Leftover Salmon and The Infamous Stringdusters bring ‘Rowdy Summer Nights Tour’ to the Rose

The Grateful Dead was a jam band before such a thing existed. Bill Monroe became the “Father of Bluegrass” before anyone knew you could blend strings, gospel, and the blues. In 1989, Colorado’s Leftover Salmon combined the best of both genres before the movement even had a name.

Now, two of the most sought-after acts in progressive bluegrass — Leftover Salmon and The Infamous Stringdusters — are teaming up for the “Rowdy Summer Nights Tour,” coming to the Rose Music Center on July 16. Rising festival favorite Kitchen Dwellers will open the show. The triple bill promises an exciting “mini-festival” for bands and fans alike.

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Leftover Salmon, known for coining the term “polyethnic Cajun slamgrass,” is widely considered one of the founding families of the jamgrass scene. Jamgrass is a broad label often used to describe bluegrass-adjacent bands that incorporate psychedelic improvisation, electric instruments, a freer sense of structure, and a more expansive take on tradition.

Drawing on proto-jamgrass influences like New Grass Revival and The Flying Burrito Brothers, Leftover Salmon found a way to fuse rock energy with traditional string bands. Its early experimentation helped forge a path to theaters and festivals, even when its sound was still considered niche.

At one point, the band was playing 250 shows a year. These days, it averages around 90, which seems much more reasonable. But after 35 years, numerous albums (studio and live), and thousands of gigs, Leftover Salmon remains one of the longest-running bands in the jamgrass world — certainly the longest-running polyethnic Cajun slamgrass band.

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But for a band very much rooted in the live show experience, with improvisation being a key element to the music, I asked multi-instrumentalist Drew Emmitt if the band ever felt stifled by the studio records.

“‘Stifled’ might not be the best choice of words, but you’re definitely more contained,” Emmitt said, calling from Crested Butte, Colorado. “It’s not wide open like a live show, and certainly it’s much more calculated and focused. Both worlds are so different in so many ways, and yet they feed into each other.”

He added: “But it’s not like you’re in the studio, just jamming out and improvising all this stuff. You’re trying to really craft songs and solos. Then when you’re on stage, it’s like — go for it. It’s hard to recreate that in the studio.”

Despite those challenges, Leftover Salmon’s latest record, “Let’s Party About It” (2025), hones in on that live spirit, tracking with the full band and bottling its energy. The only thing that seems to be different is that the solos and songs are a little shorter.

“They’re just different worlds, and they’re both wonderful,” Emmitt said. “I feel like ‘Let’s Party About It’ is probably the closest we’ve gotten to really capturing what we do live.”

And the timing couldn’t be better. In a moment when so much feels fractured, Emmitt sees music as a connective force.

“In a lot of ways, it’s all there is right now,” Emmitt said. “Honestly, that’s what ‘Let’s Party About It’ means. We’re all one people on this planet, and, more specifically, we’re all one country. What’s gonna get us through this time is the connections to music and to art and to people you love. It’s hard, but we gotta keep pulling together, and music is the best way I know to do that.”

All three of the bands — Leftover Salmon, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Kitchen Dwellers — have picked together before. What ties them together may just be an overused umbrella term, but at the core of that label is something deeper. Music — polyethnic Cajun slamgrass or otherwise — brings people together.

So let’s party about it.

Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.