Pullin’ ‘Tubes: You Can’t Hear Jimmy

Widespread Panic struggled for many years to find an effective replacement for its deceased talismanic guitarist, Mikey Houser. Depending on who you asked between 2002 and 2006, the band ranged from “eh, alright” to “not very good” to “sucks donkey balls” under the six-string leadership of George McConnell.

Then Jimmy Herring came along, and he restored energy, precision and sheer nastiness to Panic. Finally, after four objectively subpar years, they appear to have re-lit the southern rock torch they once carried. Herring is, quite simply, fucking incredible. I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s walked away from a show he’s played and had anything less than overwhelming positives for his melodic stylings. He can blend in, he can lead, and he can fucking rip.

So imagine our delight when a friend passed along this video of Herring as a quick-fingered 23-year-old, playing a “fast country chicken pickin’ instrumental” original at a Guitar Institute of Technology concert in 1985. Awesome. The song’s co-writer Todd Barth shares guitar duties, Rick Nash (or Garth Algar) plays bass and Steven Gallagher sits at the kit. Here’s Squakin’ in the Henhouse:

[youtube]aBXDEd4M6Rc[/youtube]

• Related Video: “On The Pipe” from the same 1985 GIT video
• Related Video: Jimmy Herring 21 years later with ARU in Atlanta
• Related Video: Herring at the Atlanta Institute of Music 2005