David Allen Schools (born December 11, 1964) is a

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

player and founding member of American rock band

Widespread Panic Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell (musician), John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJ ...

. He is also a record producer, songwriter and journalist with articles published in a wide variety of music magazines. Schools lives in

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...

with his two dogs; when not on tour he likes to garden. Schools is an innovator on the bass with a non-traditional approach that has given him a unique voice on the instrument. With his primary band, Widespread Panic, he plays a six-string Modulus Quantum 6 bass that affords him a wide range of sounds that are further enhanced by an envelope filter and octave pedal. Influenced by an early desire to play drums and childhood piano lessons, Schools has deviated from, though not abandoned, the established rhythm role of the bass and created a more melodic, improvisational style that has been referred to as “lead bass.”

Early years

Dave Schools was born in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, United States. His dad bought him his first record when he was four years old, a 45 rpm of

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

's cover of

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

's " Kentucky Woman," followed by

Creedence Clearwater Revival Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American Rock music, rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, h ...

and

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

. At nine years old he proudly remembers purchasing his first two LPs:

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

's Greatest Hits and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

's Houses of the Holy. Initially Schools wanted to play drums, but living in an apartment complex made this impossible and his formal music training began in second grade with limited piano lessons. He eventually switched to bass, taking lessons from age 12 to 14 before joining two high school bands, Midnight Jam and Broken Cheri. Dave Schools attended Collegiate School, a kindergarten through twelfth grade prep school in

. While at Collegiate he held down a sports column in the high school newspaper and was editor of the yearbook. There is now a scholarship in his name for aspiring musicians and in 2004 Schools was honored to receive the Distinguished Alum Award. Following Collegiate, Dave Schools attended the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

where he started his academic studies as a Journalism major. He quickly fell into the Athens music scene and as a freshman almost became the bass player for innovative art punk band The BBQ Killers. It was at the

where Schools met John Bell (vocals/guitar) and

Michael Houser Michael Houser (January 6, 1962 – August 10, 2002) was a founding member and lead guitarist of the band Widespread Panic. He appeared on seven studio albums during his 16-year tenure with the band from 1986 till 2002. He is also feature ...

(guitar/vocals) with whom he formed

. He eventually switched his major to English "because it was easier" and allowed more time for his band to travel for shows. "Then I switched to night school" he says, "and then night school started conflicting with gigs and I dropped out of college a few hours shy of my junior year." It wasn’t long until

was performing 200 shows a year.

Widespread Panic

officially became a band in 1986 when Schools, Bell and Houser welcomed drummer

Todd Nance Todd Nance (November 20, 1962August 19, 2020) was an American musician. He was best known as the original drummer of Widespread Panic, a band he was a member of until his departure in 2016. He struggled with chronic illness for the remainder of ...

. Percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz joined later that year and in 1992 the lineup was solidified with keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann. In 2002, at the peak of their success,

lost his battle to pancreatic cancer. Guitarist George McConnell filled in briefly before

Jimmy Herring Jimmy Herring (born January 22, 1962) is an American guitarist, known as the lead guitarist for the band Widespread Panic since 2006. He is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit and Jazz Is Dead and has played with The Allman Brothers Ban ...

took over. Herring is still the lead guitarist.

is famous for their legendary live shows that stretch over three hours and are completely different every night. Their dedication to performing live has earned them

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to th ...

's esteemed "Road Warrior" award and they are consistently one of

Pollstar ''Pollstar'' is a trade publication for the concert and live music industry. The publication was purchased by Oak View Group, a venue consultancy founded by Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff, in July 2017. ''Pollstar'' holds an annual award ce ...

's Top 50 grossing live acts. They also hold the record for sold out performances at

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also known colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheater in the Western United States, western United States near Morrison, Colorado, approximately southwest of Denver. It is owned and operated by the c ...

with 60 as of June 30, 2019, and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Philips Arena State Farm Arena is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). It also served as home to the Atlanta Thrasher ...

with 20 as of May, 2017. The band is revered for their songwriting and has recorded 12 studio albums with combined sales well over 3 million.

was inducted into the

Georgia Music Hall of Fame The Georgia Music Hall of Fame was a hall of fame to recognize music performers and music industry professionals from or connected to the state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It began with efforts of the state's lieutenant governor Zell Mill ...

in 2008.

Other projects

Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm Syndrome Stockholm syndrome is a proposed condition or theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors. Emotional bonds can possibly form between captors and captives, during intimate time together, ...

is a rock band born from the relationship between Dave Schools and singer/songwriter/guitarist

Jerry Joseph Jerry Joseph (born April 19, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Early life Jerry Joseph was born on April 19, 1961, in Los Angeles, California. He is of Irish, Lebanese and Syrian ancestry and grew up in the San Diego area ...

of Jerry Joseph & The Jackmormons and previously Little Women. Joseph has collaborated with

since the very early days of the band and has written a few of Panic's most beloved songs, including "Climb To Safety," "North," and "Chainsaw City." The seeds for

grew out of a tour Schools and Joseph did as a duo in Europe. Wanting to take the project further, Schools and Joseph enlisted an all star cast to create a full band including guitarist Eric McFadden (

P-Funk Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...

), drummer Wally Ingram (

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he had his ...

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, widely known for her hit singles " Fast Car" (1988) and " Give Me One Reason" (1995). She was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she rel ...

, David Lindley), and German keyboard phenom Danny Dziuk who was later replaced by Danny Louis ( Gov’t Mule).

released its debut album, ''Holy Happy Hour'', in 2004. The sophomore effort, ''Apollo'', was released in 2011.

The Mickey Hart Band

In 2010 Dave Schools began recording with

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

drummer and Northern California neighbor

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

in Hart's home studio. These sessions evolved into the Mickey Hart Band and led to extensive touring through 2011 and 2012 as well as the 2012 album ''Mysterium Tremendum''.

Slang

Slang is an experimental project featuring Dave Schools and electronic musician/engineer/bass player Layng Martine III (best known for his work with

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

). With the help of various guests, including Eric McFadden (guitar), Pete Droge (guitar), Matt Abts (drums), Ray Paczkowski (keys),

Knox Chandler Knox Chandler (born July 20, 1958) is an American musician. He is primarily a guitarist, but he also plays, cello, bass, and other instruments. He has also worked as a session musician. Education Chandler attended the Hammonasset School in M ...

(guitar/special effects),

Vic Chesnutt James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...

(guitar), DJ Logic (turntables), and Jay Rodriguez (sax) amongst others, Slang released its debut album, ''The Bellwether Project'', in 2001 and followed with ''More Talk About Last Night'' in 2004. There were a number of animated videos created for ''The Bellwether Project'', including one for the song "Dirtwater Telegraph," which won an international animation award.

American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...

also used the song "What A Day May Bring" in a commercial featuring Tiger Woods.

Brute

Formed in 1995, Brute was a side project that featured singer/guitarist

and

members Dave Schools, John Bell,

John Hermann John "JoJo" Hermann (born July 18, 1962) is an American singer, musician and songwriter, best known for his involvement in the band Widespread Panic. Early life He was born in New York City and attended Collegiate School, where he was a class ...

and

. They released ''Nine High a Pallet'' on

Capricorn Records Capricorn Records was an independent record label founded by Phil Walden and Frank Fenter in 1969 in Macon, Georgia. Capricorn Records is often credited by music historians as creating the southern rock genre. History Label and studio fou ...

in 1995 and followed with 2002's ''Co-Balt'' on Widespread Records. The band played a handful of shows between 1995 and 2002 and Widespread Panic continues to play several Vic Chesnutt songs.

Acetate

Acetate is a power-pop garage-rock band consisting of old friends Dave Schools (bass/vocals), Kevin Sweeney of

Hayride A hayride, also known as a hayrack ride, is a traditional United States, American and Canada, Canadian activity consisting of a recreational Amusement ride, ride in a wagon or cart pulled by a tractor, horses or a truck, which has been loaded with ...

and Sunshine Fix (guitar/vocals), and Ben Mize of

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of rhythm guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immergl� ...

and Cracker (drums/vocals). Acetate released its only album, ''This Band Makes Me Feel'', in 2005.

J Mascis and the Fog

In 2004, Dave Schools did two tours with Dinosaur Jr. guitarist/vocalist/leader

J Mascis Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. (born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo artist a ...

’ side project, J Mascis + The Fog.

Gov’t Mule

Dave Schools toured with Gov’t Mule from 2000 to 2003 following founding member/bass player Allen Woody's death.

Weir Here

In 2013, Schools became a regular participant in '' Weir Here'', a weekly webcast hosted by

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...

live from TRI Studios.

Hard Working Americans

Also in 2013, Schools and Todd Snider formed the supergroup Hard Working Americans at TRI Studios. Also involved are guitarist

Neal Casal Neal Graeme Casal (November 2, 1968 – August 26, 2019) ...

, Chad Staehly on keyboards, and drummer Duane Trucks, who is also the current drummer for Widespread Panic. Their self-titled debut album was released on January 21, 2014 on Three Tigers/Melvin Records

Discography

On Bass

Session recordings

Schools has played on many recordings including, but not limited to, the following: *1994 Nanci Griffith – ''Flyer'' *1997 Robert Earl Keen – ''Picnic'' *2002 Gov’t Mule – ''The Deep End Vol. 2'' *2003 Gov’t Mule – ''The Deepest End DVD'' *2004 Jerry Joseph – ''Cherry'' *2016 The Dandy Warhols - ''Distortland''

Producer credits

*1993 Hayride – ''Smelly Old Cat'' *1996 Prozak – ''Daily Dose'' *1996 Heavy Feather – ''Heavy Feather'' *2001 Slang – ''The Bellwether Project'' *2003 Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons – ''Conscious Contact'' *2004 Stockholm Syndrome – ''Holy Happy Hour'' *2004 Slang – ''More Talk About Tonight'' *2011 Stockholm Syndrome – ''Apollo'' *2014 Hard Working Americans – ''Hard Working Americans'' *2016 Jerry Joseph – ''By The Time Your Rocket Gets To Mars'' *2016 Daniel Hutchens – ''The Beautiful Vicious Cycle of Life'' *2016 Hard Working Americans – ''Rest in Chaos'' *2017 Hard Working Americans – ''We're All in This Together'' *2017 Jerry Joseph – ''Weird Blood'' *2019 Bailey Ingle – ''In Love With The Memories'' (single) *2019 Tim Bluhm – ''The Only Solution'' (single) *2019 Colonel & The Mermaids - ''I Do My Best To Keep From Crumbling/Springfield'' (7") *2019 Kimock – ''Satellite City'' *2019 Andy Frasco & The UN – ''Change of Pace'' *2019/TBD Trongone Band - Untitled *2020 Pacific Range - "Comin' After You" 12" *2022 Farmer Dave & The Wizards Of The West - "Second Summer" LP

As executive producer

*1999 Drive-By Truckers – ''Pizza Deliverance'' *2007 Maserati – ''Inventions For the New Season''

Awards

*Georgia Music Hall of Fame 2008 *Billboard Magazine "Road Warrior" Award 2008 *

(Morrison, Colorado) Record for Sell Outs (51) *Philips Arena (Atlanta) Record for Sell Outs (17) *Distinguished Alum Award from Collegiate School in 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schools, Dave 1964 births Living people American rock bass guitarists Widespread Panic members Guitarists from Virginia Musicians from Richmond, Virginia Capricorn Records artists American male bass guitarists 20th-century American bass guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Hard Working Americans members Stockholm Syndrome (band) members J Mascis + The Fog members Brute (band) members Gov't Mule members