Widespread Panic
Inducted: June 27, 2026
It’s a long way from Athens, Georgia, to Morrison, Colorado…
But when Widespread Panic takes the stage at Red Rocks, all those miles and all those years fall away, and only the music matters.
As University of Georgia students in the early ‘80s, John Bell and Michael Houser liked to make music, writing songs (including the iconic “Chilly Water”) and performing as a duo, with Bell on guitar and Houser on drums. Bassist Dave Schools joined them in 1984, and when drummer Todd Nance signed on in 1986, the musicians officially became Widespread Panic. Over the next decades, the band would graduate from a popular college act to a national phenomenon, beloved by fans for its addictive mix of Southern rock, blues and funk.
Widespread Panic gained a more widespread fan base with the release of its debut album, Space Wrangler, in 1988. It soon added members, too: percussionist Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz and keyboardist John “JoJo” Hermann. With that lineup, the band released its second, self-titled album in 1991, which coincided with the H.O.R.D.E. touring festival. But it was the band’s early tours through Colorado, including the legendary Sit ‘N’ Ski shows through mountain towns in the mid-’90s, produced by legendary promoter Bill Bass, that propelled Widespread Panic to headline Red Rocks in 1996. From there, the musicians started a three-decade-long string of sold-out runs at the legendary venue that has never been topped…and likely never will be.
Dave Schools had always dreamed of playing Red Rocks. “A fan of the Grateful Dead, I heard they were playing Red Rocks when I graduated high school in ’83. It was like Disneyland: ‘I want to go,’” he recalls. “Standing on stage for the first time, it was one of those full-circle moments. A place I’d had in my mind for years and years. The kind of legends that made me want to play music, they stood there. Then I’m standing there.”
Widespread Panic has now stood there as the headliner for 78 sold-out shows. “The number is staggering, and it just goes to show how much we love Red Rocks, and everyone else loves Red Rocks,” says Schools. “Colorado feels like a second home, where we worked hard to play all those ski towns in the dead of winter. A bunch of Georgia boys in the snow!”
Along the way…
…the band has traveled through peaks and valleys. Houser passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2002, and while the musicians continued making music, the band went on a brief hiatus. But Widespread Panic returned in 2006 with Jimmy Herring replacing Houser, and resumed touring while releasing popular albums like Free Somehow and Street Dogs.
While the band officially stepped back from year-round touring in 2016, it made festival appearances and played other residencies – chief among them the annual Red Rocks run. “Red Rocks was the first on our list. That’s something everybody wanted to play forever and ever,” John Bell says.
Widespread continued to sell out those shows after drummer Duane Trucks replaced Nance, who passed away in 2020. And for the 2026 Red Rocks run, guitarist Nick Johnson took the place of Herring, who was being treated for cancer.
Through it all, the music keeps going – and the fans keep coming. That’s why Widespread Panic was chosen as the recipient of Colorado Music Hall of Fame’s first Honorary Coloradan induction, presented at the Red Rocks show on June 27, 2026, when Bass was also inducted posthumously.
“Colorado is an inspiration in itself”
Bell concludes. “Playing Red Rocks Amphitheatre is a dream come true, and being asked to join Bill Bass and many of our friends in Colorado Music Hall of Fame is one of the happiest surprises Widespread Panic will forever be humbled by.”
By Patricia Calhoun