death threats, and would look out to concert audiences and see derisive signs waved in his direction. McConnell quit the group after a July 30, 2006, concert in St. Louis.
The band turned to Herring, a long-time friend who was in a unique position to understand what McConnell had endured and what the group was about musically. He'll be leading Widespread Panic when it performs Saturday in Portsmouth.
Herring said that after getting to know the guys in Widespread Panic in 1989 when he was with Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit, he went on to play in the Allman Brothers Band, the Dead and the solo band formed by Dead bassist Phil Lesh.
In the Allman Brothers, Herring had been recruited soon after the departure of founding member Dickey Betts. In the Dead, Herring, of course, was filling the guitar slot left by Jerry Garcia.
"I had to step into the Allman Brothers after Dickey Betts left," Herring said. "That's impossible. You can't do that, just like you can't do what George tried to do. I mean, you can do it, but it's hard. It's hard. And there are going to be those people who don't like you."
So far, Herring said he hasn't had to deal with the bile that McConnell encountered, but he's sure some Widespread Panic fans find him lacking.
"I guarantee you there are people who feel that same way about me." He just hasn't heard from them directly.
Herring feels secure in his spot as lead guitarist in a jam band. In doing stints in the Allman Brothers Band and the Dead, Herring played alongside the musicians who in the 1960s and '70s pioneered the art of live rock improvisation and inspired a host of bands that have populated the jam band scene since the late 1980s.
"I got very lucky in that I've had other gigs that have prepared me for this. If I didn't have to go play with those other bands and learn their catalogs, too, I would never have been able to do this."
The remaining members of Widespread Panic - singer/guitarist John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann and drummer Todd Nance - apparently have long suspected that Herring would be the right man to fill the guitar vacancy.
The band had approached him about joining when Houser became too ill to continue touring. Herring had to decline because of his commitment to Lesh's band.
Evidence of the chemistry in the new lineup can be found in this year's "Free Somehow," the first CD that Herring has recorded with the band.
Herring said he is looking forward to playing the new songs onstage.
"I'm real excited about playing this music live, where it's going to get a chance to evolve. A lot of this music, the versions on the album are not the stripped-down versions. They're the highly produced, polished versions, and I think that's a really great thing. But when you're playing live, you're not going to have a horn section and you're not going to have a string section and you're not going to have the opportunity to overdub and put three guitar tracks down.
"You're just going to have what's live."
Alan Sculley, alanlastword@earthlink.net
Delicious
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
