Live Music Review: Yonder Mountain Pays a Rare Visit

By Allison Tonini

Cupid successfully planted his target on the audience at the February 14th Yonder Mountain String Band concert at the Georgia Theatre.

Although a smoky, shoulder-to-shoulder atmosphere sounds a little less romantic than a candlelit dinner, the sold-out Valentine's Day show attracted love struck Yonder fans from everywhere around Athens. Ranging from scruffy grown men in denim overalls pounding Budweiser to tie-dyed noodlers barely old enough to drink, they provided an all-night electrifying energy almost as bright as the band's glowing stage lights. Sweat soaked and losing their voices, the entire audience showed undying praise for the band's stop in Athens.

The show ended an almost four year absence of the Nederland, Colorado, based bluegrass-jam quartet, whose last appearance in Athens was at the Georgia Theatre in April of 2004.

Yonder Mountain String Band proved that they are versatile, experimenting with solid bluegrass roots and loose collaborative instrumental jam sessions. The four talented guys, Jeff Austin (mandolin), Ben Kaufmann (bass), Dave Johnston (banjo), and Adam Aijala (acoustic guitar), all took the stage dressed as if they had been sleeping on a friend's couch for a few days. They playfully taunted the crowd with rose-colored boxes of chocolates in between songs as they sipped on beer, most likely the Theatre's special $3.00 PBR tall boys.

There weren't many breaks in the music. Songs lingered past the five-minute mark, stretching into others, yet no one seemed to mind. They played effortlessly for hours, exactly why they have become a well-known name on the jam band scene. The two sets lasted hours and were packed with classics they have been playing since the band released their first album in 1999, such as "You Left Me in a Hole," "Mental Breakdown," and "If There's Still Ramblin' in the Rambler." The band also played songs off of their new album, including "Sidewalk Stars" and "Angel."

Never missing a beat or seeming tired, the four guys blended sounds that are usually only heard in the Appalachian hills. In the encore, Austin picked at his mandolin and Johnston gently strummed on the deep strings of the bass playing, "After Midnight," a song first made famous by Eric Clapton, giving it a fresh, new identity. Yonder's version was like the walking out of the standing room only venue and driving up I-75 to the blue-green hills of Kentucky.

Yonder Mountain captured both the old-fashioned spirit of bluegrass and the limitless improvisation of the jam band scene at the show. For one night only, everyone was from the Bluegrass state.