The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/17/07 Section: Variety

Media Credit: COURTESY ALICE-FOTO.COM Southern jam band Outformation will open for Shooter Jennings tonight at 10 at Georgia Theatre. [Click to enlarge]

It is often said that when one door closes, another opens.

For Sam Holt, when a seven-year-plus stint with Widespread Panic ended, another door did open.

"It was kind of a gradual, organic thing. It just kept evolving," Holt said about Outformation and its recent boost into the spotlight.

The Southern jam band will play the Georgia Theatre tonight in support of its sophomore album, "Traveler's Rest."

Holt worked as a guitar technician for Widespread Panic's notorious lead guitarist Michael Houser, who passed away due to pancreatic cancer in 2002.

Holt said Houser's death, as well as "several other factors," inspired him to start his own band five years ago.

"We got together at first just to have some fun. We would get a gig here and there," he said. "By the end of last year it had become such an entity of its own that we decided to totally dedicate ourselves full-time."

Although Holt's long-time tenure with Widespread Panic may have served as a big catalyst in Outformation's creation, his Chattanooga, Tenn., roots also played a major role.

Holt and Grady Upchurch (singer, songwriter, bass player) have known each other since high school from playing in various bands around their hometown.

"We were writing songs back then, and those original songs - we really believed in them," Holt said.

Outformation has five members - Holt on lead guitar, Upchurch on bass, Lee Schwartz on drums, percussionist Jeff "Birddogg" Lane and keyboardist CR Gruver.

After gaining considerable recognition in the South, the band ventured westward in 2004, accepting offers in locations as distant as Colorado.

Its debut album, "Tennessee Before Daylight," received critical acclaim and praise from fans.

If there was any doubt of the band's endurance, it diminished after its two-day performance at Bonnaroo Music Festival in 2005.

"It was definitely a good experience for us," Holt said.

Outformation was named "Best New Band" by Honest Tune Magazine the same year.

The band's sound can best be described as "thumb-picked, heavy, distorted-country guitar and New Orleans drumming with real lyrics by real people," according to its Web site.

"I don't want to inhibit people by putting labels on it, but it's honest music," Holt said.

The set lists, he said, are not compiled until the day of the show, but the band plans to focus on songs from "Traveler's Rest" as well as a few past favorites.

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