Widespread Panic. Bassist Dave Schools is far left. (photo: Joshua Timmermans).
What started out 35 years ago as a handful of students at the University of Georgia getting together for the sake of playing music at college bars and fraternity parties has transformed itself into a bonafide American institution of rock-n-roll some four decades later.
Widespread Panic is a pillar of the jam-band community, torchbearers of a genre pioneered by the likes of The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers Band.
The Athens, Georgia-based ensemble finds itself at the intersection of rock, blues, jazz and folk music — this heady blend of melodic fire and soul seated at the foundation of the rich, vibrant tapestry that is Southeast culture and history.