by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
What: Yonder Mountain String Band
When: February 7th @8:30PM
Where: Freebird
Despite the bluegrass roots name, the Yonder Mountain String Band does, in fact, artfully straddle two musical worlds: bluegrass and progressive rock. Their latest album strains the bluegrass mold even further by including a drummer, Elvis Costello’s Pete Thomas. EU got the chance to speak with Ben Kaufmann about the direction Yonder Mountain is going.
Says Kaufmann: “One of the things we’ve been trying to do in the new record is sort of to bring together the music that…we really love and grew up listening to. The challenge is how do you combine a love of bluegrass music and acoustic music with a love of real classic rock and roll? How do you bring that together in a way that’s good? And that’s where I feel that Yonder Mountain is going…creating music that is a foot in each world and yet is not diminished—is actually made greater than what it would be.
For Kaufmann and his genre-jumping compatriots, the important thing is to have a sound that’s authentic to art and emotion. “We’re trying really hard these days to write music that feels really true to us…You always try to write music like that, and in some ways, you always do.”
That search for authenticity has made the band less and less applicable to a certain type of music. Kaufmann claims that “It’s always been hard to categorize [the band]” but they definitely seem to be headed into a more radio-ready, rock direction, albeit with a bluegrass flair. “On the one hand, we look like a bluegrass band and the name sort of implies something, which I think can cause more problems than it can solve…We’re trying to be really aggressive, sort of a rock and roll-oriented, or progressive, acoustic band. Even the acoustic thing is a misnomer because we use the P.A. system and we’re trying to be loud, like a rock band is loud. We’re the bastard children of the bluegrass world. And for rock and roll, we’re representing acoustic music and traditional music in that world. We are where we are relative to different scenes in different genres [so] we occupy different places.”
Kaufmann and the band just feel that they have to move away from pure bluegrass because the music you know as a kid is generally at the heart of a genuine musical creation. Though the band loves bluegrass, the soul does yearn for rock ‘n roll. “We grew up in a live music scene… We got together and said ‘let’s play bluegrass’ but over time we realized we can’t just do that and have it be really satisfying…We go through and play in Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. Places where the music was born - but that’s just not [our] heritage.”
Although their new CD uses drums throughout, especially on the tracks they’ve released as singles (‘How ‘Bout You’ and ‘Classic Situation’), they don’t cross the invisible line set up by bluegrass to include a drummer in their touring shows. “We do…as much as we can on the instruments to create a full and satisfying sound without drums…If you’re only familiar with the record and you come to see the live show, well, that’s a totally different experience. I hope we’re getting people turned on to buy the record and come and see the show. At the end of the day, all we’re trying to do is make good music and have people come to the shows. If we can get you in the door, we can take it from there. I guarantee you’re going to have a good time.”
|
