It's not every day that a band gets to be produced by one of its main
inspirations, but that is the case for Yonder Mountain String Band, winner of
the New Groove Jammy Award last month at New York's Roseland Ballroom. The
accolade has been one of many honors bestowed upon the Boulder, Colo.-based
"jam-grass" band within the last few months. Others include mainstage gigs at
the Telluride Bluegrass and High Sierra Music festivals and getting an
enthusiastic response to its own two-day Dexter Lake Festival in Oregon with
new-grass fiddle-mandolin great Darol Anger.
What is the Dexter Lake Festival?
What were the two production companies?
Texas? Why not Colorado?
What did you think of your Jammys' jam with the Derek Trucks Band, Col. Bruce
Hampton and Robert Randolph?
Maybe at one of your festivals.
How's the second studio album coming along?
How will it be a departure from 'Elevation'?
How much did the material on the new album come together by performing the
songs live?
Will you put the new record out on your own or a larger label?
Like The String Cheese Incident.
Is it the live album the first in a series of live releases?
How can you afford to do all this? I mean, I'm in a band, and I can't even
afford to buy a new microphone, and I make a pretty decent living as a music
writer.
I love the way you stick a Peter Tosh-like scat-rap to 'Legalize It' in the
middle of 'Keep On Going.' Peter Rowan does a lot of reggae-grass. Why do
reggae and bluegrass naturally go together?
What's the difference between when you guys all play around one microphone
versus all being plugged in. What does that force you to do and what do you
enjoy most about the single mic?
*The single mic allows to present our music in a different way. And it's
visually exciting. You watch Del McCoury and his band, the majority of the
time they gather around one microphone and you think, 'How can all that sound
come through that one thing.' Part of it is just emotion. It's neat. It's
also a challenge for us to play the whole listening game. You're really
acoustic up there. That's as acoustic as music can get. One of my favorite
things is getting around a single microphone. The tone when you plug in is
still a pretty acoustic tone, but it's still got an electric edge that moves
people in a different way. The only member of our band that doesn't plug in
is Dave. He plays his banjo through a microphone on a stand. But one of my
favorite things is getting around a single microphone because of the tone you
get. You hear how the mandolin sounds as the pick touches the strings and the
sound goes through the wood. And the voices have a unifying sound when we
sing through one mic. It's a different blend of natural elements. And it's
cool to do a 15- or 20-minute jam through one microphone because you've got
to keep listening. It's like a dream-like state almost. You remove yourself
but you've still go to keep the rhythm tight. I've heard things on
tape that I don't remember happening.*
What brought you guys to the Boulder area?
Bluegrass started in Appalachia and the progressive bluegrass scene in California mostly was in
Northern California. There's also a big scene in Colorado. All of those areas are mountainous. Do you
think the mountains have to do with those pockets of bluegrass?
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Bob Makin has been writing about the jam band scene since 1988. Jam bands can
send him info at makinclan@aol.com and material to PO Box 6600, Bridgewater,
NJ 08807.
