American guitarist Jimmy Herring is a musician’s musician. The North Carolina native has been playing guitar for close to 40 years and exhibits signs that he’s just getting started. A staple in the Jazz Fusion and Jam Band scene, Herring studied guitar at Berklee College of Music and the Guitar Institute of Technology. His playing style melds the influences of Jimi Hendrix’s raw emotion, the twang of Steve Morse, and the flowing phrases of jazz legends Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.
Herring was the founding member of seminal band Col Bruce Hampton and The Aquarium Rescue Unit along with Jeff Sipe, Oteil Burbridge, Matt Mundy and Bruce Hampton himself. In 1997 he joined Butch Trucks, Derek Trucks, John Popper, Kofi Burbridge, Oteil Burbridge, Marc Quinones to form Frogwings after which he joined Jazz is Dead with Billy Cobham, Alphonso Johnson, T Lavitz. Jimmy was asked to join the legendary Phil Lesh as a part of his band which continued for good part of the decade. During his tenure there, he was asked to join the The Other Ones, the project that comprised of Grateful Dead members. During this time Jimmy also founded Project Z, an experimental instrumental trio with close friends Jeff Sipe and Ricky Keller. The band released two records under their name, the self-titled album in 2000 and “Lincoln Memorial” (Abstract Logix) in 2006
After the death of much loved and revered guitarist Mike Houser, Widespread Panic asked Jimmy to become a full time member. Jimmy continues to perform as the full time lead guitarist of the band to date.