Widespread Panic

Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring. The band's original guitarist and sometime songwriter, Michael Houser, died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, and the original drummer, Todd Nance, left in 2016 and died in 2020. The band was formed in Athens in 1986, and is influenced by southern rock, blues rock, progressive rock, funk and hard rock genres. They have been compared to other jam bands including the Grateful Dead and Phish. Widely renowned for their live performances, they have held the record for number of sold-out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and State Farm Arena in Atlanta. John Bell and Michael Houser met in 1981 in their dorm at the University of Georgia in Athens. Bell had been playing guitar as a solo act and invited his new friend Houser, also a guitarist, to join him. They later performed as a duet under the name “Severe Driving Problems.” They roomed together and collaborated on music in 1981, writing still-popular songs such as "Driving Song" and "Chilly Water" together.