The band played in fraternities and bars regularly before Panic signed a contract with Landslide Records in 1987. Ortiz ('Sunny') began sitting in with the band regularly later that year. On February 6, 1986, Houser called childhood friend and drummer Todd Nance to sit in with Houser, Bell, and Schools for a charity event in Athens it was their first show as 'Widespread Panic.' The band was named for Houser's once-frequent panic attacks. Bassist Dave Schools met Bell and Houser in 1984 and first played with them on February 24, 1985, at the A-Frame house on Weymanda Court in Athens. They began living together and collaborating on music in that year, writing still-popular songs such as 'Driving Song' and 'Chilly Water' together. Bell had been playing guitar as a solo act, and invited his new friend Houser, also a guitarist, to join him.

John Bell and Michael Houser met in 1981 in their dorm at the University of Georgia.

Band history 1981–1995: Early years and rise to national attention Widely renowned for their live performances, as of 2018, they hold the record for number of sold-out performances at Red Rocks Amphitheatre ( Morrison, Colorado) at 66 and State Farm Arena ( Atlanta) at 20. They have been compared to other jam bands such as the Grateful Dead and Phish. The band was formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1986, and is influenced by the Southern rock, blues-rock, progressive rock, funk and hard rock genres.

The band's original guitarist and sometime songwriter, Michael Houser, died of pancreatic cancer in 2002, and the original drummer, Todd Nance, left in 2016 and died in 2020. The current lineup includes guitarist/singer John Bell, bassist Dave Schools, drummer Duane Trucks, percussionist Domingo 'Sunny' Ortiz, keyboardist John 'JoJo' Hermann, and guitarist Jimmy Herring. Widespread Panic is an American rock band from Athens, Georgia.

Mixlr widespread panic