Yonder Mountain String Band coming to Tennessee Theatre

By Jeaneane Payne

Yonder Mountain String Band, an American neo-bluegrass group from Nederland, Colorado, will be performing at the historic Tennessee Theatre on January 10, 2013. Composed of Dave Johnston, Jeff Austin, Ben Kaufmann, and Adam Aijala, the band has released five studio albums and several live recordings to date.

The Knoxville performance is part of their tour in Southern and Midwest markets and is in support of their latest studio album, The Show. They will also showcase newly written material that'll be featured on their forthcoming studio album due out in 2013.

It's not often you hear of a neo-bluegrass band breaking into the national spotlight with a performance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, tour dates with Dave Matthews, and selling out 9,000 seat venues (i.e., Red Rocks Amphitheater). Yonder Mountain String Band is clearly the exception to the rule, having performed in front of 250,000 fans over the past year and acquiring more than 156,000 "Likes" on their Facebook page. Now in their 14th year as a group, Yonder continues to sell-out top music venues across the country including The Fillmore (San Francisco, CA), Red Rocks Amphitheater (Denver, CO), Pepsi Center (Denver, CO), Best Buy Theater (NYC), Stubb's (Austin, TX), House of Blues (Chicago, IL) and others.

Yonder Mountain String Band is comprised of Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals), Jeff Austin (mandolin, vocals), Dave Johnston (banjo, vocals) and Ben Kaufmann (bass, vocals). With the band having one of the strongest touring bases in the industry, fans and critics alike have been drawn to both their live shows and singular studio albums. Reporting from the All Good Music Festival (2009), journalist Jarrett Bellini from CNN Showbiz Tonight notes, "The trophy for best musical set goes to Yonder Mountain String Band who, as the sun began to set, left it all on the stage for an hour and a half. The pickers from Colorado had the audience dancing and shaking, kicking up a joyful storm of dust into the cool summer sky."

Commenting on their latest studio recording The Show, Rolling Stone critic Will Hermes says, "The concept is great: liberate bluegrass' hot-shit riffing and blue-sky harmonies from its hidebound formalism and see where it flies. This Boulder, CO crew brings dazzling chops to the table." Produced by rock producer Tom Rothrock (Beck, Foo Fighters), The Show marks Yonder's second go around with Rothrock and their fifth studio album released on their independent label, Frog Pad Records. Featuring the band backed by Elvis Costello's sideman Pete Thomas on drums on six tracks, The Show includes 14 original compositions written by various band members.

Yonder has always played music by its own design. Bending bluegrass, rock and countless other influences, they've come to pioneer a sound that they alone could only champion. With a traditional lineup of instruments, they may appear to be a traditional bluegrass band at first glance but they've taken the customary old-timey instrumentation (sans the fiddle) to new heights, transcending any single genre. Yonder has become a regular performer at major music festivals like the iconic Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Northwest String Summit and DelFest as well as massive multi-stage events like Austin City Limits Festival, Bonnaroo and Rothbury.

For more information on Yonder Mountain String Band, please visit www.yondermountain.com.

Published December 14, 2012