Jimmy Herring

Jimmy Herring
Herring performing with The Dead at the Virginia Beach Amphitheater, June 17, 2003
Background information
Born	(1962-01-22) January 22, 1962 (age 55) Fayetteville, North Carolina United States
Genres	Rock, Jazz fusion, Instrumental rock
Instruments	Guitar, Saxophone
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Abstract Logix, Interscope, Widespread Records, Columbia, House of Blues
Associated acts	Aquarium Rescue Unit Jazz Is Dead The Allman Brothers Band Phil Lesh and Friends Frogwings The Other Ones The Dead Justice League Widespread Panic Trigger Hippy Project Z The Ringers
Website	www.jimmyherring.net
Notable instruments
Fender Telecaster Guitar PRS McCarty Hollowbody

Jimmy Herring (born January 22, 1962) is an American guitarist who is the lead guitarist in the band Widespread Panic. Herring is a founding member of Aquarium Rescue Unit and Jazz Is Dead. He has also played with The Allman Brothers Band, Project Z, Derek Trucks Band, and has enjoyed a long and successful tenure with Phil Lesh and Friends as well as The Dead.

Jimmy Herring was born on January 22, 1962, in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the son of a high school English teacher, and a North Carolina Superior Court judge. The youngest of three brothers, Herring attended Terry Sanford Senior High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Although he played saxophone in the high school band, he quickly became known for his prodigious talent on guitar, which he had begun playing at age 13. Herring had a Telecaster guitar with a neck, in the same style as one of his biggest influences at the time, Steve Morse of the Dixie Dregs. After high school he formed the band Paradox, a cover band that played mostly jazz fusion instrumentals, including songs by the Dixie Dregs, Al Di Meola and Chuck Mangione, and included a 3-piece horn section, composed of Wayne Rigsby and Charles Humphries on trumpets, plus Jimmy on sax (for tunes such as "Birdland"), and for which Herring did the arrangements. After graduating high school, in 1980, Herring attended a summer session at the Berklee College of Music. In addition, Herring is a graduate of The Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) in Hollywood, California. He has influenced many guitarists on the American jam band scene, known for his fluent improvisational talent and ability to play long and complex solos.