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Jimmy Herring (born January 22, 1962) is an American guitarist, known as the lead guitarist for the 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 ...
since 2006. He is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit and Jazz Is Dead and has played with
The Allman Brothers Band The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. Its founding members were brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar, lead guitar) and Gregg Allman (vocals, keyboards), as well as Dickey Betts ( ...
, Project Z, Derek Trucks Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, and The Dead.


Career

A native of
Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-Ameri ...
, Herring is the son of a high school English teacher and a Superior Court judge. The youngest of three brothers, he attended Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville. Although he played saxophone in the high school band, he became known for his talent on guitar, which he had begun playing at age 13. Herring had a Telecaster guitar with a
Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...
neck, in the same style as one of his biggest influences, Steve Morse of the
Dixie Dregs Dixie Dregs is an American rock band from Augusta, Georgia. Formed in 1970, the band is known for instrumental music that fuses elements of rock, classical music, country music, country, jazz and bluegrass music, bluegrass into an eclectic sou ...
. After high school he formed the Paradox, a cover band that played mostly
jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...
and songs by the
Dixie Dregs Dixie Dregs is an American rock band from Augusta, Georgia. Formed in 1970, the band is known for instrumental music that fuses elements of rock, classical music, country music, country, jazz and bluegrass music, bluegrass into an eclectic sou ...
,
Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his work in jazz fusion and world music, his breakthrough came after joining Chick Corea's Return to Forever group in 1974. He launched, from 1976 afterwards, a s ...
, and
Chuck Mangione Charles Frank Mangione ( ; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter and composer. He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother, Gap Mangione, ...
. The band's horn section included Wayne Rigsby and Charles Humphries on trumpet and Herring on saxophone. After graduating from high school, in 1980, Herring attended a summer session at the
Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...
. In addition, he is a graduate of The Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, California. Herring was the lead guitarist for the
jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jam session, jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to musical improvisation, improvise ove ...
Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Formed in Atlanta in 1989, its members include Allman Brothers Band bassist Oteil Burbridge and
Leftover Salmon Leftover Salmon is an American jam band from Boulder, Colorado, formed in 1989. The band's music is a blend of bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun/ Zydeco (Polyethnic Slamgrass). Over their thirty years as a band, Salmon has released seven s ...
drummer
Jeff Sipe Jeff Sipe (born January 31, 1959), also known as Apt. Q258, is an American drummer. He works mainly in rock and jazz fusion. He is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit with Bruce Hampton. He was a member of Leftover Salmon and the Zambi ...
. He was invited to participate on the
H.O.R.D.E. Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere or H.O.R.D.E. Festival was a concert tour, touring summer rock music festival originated by the musical group Blues Traveler in 1992. In addition to travelling headliners, the festival gave exposure to bands ...
tour with Aquarium Rescue Unit in 1992 and 1993 and was offered the lead guitar job in the Allman Brothers Band after
Dickey Betts Forrest Richard Betts (December 12, 1943 – April 18, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as a longtime member of the Allman Brothers Band. A co-founder of the band when it formed in 1969, he was central ...
was arrested after a show in Saratoga Springs, New York on July 30, 1993. Herring declined to take the position full-time. Bruce Hampton left Aquarium Rescue Unit in 1994, citing time pressure as his reason. Herring and other members continued to tour in early 1997 until drummer Jeff Sipe departed for Leftover Salmon. In 1998 and 1999 Herring went on tour as Jazz Is Dead with bassist
Alphonso Johnson Alphonso Johnson (born February 2, 1951) is an American jazz bassist active since the early 1970s. Johnson was a member of the jazz fusion group Weather Report from 1973 to 1975, and has performed and recorded with numerous high-profile rock and ...
, keyboardist
T Lavitz Terry "T" Lavitz (April 16, 1956 – October 7, 2010) was an American keyboardist, composer, and Record producer, producer. He is best known for his work with the Dixie Dregs and Jazz Is Dead (band), Jazz Is Dead. Biography Born on April 16, 19 ...
, and drummer
Billy Cobham William Emanuel Cobham Jr. (born May 16, 1944) is a Panamanian–American jazz drummer who came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. He was inducted into the '' Mode ...
. The band's albums included jazz rock versions of songs by the Grateful Dead. Herring also appeared on the album ''
Out of the Madness ''Out of the Madness'' is the second studio album by American Jazz/Blues/R&B group The Derek Trucks Band, released on October 20, 1998. The album, a mix of blues classics and original compositions by the band, was recorded between June 14, 1997 � ...
'' by The Derek Trucks Band. He went on tour with the Allman Brothers Band in 2000, then joined Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead in Phil Lesh and Friends. In 2002, Herring joined The Other Ones, a band which included four former members of the Grateful Dead — Phil Lesh, Bob Weir,
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 ...
, and
Bill Kreutzmann William Kreutzmann Jr. ( ; born May 7, 1946) is an American drummer and founding member of the rock band Grateful Dead. He played with the band for its entire thirty-year career, usually alongside fellow drummer Mickey Hart, and has continued to ...
. Herring continued to play with the group, now renamed The Dead, in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, he also toured with the
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
,
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
, and occasionally bluegrass-oriented band The Codetalkers, which featured Herring on guitar with his previous bandmate Col. Bruce Hampton on
vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
s,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...
, and guitar. This band also allowed Herring to expand a musical friendship with Codetalkers' front man Bobby Lee Rodgers, with whom Herring formed a new band in the spring of 2006 (tentatively dubbed Herring, Rodgers, and Sipe). 2005 also marked the release of the ''Lincoln Memorial'' disc from Project Z, of which Jimmy is a founding member. In January 2005, Herring appeared on the Jam Cruise 3 stage with several acts, including Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. Herring left Phil Lesh and Friends in November, 2005. On August 3, 2006,
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 ...
announced Herring would be taking over the lead guitar spot in the band after the departure of George McConnell. Also in 2006, Herring and an almost complete original lineup of Aquarium Rescue Unit reunited as Col. Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit featuring Oteil Burbridge, Jimmy Herring, Col. Bruce Hampton and Jeff Sipe with Bobby Lee Rodgers sitting in. In 2006, Jimmy officially became a member of Widespread Panic as their new lead guitar player. His first performance with the group was at Radio City Music Hall. In 2008, Herring released '' Lifeboat'', his first official solo album, on Abstract Logix. The material consists primarily of instrumental jazz-rock fusion, and features a rotating lineup of long-time Herring collaborators, including Oteil and brother Kofi Burbridge, Jeff Sipe, alto and soprano
saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
Greg Osby, and others, including two songs featuring Derek Trucks. The album was met with generally positive reviews. On February 7, 2009, Herring, along with Steve Gorman (The Black Crowes), guitarist Audley Freed ( Jakob Dylan, ex-Crowes, Blue Floyd) and bassist-singer Nick Govrik, made their live debut of Trigger Hippy at the Cox Capitol Theater in Macon, Georgia. On August 21, 2012, Jimmy Herring released '' Subject to Change Without Notice'', his second solo album on Abstract Logix. The album received rave reviews and was produced by John Keane who is well known for producing albums for Widespread Panic, R.E.M, The Indigo Girls among others. Jimmy Herring was also on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine the very same year. He toured the album extensively in the United States during the Fall of 2012 with
Jeff Sipe Jeff Sipe (born January 31, 1959), also known as Apt. Q258, is an American drummer. He works mainly in rock and jazz fusion. He is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit with Bruce Hampton. He was a member of Leftover Salmon and the Zambi ...
, Neal Fountain and Matt Slocum. In 2013, Jimmy Herring, Wayne Krantz,
Michael Landau Michael Christopher Landau (born June 1, 1958) is an American musician, audio engineer, and record-producer. He is a session musician and guitarist who has played on many albums since the early 1980s with Boz Scaggs, Minoru Niihara, Joni Mitchel ...
, Etienne Mbappe and
Keith Carlock Keith Carlock (born November 29, 1971) is an American musician who has played drums with Toto, Wayne Krantz, Steely Dan, James Taylor, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, Tal Wilkenfeld, John Mayer, Sting, Chris Botti, and Christopher Cross. In ' ...
started a band called The Ringers. The idea of this five musicians to form this unique band came from Abstract Logix Founder and Producer Souvik Dutta. They went to perform five concerts in USA to a wonderful response. The Ringers returned in 2014 performing fourteen concerts in January and February, this time with drummer Gary Novak. In 2017, Jimmy Herring formed The Invisible Whip with Jeff Sipe on drums, Jason Crosby on violin and Rhodes, Kevin Scott on bass, Matt Slocum on Organ. They performed 50 shows, which includes co-billing with John McLaughlin on his farewell American Tour. In 2018, Abstract Logix released '' Live in San Francisco'', a live album from John McLaughlin and Jimmy Herring's co-bill tour from the year prior. On May 26, 2018, Jimmy Herring played guitar with The Dave Matthews Band in Atlanta, Georgia. He joined the band on stage for the songs Satellite and #41 where he again displayed his smooth playing style and warmth on the guitar. In 2019, Jimmy Herring formed The 5 of 7, featuring Kevin Scott on bass, Matt Slocum on keys, Darren Stanley on drums and Rick Lollar on voice and guitar. On July 21, 2024, Widespread Panic announced on social media that Herring had been diagnosed with stage 1 tonsil cancer.


Equipment

One of Herring's primary guitars is a white PRS NF3 model guitar with a maple neck, stock electronics, mint green pickguard and Dunlop 6000 frets. As of 2019, for the Jimmy Herring and the 5 of 7 projects, Herring has primarily used a natural finished PRS NF3 model guitar that was custom made for him by Paul Reed Smith. He has also been known to use a modified American Standard Fender Stratocaster. The Stratocaster is equipped with two Lollar Imperial humbuckers. The fingerboard radius has been flattened out to 20" and has Dunlop 6000 fret wire, which are the tallest and widest guitar frets manufactured today. Herring also uses a 1969 Stratocaster as well as several other PRS guitars (including a hollowbody) and has played a 1970 Gibson SG given as a gift from Derek Trucks. Although he has long used effects sparingly, his 2005 Codetalkers rig saw him sport an Ernie Ball volume pedal and an H&K Tube Factor. He has expanded his effects pedals when playing Dead related music, and sported a TC Electronic M-One, and a Mutron with both The Dead and Phil Lesh and Friends. He splits the signal off at the speaker output of his amp and uses that signal to drive a separate solid state amp just for reverb. The reverb level is controlled with a volume pedal. As of early 2014, the reverb unit is an Eventide Space Reverb. Amps are chosen for specific venues and projects. Most common now are a slightly modified blackface Super Reverb head, slightly modified blackface Pro Reverb, slightly modified blackface Twin Reverb, stock blond/black Bassman head. Depending on the amp, the speakers are either Tone Tubby or ElectroVoice. In the last few years, Jimmy has also employed amps from Homestead and Germino, and guitars from PRS, an NF3, a Custom 22 with an extra volume knob for the neck pickup, a 20th PS Anniversary, and a 594. The NF3 and Custom 22 are the most prevalent. A Stratocaster with 3 single coils is sometimes used as well.


With Widespread Panic

At the beginning of Herring's tenure with
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 was using his favorite guitar, a 3-color sunburst
Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporati ...
built by his friend Gene Baker at the Fender Custom Shop, equipped with two Seymour Duncan ‘59 reissue
humbuckers A humbucker, humbucking pickup, or double coil, is a guitar pickup that uses two wire coils to cancel out noisy interference from Single coil guitar pickup, coil pickups. Humbucking coils are also used in Microphone, dynamic microphones to can ...
, with a 1973
Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia *Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria ** Marshall railway station Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Is ...
Superlead 100 watt amp accompanied by a 4x12 Marshall stereo and a ‘67 blackface Fender Super Reverb as amplifiers. During the remainder of the Fall 2006 tour Herring continued to use his custom shop Strat. At the beginning of Fall 2007, Herring began using Fuchs Overdrive Supreme amplifiers. Into 2009 Herring continued to use Fuchs amps, but now used a Tripledrive Supreme 100 watt head, and occasionally an Overdrive Supreme 100 watt head. He uses a Tone Tubby 4x12 cab and two 2x12 Hard Truckers speaker cabs with Alnico tone tubby speakers. He also uses a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx for effects, mainly
reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...
and delay sounds. In 2011 he continues to use Fuchs as his main amplifier. His main guitars are the White American Standard Stratocaster with Lollar Imperial humbuckers and an MIJ '62
Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...
Custom reissue with Lollar Vintage T pickups.


Discography

As a leader * '' Lifeboat'' (Abstract Logix, 2008) * '' Subject to Change Without Notice'' (Abstract Logix, 2012) * '' Live in San Francisco'' (Abstract Logix, 2018) Source: With Aquarium Rescue Unit *''Eepeee'' (1994) *'' In a Perfect World'' (1994) *'' The Calling'' (2003) With Col. Bruce Hampton *''
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
'' (1987/2000) With Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit *'' Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit'' (1992) *'' Mirrors of Embarrassment'' (1993) With Endangered Species (Herring, T. Lavitz, Richie Hayward, and Kenny Gradney) * ''
Endangered Species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
'' ( Tone Center, 2001) With Frogwings *'' Croakin' at Toad's'' (Flying Frog Records, 2000) With Jazz Is Dead *'' Blue Light Rain'' (1998) *'' Laughing Water'' (1999) *'' Great Sky River'' (2001) With Phil Lesh and Friends *'' There and Back Again'' (2002) With Joseph Patrick Moore *''Decade 1996-2005'' (2006) *''Soul Cloud'' (2000) With Project Z * '' Project Z'' (2001) * ''
Lincoln Memorial The Lincoln Memorial is a List of national memorials of the United States, U.S. national memorial honoring Abraham Lincoln, the List of presidents of the United States, 16th president of the United States, located on the western end of the Nati ...
'' (2005) With Derek Trucks Band *''
Out of the Madness ''Out of the Madness'' is the second studio album by American Jazz/Blues/R&B group The Derek Trucks Band, released on October 20, 1998. The album, a mix of blues classics and original compositions by the band, was recorded between June 14, 1997 � ...
'' (1998) With
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 ...
*'' Free Somehow'' (2008) *'' Dirty Side Down'' (2010) *'' Street Dogs'' (2015) *''Snake Oil King'' (2024)


Notes


References

* Jimmy Herring on AllMusicbr>Palmer, Robert. ''Col. Bruce Hampton & the Aquarium Rescue Unit'' album review, ''Rolling Stone'', March 19, 1992Skanse, Richard. "Dickey Betts, Allman Brothers Band Split", ''Rolling Stone'', May 19, 2000Robicheau, Paul. "Allmans, Black Crowes and More Pay Respects to Fallen Brother", ''Rolling Stone'', September 22, 2000Budnick, Dean. "Born Z: Jimmy Herring and Ricky Keller Expound", JamBands.com, September 19, 2001
* Selvin, Joel
"Other Ones Reunite", ''San Francisco Chronicle'', December 1, 2002Selvin, Joel. "Maybe It's True the Dead Will Always Be With Us", ''San Francisco Chronicle'', June 28, 2004Budnick, Dean. "Jimmy Herring: Let it Z", JamBands.com, May 18, 2006
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100308063350/http://guitarinternational.com/wpmu/2009/09/14/jimmy-herring-interview/ Holland, Brian D. "Jimmy Herring Interview", ''Guitar International'', September 14, 2009]


External links


Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herring, Jimmy 1962 births Living people Musicians from Fayetteville, North Carolina American rock guitarists American male guitarists Widespread Panic members The Allman Brothers Band members Berklee College of Music alumni American lead guitarists People from Buford, Georgia Musicians Institute alumni Guitarists from North Carolina The Other Ones members 20th-century American guitarists Col. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit members Jazz Is Dead members Project Z (band) members