By Don Jacobson
Jamgrass.
That’s the kind of band Yonder Mountain String Band has been accused of being. Like the jam bands of a more rock ‘n’ roll persuasion, they’ve been known largely for wild live performances that go on forever, reaching groovitude after a few songs and sustaining the high for as long as humanly possible as the smell of that other kind of jamgrass wafts far and wide. As the glow sticks bounce in rhythm, instead of electric guitars and plugged-in keyboards, bluegrass jammers pound away on the acoustic tools of their trade, thus combining two essential elements: The community-building qualities of the rock jam band ethos and the undeniable authenticity of the countrified mandolin plucker and acoustic flat-picker.
After 10 years together, countless live shows and some indie label studio albums, Yonder Mountain has earned a cult following and an assured place on the acoustic festival and jam band circuits. It must feel great making a living playing places like the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua, the RockyGrass Festival in Colorado, Summerfest in Milwaukee . . . opening for people like Dave Matthews and the Allman Brothers when not headlining yourselves. Digging the beautiful hippie people and the country music freaks spittin’ moonshine under the stars on a clear summer night in the mountains. It’s enough to make a city boy like me head out in a VW bus.
Yeah, tomorrow morning that’s just what I’m gonna do. I’ll get up bright and early and roll out the van. I’ll set off on a search for something real, like bluegrass. The only things I’ll bring with me are my dog and Yonder Mountain’s new self-titled CD. Yep, I’ll . . . hey, wait a minute. That new CD is on a major label, Vanguard Records. And what’s this? Now that I listen to it, I hear a drum kit. Oh my God, I think I hear some electric gwee-tars, too. And who is this producer? Tom Rothrock? Wait a minute, isn’t he an indie rock producer? Yeah, he did Beck’s Odelay and some Elliot Smith records. Okay, now I’m getting worried.
With Yonder Mountain came an assumption that your jamgrass would be unadulterated by modern technology like amps and tape loops. Now here they are cutting a major label record with a rock producer. In fact, the first sound on the album, on “Sidewalk Stars,” is a sustained feedback thing and some plucked notes on an electric guitar, building, building, into . . . what? A Van Halen blowout? Actually, it segues into an acoustic jam featuring some furious picking by Jeff Austin on mandolin, Dave Johnston on banjo and Adam Aijala on acoustic. That’s when I see how it works. Rothrock is building off of what was always there – a rock sensibility undercurrent in a bluegrass band that wore its acoustic authenticity rather loosely to begin with. And isn’t that where jamgrass really points a listener to anyway? To a land where it’s okay to imagine Doc Watson taking Jerry Garcia up on a wager that he couldn’t do that on an electric guitar?
So it’s true that on “Yonder Mountain String Band,” the strings are sometimes attached to an amp. And is that so wrong? On some songs, it works to perfection. I especially liked “Angel,” which sounds like the Bad Livers if they were forced to really dance for their supper. Featuring breakneck bass lines from Ben Kaufmann and a reverb-drenched guest fiddle solo by Darol Anger, it’s probably as close to rock ‘n’ roll as bluegrass can get and still call itself bluegrass.
Electric noise supplied by Rothrock can also be found on songs like “Fastball,” an acoustic ride on the crazy train, and “East Nashville Easter.” The drum kit, played by Pete Thomas, of Elvis Costello’s Attractions , comes alive on “Classic Situation,” which is actually a bluegrass pop song! Now that’s how to stretch a genre. And it’s a good thing.
After several listenings, the VW is still fired up and ready to go. I’ve successfully overcome my fear of electric jamgrass. Now if I could only find that damn glow stick . . .
The Yonder Mountain String Band is scheduled to open for Glen Campbell at the Chicago Country Music Festival on Saturday, July 1, in Grant Park.
Posted on June 18, 2006