Artist · chart history · #222 in indie & aaa artist polls
Widespread Panic
Band Athens United States Formed 1985 Southern rock band from Athens, Georgia.
Widespread Panic formed in 1985 in Athens, United States. Widespread Panic has 61 chart appearances on 31 radio countdowns from 8 stations on RockLists, spanning 1999–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Coconut”, which appears on 9 lists with a best position of #258. The station that charted Widespread Panic most often is CD101 (Columbus, OH), with 40 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 2010.
Widespread Panic came out of Athens, Georgia, and cooked up a stew of Southern rock, blues rock, funk, hard rock and progressive noodling that could stretch a song past the horizon. John Bell's gravelly voice and guitar sat up front, Dave Schools' bass rumbled underneath, and original guitarist Michael Houser spun long, liquid lines around them while drummer Todd Nance kept the whole caravan rolling.
Space Wrangler, in 1988, caught the band in the studio with "Coconut" and "Driving Song", but records were only half the story. The stage was where they lived, and the Grateful Dead and Phish comparisons followed them everywhere. Their self-titled album in 1991, Everyday in 1993 and Ain't Life Grand in 1994 kept the tunes coming, from "Walkin' (For Your Love)" to "Wondering" and "Pickin' Up the Pieces".
Houser died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, and Nance, who left the band in 2016, died in 2020. The band carried on with keyboardist John "JoJo" Hermann, percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz, guitarist Jimmy Herring and drummer Duane Trucks, and their record for sold-out shows at Red Rocks and at State Farm Arena in Atlanta says plenty about the crowds that follow them.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Widespread Panic on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coconut | 9 | #258 | – | – | |
| 2 | Wondering | 14 | #747 | – | – | |
| 3 | Walkin' (For Your Love) | 8 | #242 | – | – | |
| 4 | Pickin' Up The Pieces | 7 | #1060 | – | – | |
| 5 | Ain't Life Grand | 5 | #95 | – | – | |
| 6 | North | 1 | #3 | – | 2010 | |
| 7 | Pleas | 1 | #123 | – | – | |
| 8 | Airplane | 1 | #206 | – | – | |
| 9 | Climb to Safety | 1 | #591 | – | – | |
| 10 | Can't Get High | 5 | #1817 | – | – | |
| 11 | Travelin' Light | 1 | #657 | – | – | |
| 12 | Driving Song | 1 | #694 | – | – | |
| 13 | Fishing | 1 | #582 | – | – | |
| 14 | Little Lilly | 1 | #906 | – | – | |
| 15 | Up All Night | 2 | #796 | – | – | |
| 16 | Dirty Side Down | 1 | #90 | – | 2010 | |
| 17 | Climb to Safety/Tall Boy | 1 | #1852 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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