The band celebrated their continuing thirty-year career with the release of the biographical book, Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival!

[1] The band formed in 1989 when members of the Salmon Heads (Vince Herman, Dave Dorian, and Gerry Cavagnaro) combined with members of the Left Hand String Band (Drew Emmitt and Glenn Keefe) to play a New Year's Eve show in 1989 at the Eldo in Crested Butte, Colorado.

[3][4] After the independent release of Bridges to Bert in 1993 [5] and the 1995 live follow-up Ask the Fish,[6] Leftover Salmon gained a spot on the H.O.R.D.E.

[3] Their Hollywood debut and second studio album, Euphoria with guest keyboardist Pete Sears, continued to define their eclectic sound and introduced many songs that became their most notable.

[4] In 1999, Nashville Sessions was released, with guests Waylon Jennings, Jerry Douglas, Lucinda Williams, John Bell, Del McCoury, Ronnie McCoury, Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, John Cowan, Todd Park Mohr, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs, Jeff Hanna, Sally Van Meter, Jeff Coffin, Jo-El Sonnier, Taj Mahal, Danny Boone and Reese Wynans.

[9] An award-nominated documentary film of Leftover Salmon, titled Years in Your Ears, was released on DVD in November 2006.

Leftover Salmon marked their unofficial return to the stage with a performance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival on Sunday, June 24, 2007, as "Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman and Friends."

Since moving Andy Thorn into the banjo role, the band has been touring more than usual with small runs throughout the country.