Salamander | en

from www.artistdirect.com: Although their instrumentation is based on the traditional bluegrass line-up of banjo, fiddle, guitar and bass, Salamander Crossing has consistently crossed over into a variety of musical genres. Their repertoire not only includes bluegrass standards by Bill Monroe and The Stanley Brothers but songs by Richard Thompson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bruce Cockburn, Kate Wolf, Shawn Colvin, Maura O'Connell, Bruce Springsteen and Lennon & McCartney. Salamander Crossing gets its name from an annual Spring event in Amherst, Massachusetts in which hundreds of salamanders attempt to transfer from winter grounds, through a pair of tunnels, to a vernal pond across...

There are several bands with that name: 1. Minneapolis outfit Salamander began as a duo in the summer of 1992 featuring Erik Wivinus and Sean Connaughty on guitars and vocals. They played mostly mellow drone-based instrumentals that in retrospect sounded much like contemporaries Labradford or Low. Doug Morman joined on bass in early 1993. They recorded and played gigs as a drummer-less trio until Bryce Kastning joined on drums and keyboards in early 1994. Then followed a period of heavy psychedelic improvisation and four-track recording, leading to a trip to POD studios in 94/95 to lay down some material on...

Tex Perkins formed Salamander Jim in the early eighties with Kim Salmon (The Scientists) and Richard Ploog (The Church), but the line up soon changed due to touring commitments for Ploog & Salmon. Stu Spasm, Lachlan McLeod and Martin Bland joined Tex in a new line up, and in 1985 recorded Salamander Jim's only record, "Lorne Greene Shares His Precious Fluids". .