Widespread Panic is a well known rock band that sings all kinds of music, they play blues, southern rock, and jazz fusion, and they originally come from Athens, Georgia. The members of their band consist of guitarist and singer John Bell, bass player Dave Schools, drummer Todd Nance, percussion player Domingo Sunny Ortiz, among others are keyboard player John Hermann, and acting guitarist Jimmy Herring. Michael Houser and George McConnell has also contributed and played guitar for the astonishing band. The band started when Michael and John met in 1981 while attending the same University College in Georgia, both had knowledge of playing a guitar and they decided to bring a group together and worked on songs like "Driving Song" and "Chilly water". Soon after they met bass player Dave Schools in 1984 they played as a group at the A-Frame house in Athens. Around 1986 Houser asked childhood friend Todd Nance to join the crew.
Soon they had their first show which they named the group "Widespread Panic" which was named after Houser's panic attacks that he frequently would have. Domingo Ortiz joined the band a few months later and the band begin playing at bars and fraternities and soon signed for Landslide Records in 1987. They played their first show in Colorado, in 1990 and released their debut label "Widespread Panic and the same year the movie came out and was directed by Billy Thornton. As the band begin to become more popular. Since the risen of this band, it has influenced other Southern jam bands like The Allman Brothers, and have been compared to other great rock bands like Grateful Dead and Phish. They are well known for their live performances that they did in 2008. They are the only band that holds a record for a high number of performances that sold out quicker than other rock bands. The band first toured across the US in 1992, where they joined the famous Horde tour. They released their first live album in 1998, and had a CD release party concert that brought over 100,000 fans making it the biggest release parties in history.
They received numerous awards and even a certificate for live DVD concert at Oak Mountain. Later in 2002 tragedy struck the band and Michael House died of Pancreatic cancer, and guitarist George McConnell took over and stood in for the scheduled dates for the upcoming tours. The band later released another album called "Ball" this was the first album done with George McConnell in which he left the band in July 30, 2006. The band released the 10th album in 2008 and it was recorded by Terry Manning at Compass Point Studios. The band will continue to tour and work with other Southern fellow rock bands. If Widespread Panic is coming to town near you, you won't want to miss a chance to see this band live in concert.
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