Widespread Panic and Jerry Joseph + the Jackmormons
“It feels so good to be alive,” sang Jerry at the side stage on Sunday. A truer sentiment could not have been spoken. After losing Mikey Houser to pancreatic cancer only a week earlier, the Panic showed up at Fiddler’s Green for two days of intense emotional release, a.k.a. music. It was powerful healing for all involved. While personal tragedy does strike, the music and the bands live on. So many of the bands we love have a death in them–Government Mule, Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers Band, Blues Traveler, Leftover Salmon, and now Panic. Yet, in every case the music lives on. And in the Panic’s case, we can all be most thankful for this affirming fact of life.