Widespread Panic’s percussionist, Domingo “Sunny” Ortiz, says one of the requirements for being in the band is to enjoy a big element of musical unpredictability. With the band’s current CD, Earth to America, Widespread Panic — more than ever — also has taken the notion of living on the edge into the studio.

For the first time after eight previous studio albums, the band left its home base of Athens, Ga. for recording and went to Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas to record Earth to America. The group also took a break from working with long-time producer John Keane to work with Terry Manning on the CD. The need for musical adventure was a driving force in changing the band’s recording routine, according to Ortiz.

“I think we had gotten in a regimen to where we knew what we were going to do [in Athens],” he says. “One thing that we always strive for is we always want to be on the edge. We don’t want to be predictable.”

The new studio surroundings and new producer paid off in Earth to America becoming one of the strongest CDs of Widespread Panic’s 20-year career.

By all accounts, Widespread Panic has been in fine form on the live stage, even with a slightly revamped lineup that features guitarist Jimmy Herring (a veteran of Bruce Hampton’s Aquarium Rescue Unit and several other groups), replacing George McConnell. The trend should continue on the band’s fall tour.

“They [fans] are going to hear a lot of the new material, and of course, we’ll throw in some old things,” Ortiz says. “It makes it exciting to us, and then in return on the other side, it makes it exciting for the fans who come to the shows.”