Many hardcore Widespread Panic fans consider the three-and-a-half hour April 3, 1996 show the Georgia jam-band played at Huntsville's Von Braun Center one of the group's most epic ever. And this is a band that's been trafficking in improvisational onstage magic since 1986.

Asked if he recalls that gig, which Widespread Panic released in 2009 as the archive series live album "Huntsville 1996," the group's percussionist Domingo "Sunny" Ortiz says, "I remember the show. But you have to take into consideration that for us, we look at every show as an epic. The fans they tend to have a different perspective. One of the things that is real hot right now, and I use 'hot' as a starting point, whenever there is a recording with Mikey, Mike Houser (original Widespread Panic lead guitarist who died of pancreatic cancer in 2002), on it, I think the true fans really want to hear that epic Panic with Mikey."

Ortiz adds, "I love every single show because, as you know, no show is the same."

That 1996 night in Huntsville, Widespread ran through fan-beloved Panic cuts, such as "Can't Get High," "Arleen," "Porch Song" and Love Tractor," as well as covers of Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain," Dr. John's "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" and Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home."

Widespread Panic returns to the Von Braun Center Propst Arena, address 700 Monroe St., 8 p.m. Oct. 10. All tickets are $48 (floor general admission standing, reserved seating elsewhere) and available via the VBC Box Office, ticketmaster.com, Ticketmaster location or by calling 800-745-3000.

Widespread also features singer/guitarist John Bell, keyboardist JoJo Hermann, guitarist Jimmy Herring and bassist Dave Schools.

A few days after this phone interview with Ortiz, who checked in from the basement studio of his Georgia home, Widespread Panic announced drummer Duane Trucks would be filling in for original member Todd Nance, who according to a post on widespreadpanic.com is "is taking time to attend to personal matters." Duane Trucks is a member of blues-rock combo Hard Working Americans, which also features Schools, is the younger brother of Allman Brothers Band guitarist Derek Trucks and has toured with jam-band icon Col. Bruce Hampton. Duane made his debut with Widespread at the opening show of their fall tour in Charleston, S.C., where the set list balanced vintage Panic originals ("Space Wrangler," "Driving Song") with covers such as ZZ Top's "Waitin' For The Bus" and JJ Cale's "Ride Me High."

Sunny, Widespread Panic is known for dropping interesting cover tunes into the set. Which of those covers do you enjoy playing percussion on the most?

I love the Talking Heads songs. The "Papa Legba." "Burning Down the House" is one we started playing. I like some of the Neil Young that we play. The JJ Cale songs that we play. We don't do any Santana songs because there's just multiple, multiple layers of percussion going on there. It's tough to replicate for one percussion player. The Little Feat songs that we've learned over the past few years have been some of my all-time favorites because (Little Feat keyboardist) Bill Payne was from Texas.

Drummers playing a standard kit will occasionally break a snare drum head in the middle of a show. How often do you break a conga head or any other percussion equipment onstage?

What I usually break are timbale sticks. Never broken a conga head or torn a timbale head but I've broken many, many a drumstick, and my tech usually finds those pieces of the drumstick and hands them out to some random person at the end of the night along with a copy of that night's setlist. You just keep on playing. Fortunately for us we have a bunch of really good people on our crew that as soon as something breaks it gets replaced pretty damn quick. Within seconds. That's a luxury.

Widespread Panic has been releasing vinyl reissues of some of the band's early studio albums. What's your fondest memory of the sessions for the 1988 debut LP "Space Wrangler"?

Well number one was going into (producer) John Keane's small studio back in '88, and back then our budget was limited. I think we tracked in maybe two days and I think we had the final product within seven days. Total completion. John Keane had just started working with bands, and he was getting bands in and out of there, left and right, as quickly as they could because that was his life, how he puts food on the table for his family. I remember ordering takeout because we couldn't take a break because time was of essence for us. And I guess the other fond memory I have is being able to play in the same room as the boys because nowadays you're in isolation booths and you're really not playing in the same room, so that was definitely a treat.

If you could have any musician, dead or alive, sit-in with Widespread Panic that's never played with the band, who would you pick?

Carlos Santana. Miles Davis. And Jack DeJohnette. And Ornette Coleman.

What's the total number of songs in Widespread Panic' current repertoire, a couple hundred or so?

Oh, I'm thinking more like 450.

Wow.

Yeah. And that includes the cover songs too and that includes our songs that haven't been recorded, haven't been on a product.

The last Widespread studio album was 2010's "Dirty Side Down." What's the status of a new studio album? Have there been discussions? Has there been writing? Has there been recording?

There's always writing. Constantly. And there's always discussion. There's just the matter of when can we fit it within our schedules, within everyone's side-project and not considering the downtime individuals take after finishing our tour. It's just a matter of scheduling of when we can find that right studio and get into that right frame of mind to come out with a new project.

In 1987, after you moved from Austin, Texas to Athens, Ga., you began going to Widespread Panic's regular Monday night Uptown Lounge gigs, which is where you first started sitting-in with the band and joined soon after. What made you want to play with Widespread in the first place?

The thing that connected me to Widespread Panic was the communication that the boys had onstage amongst each other. Complimenting what each individual person was doing. Not so much being a leader or stepping out or being aggressive or being a showman. The communication going on onstage intrigued me, to the point where I wanted to interact. And that's why at the set break I said, "Hey man, can I sit-in with you?" and they didn't know who I was from Adam. Fortunately my buddy who owned the club they were playing at knew me from Texas because he was also from Texas. He said, "Yeah man, you got to let this guy play with you. He can really play," and so that solidified it.

Trust me, back then in those days we were lucky if we could get 10, 15, 20, 25 people in a club. But it was a thing to do, you know?

Updated: Duane Trucks is the younger brother of Derek Trucks not Butch Trucks, who is his uncle.