About the Artist
There is bluegrass, new grass, slam grass, and now JAMGRASS. Taking bluegrass where it has never gone before, these four young players from Nederland, Colorado, have, in just two years, accomplished what many bands dream of achieving in a lifetime. The band has played such prestigious festivals including Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Rockygrass, Berkshire Mountain Music Festival, Strawberry Music Festival, and High Sierra Music Festival.

I mentioned in my review of _Elevation_ that these four guys aren't quite going to displace Railroad Earth at the top of my Favorite Band Currently In Existence list, but they're getting mighty close. And I hereby make it official that they've replaced the String Cheese Incident as my second favorite. Much nearer to "traditional" bluegrass than either of those other two bands (in part because they don't use drums/percussion), the Yonder Mountain String Band plays like one mind with four heads and eight hands. Each of the four (Jeff Austin, mandolin; Ben Kaufman, bass; Adam Aijala, guitar; Dave Johnston, banjo) is just so good, and so in tune with the other three, that they sound as though they could play the phone book, without rehearsal, and make it interesting to listen to. I mildly (very mildly) prefer _Elevation_ over this one as a recommended YMSB "starter" CD, in part because the songs on _Town By Town_ include a couple of oblique references to tunes from the earlier release. But there's a lot to commend this one as well (and even if you don't get it _first_, don't forget to get it _later_). Since I especially like Austin's stuff, I'll single out the near-epic "New Horizons" and "Peace of Mind." They're cool enough songs in the first place. But Austin is just manic on that mandolin, and both these tunes give the rest of the band a chance to shine on their extended instrumental breaks. (Pay special attention to Kaufman's bass work on "New Horizons." His playing seems to be informed by a classical/jazz sensibility, which works wonderfully here. I don't mean to ignore Aijala's frenetic flatpicking and Johnston's banjo pyrotechnics, both of which are awesome; it's just that you don't have all that many chances to hear Kaufman by himself.) The vocal work is tight throughout, but here too Austin's songs have (for me) a special edge: they pair Austin with Kaufman on some preternaturally tight, almost otherwordly harmonies that sound like one voice coming out of two mouths. (Do you remember "Highway Song" from Hot Tuna's _Burgers_ release, on which Jorma Kaukonen and David Crosby sing a harmony so tight that you can't even tell which one of them is which unless you listen very, very closely? Austin and Kaufman are like that all the time.) And in the Credit Where Credit Is Due Department, here's a deep bow to the fine fiddle work of Tim O'Brien. (Darol Anger played on _Elevation_.) If you're just now being introduced to YMSB, I'd recommend starting with _Elevation_ and following it with this one; then move on to the _Mountain Tracks_ releases. But it won't hurt too much if you vary the order. Heck, you can even get them all at once. Comment | Permalink | (Report this)