Photos via @yondermountain on FB

Yonder Mountain String Band have announced the departure of mandolinist Jacob Jolliff.

“As of January 1, 2020, we will be saying farewell to our brother and fellow musician, Jacob Jolliff,” the band wrote on Dec. 17. “This comes to you as a deeply considered decision. We are grateful for the music, the memories and friendship we forged with Jake and are in full support of his future endeavors with The Jacob Jolliff Band.”

In his place will be multi-instrumentalist Nick Piccininni, who previously performed in Floodwood (alongside moe.’s Al Schnier and Vinnie Amico) as well as the band Woddenspoon.

As YMSB’s statement explains, “In addition to performing as part of YMSB for a few shows earlier this year, Nick has shared the stage with many acts over the years, including The Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Stephen Marley, The Del McCoury Band, Leftover Salmon, Lettuce, and more.”

Jolliff officially joined Yonder Mountain String Band alongside fiddler Allie Kral in 2015 (although both musicians had been touring with the string collective founding member Jeff Austin’s departure in 2014).

Jolliff will close his his tenure with YMSB at the end of 2019, performing with the band for their Dec. 31 New Year’s gig at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colo.

Read the band’s full statement below:

Hey everybody,

First off, we would like to share our profound gratitude for your love and support over the years, especially through this last one. We couldn’t do it without you, and we continue to do it for you. As such, we feel it is important to keep you in the loop.

The new year brings some changes for Yonder Mountain String Band. As of January 1, 2020, we will be saying farewell to our brother and fellow musician, Jacob Jolliff. This comes to you as a deeply considered decision. We are grateful for the music, the memories and friendship we forged with Jake and are in full support of his future endeavors with The Jacob Jolliff Band. We hope to join forces with them down the road. Of course, Jake will play out the rest of the 2019 calendar, including our Colorado New Year’s run.

At this time, we also have the honor of welcoming multi-instrumentalist Nick Piccininni, who will be touring with us this winter.

We first discovered Nick when he was a member of the band Floodwood. In addition to performing as part of YMSB for a few shows earlier this year, Nick has shared the stage with many acts over the years, including The Allman Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Stephen Marley, The Del McCoury Band, Leftover Salmon, Lettuce, and more.

Thank you all for your continued support. We look forward to creating more incredible moments with you all in 2020!

Always,

Yonder Mountain String Band