Trey Anastasio has shared an announcement today regarding the sad news that a former crew member passed away. As it turns out, this particular crew member is immortalized already in one of Trey’s favorite Phish jam vehicles, “46 Days,” so it’s interesting to hear from Trey on this and ultimately a sad but heartfelt story.
As you know the song “46 Days” beings “Leigh Fordham sold me out…” which really wasn’t the full truth of in the story…
I was so sad to hear about the passing of our friend and beloved former crew member Leigh Fordham. Leigh was truly a great guy, funny and cool, and he and I spent some long late nights hanging out on tour, and I have such great memories of those nights. I wrote the lyrics to 46 days on one of those nights, and I think I was just tapping into the feel and the spirit of those hangs, but I always felt a little weird singing that line, because the honest truth is that not only didn’t Leigh ever sell me out, he was probably the last guy on earth who would ever sell anyone out. He was a truly cool guy, and he asked about it a couple times. He was Australian, so I think he said something like “Hey Mate, I never sold you out!” and I replied, “but it’s such a cool line!” so we laughed and it stayed in.
Trey goes on to say that “Leigh’s spirit was a huge part of our Phish family when he was on the road with us” and that Trey always got a smile when he’d see him at soundcheck. “He will be missed. Our love goes out to Leigh’s family today.”
