Yonder Mountain String Band @ Warehouse Live

Warehouse Live played host to Yonder Mountain String Band on Saturday, February 2nd. The standard start time of 9 pm was posted, bringing the band to the stage without delay. The BOT crew consisting of Eggs, Toast and Doughnut were in full effect. We happened to be stuck outside for the opening tune, "Sideshow Blues", waiting to get our tickets sorted out. Once inside, we were greeted by a busy venue, although navigation was quite easy as the energy had yet to pick up. Soon the lack of steam would not be a problem.

Check out Toast and Eggs' review and pictures from the show

Yonder Mountain String Band are well known for their electrifying live shows. The band consists of Jeff Austin on mandolin, Dave Johnston on banjo, Ben Kaufmann on bass and Adam Aijala on guitar. All four members take turn with the lead and backup vocals, making every song have a completely different sound. They add touches of many genres to their own songs, as well as the host of covers they perform live. They also add in a fair amount of improvisation, shining with Jeff Austin's vocal scats. They are considered one of the leaders of the latest wave of progressive bluegrass, or "newgrass". Their style of music has influenced many new groups like The Dewayn Brothers and South Austin Jug Band. Because of this newgrass revival, many unexpected bluegrass fans have been created (Toast and Eggs).

Jeff Austin

Dave Johnston

The first set rolled on as much of the venue continued to fill in from long ticket lines out front. While the many first-timers started to warm to Yonder, they took the opportunity to play through many of their originals like "40 Miles to Denver" and "At The End Of The Day", as well as spirited covers of Bob Dylan's "Spanish Harlem Incident" and John Hartford's "Two Hits And The Joint Turned Brown". The Colorado natives used the first set to introduce the new fans to their brand of bluegrass before taking the second set to make these new fans sweat.

Ben Kaufmann

Adam Aijala

After a short break, Yonder Mountain String Band came back out to turn the doubters into believers. It seemed as if both the band and the crowd had used their set break appropriately, and had come back ready to dig in. "Dawns Early Light" opened up the first set bringing some darkness out of the normally cheerful string band. A few songs later brought "Mothers Only Son" with the traditional number "Groundhog" sandwiched in between it's two parts. Only being played four other times before this occasion, "Groundhog" was played in honor of the holiday that almost brought Phil Connors to his demise. A little further into the set came recent fan favorite "Things You're Selling", and a set-ending version of the epic "Traffic Jam" with "Ruby" as it's filler.

The encore started off with the Joe Maphis penned, Jack Ingram popularized honky-tonk number "Dim Light, Thick Smoke (And Loud Music)". Yonder Mountain String Band finished the set with the high-energy "Troubled Mind" off of their latest self-titled album. As quickly as it had started, the show had ended, but a completely different vibe had taken over the venue. Buzzing from the two sets of music, the full Ballroom at Warehouse Live strayed many different ways; to the bathroom, outside to smoke or to the Studio for an after show by Austin's Grimy Styles. Everybody adorned big grins and sweaty hair as they made their way.

We've seen Yonder Mountain Sting Band several times throughout our musical careers. It has been interesting to watch them progress, both individually and as a whole. Every time that we see them, we're amazed at how each member is able to add their own elements to the music, but continue to cooperate with the flow of the rest of the band. Yonder Mountain offers their own very unique take on a familiar brand of American roots music. By doing so they are helping to make an old genre of music much more accessible for the new wave of music listeners.

Toast:
I am a bit partial to Yonder, as I am a huge fan. I think it is quite fair to put on a show with this much authority time after time. For that reason, I give this show 8.5/10 slices, for some sweat drippin' , ass shakin' bluegrass. Come on and get your fix.

Eggs:
I also am pretty damn partial to YMSB. This was my tenth show, and what a good one it was. I am giving it an 8.5 as well, yolks though, not slices.

There are a bunch more pictures in our photo album.

Until Next Time,

Eat Your Damn Breakfast!

-Toast & Eggs