At 25 years old, Yonder Mountain String Band continues to exist at the forefront of the progressive bluegrass scene as undeniable innovators and pioneers of the modern jamgrass movement. Blending bluegrass with elements of rock, alternative, psychedelic and improvisational music, Yonder Mountain String Band brought their high-energy acoustic sound and light show into rock n’ roll settings with tremendous success, proving it was possible for a bluegrass band to not only exist but excel in a rock world, without drums. The inroads they made created opportunities for like-minded acoustic bands to perform at festivals, rock clubs, theaters and stadiums previously considered off-limits for string bands. Yonder Mountain's high-energy sound, compelling original music and anything goes attitude cultivated a spirit of collaborative improvisation that continues to fuel today’s progressive bluegrass and jamgrass scenes.
It is a testament to the legacy of Yonder Mountain String Band that their original songs and unique interpretations of covers are regularly performed by next generation bands in the scene.
Yonder Mountain String Band celebrates their quarter century mark with a Grammy Nomination for their 2022 release Get Yourself Outside. Band members Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals), Ben Kaufmann (bass, vocals), Dave Johnston (banjo, vocals) and Nick Piccininni (mandolin, banjo, fiddle, vocals) co-wrote all tracks on the album over zoom sessions when Covid shut down the music touring industry. Yonder Mountain was recently honored with an induction into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame alongside friends and legends Leftover Salmon, Hot Rize, The String Cheese Incident and The Fox Theater (where they played their very first show as a band in 1998). Yonder Mountain was officially inducted during a long-awaited, but meaningful ceremony that took place on stage after their set at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival’s 50th anniversary in June 2023.
Yonder Mountain String Band are much more than your typical North American bluegrass ensemble, with their incorporation of everything from jazzy reggae, rock and even metal influences- hello, Ozzy Osbourne cover- into their unique brand of string-driven, energetic jams. Aside from it being quite a rare treat in itself to see contemporary musicians play instruments like the banjo, mandolin and double-bass, the highly attuned band show their skills in every frantic burst of notation in their live sets.
While the band's four core members are led by bassist and frontman Ben Kaufmann, each member sings vocals in a choral, call-and-response style, and the jam band nature of their music is a guarantee that every set they play on a tour will be different from the last. This makes for an immensely entertaining and unique live show, as it isn't often that bands deviate from their strict tour agendas and now- mandatory 3 song 'encores'.
YMSB are notorious for bringing other musicians onstage with them as well, and when I saw them at a New York theatre in 2011, they were joined by the high energy, high fun Infamous Stringdusters and Noem Pikenly for several songs towards the end of their set. You can genuinely always expect something different each time from Yonder Mountain String Band, and their onstage humour, charisma and musical prowess is something unique in music today.
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