The April 5 issue of Billboard and carried the following article about Leftover Salmon and Euphoria in the "Popular Uprisings" feature. This accompanies Billboard's Heatseekers Album Chart which "lists the best-selling titles by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the top 100 of the Billboard 200 chart." They further break the sales by these artists into 8 regions of the US, apparently to detect rising newcomers early on. The following is by Doug Reece...
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Smells Phishy: Audiences seem hungry for the bluegrass hippie hardcore served up by Mountain Division/Hollywood Records recording act Leftover Salmon. The Boulder, Colo.-based act, whose album "Euphoria" was released March 18, is at No. 3 on the Mountain Regional roundup this issue, thanks to its charismatic live performances and loyal followers, or "salmon heads."
The band has a few things in common with recording act Phish. "Euphoria" was produced by Justin Niebank, known for his work with the Elektra band. And, like Phish, Leftover Salmon once sold its own self-released albums during rigorous road trips.
Simultaneous with the release of "Euphoria," Mountain Division/Hollywood rereleased "Bridges to Bert" and "Ask the Fish," originally put out by the band in 1993 and 1995, respectively.
Word has spread about the act through electric appearances at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Telluride, Colo., and the Merle Watson Festival in North Carolina, as well as at a two-week stint on the H.O.R.D.E. tour last summer.
While Hollywood has no immediate plans to release a single or promote the album at radio, the band will continue touring.
Leftover Salmon, which is booked by Highland, MD.-based Vision International, recently finished a five-week tour that culminated in a sold-out show at New York's Wetlands.
On Friday (4) and Saturday (5), the band plays the Fillmore in San Francisco, followed by a gig April 9 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.
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Note: The dates for the Fillmore were incorrect in the article. (8^( The correct ones are shown here.