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Earlier this week, Scott Ramsay sat in a park in Austin, Texas, picking at his guitar and trying to remember the lyrics to a Phish song he hasn't played for a year.

For weeks, he and the members of a band that existed seven years ago have been e-mailing set lists and excited messages about the chance to see each other again.

This time last year, on St. Patrick's Day weekend, the band Duckbutter reunited for the first time since disbanding in the mid-1990s.

They played at The Tugboat Grill & Pub, just as they had back in the day, and the room was packed.

"Everyone came out," Ramsay said. "It was the old social scene from when we were popular seven years ago."

Since then, most of those people have gotten married, had babies and built houses.

"They're not out partying like we used to do, but this was a chance for all those people to get a baby sitter and come out to our show."

As he stood on stage, he noticed people hugging and heard "I haven't seen you for years."

The night felt so good and the band members had so much fun playing together again that they decided to make it an annual event.

Ramsay flew into Steamboat on Wednesday night to meet up with the other members of the band. Patrick "Turtle" McClory flew in from California. Eric Barry and Jon Gibbs, who still live here, were waiting to meet them.

They practiced all day Thursday, their one and only time to rehearse for the weekend.

"We're going to get some much-needed skiing in (today) and then rock the Tugboat, man," Ramsay said.

Ramsay left Steamboat seven years ago at the height of Duckbutter's success.

"I wanted to go further," he said. Since moving to Austin, he has cut a solo album and is working on a second, but he cherishes the memories from his time as Duckbutter's frontman.

"Duckbutter was the closest I've come to fame," he said. "We were opening for Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, B.B. King and the Wallflowers. We rubbed elbows with all those guys. I still feel that if we were in the right place at the right time, we would have made it. We were better than a lot of bands here.

"It was the tightest knit group. I've never felt that same chemistry as I did with that combination of four people. I want to hold onto that."