Leftover Salmon:
Few bands stick around for thirty years. Even fewer bands leave a legacy during that time that marks them as a truly special, once-in-lifetime type band. And no band has done all that and had as much fun as Leftover Salmon. Since their earliest days as a forward thinking, progressive bluegrass band who had the guts to add drums to the mix and who was unafraid to stir in any number of highly combustible styles into their ever evolving sound, to their role as a pioneer of the modern jamband scene, to their current status as elder-statesmen of the scene who cast a huge influential shadow over every festival they play, Leftover Salmon has been a crucial link in keeping alive the traditional music of the past while at the same time pushing that sound forward with their own weirdly, unique style.
Railroad Earth:
They can jam with the best of them and they have some bluegrass influences, but they use drums and amplifiers (somewhat taboo in the bluegrass world). What kind of music is it then? Mandolin/vocalist John Skehan offers this semi-descriptive term: “I always describe it as a string band, but an amplified string band with drums.” Tim Carbone takes a swing: “We’re a Country & Eastern band! ” Todd Sheaffer offers “A souped-up string band? I don’t know. I’m not good at this.” Or, as a great drummer/singer/mandolin player with an appreciation for Americana once said: “Rock & roll!”
Yonder Mountain String Band:
Innovative and exuberant, controversial and uncompromising, Yonder Mountain String Band spearheaded a musical movement in Colorado and carried its new language of progressive roots music to countless fans worldwide in a 25-year career that shows no signs of slowing down. With one foot in the bluegrass world and the other in the jam-band world, the band has weathered the scrutiny of the bluegrass establishment, changed its landscape and has come full circle with a Grammy Nomination for Best Bluegrass Album for their 2022 release, Get Yourself Outside, co-written by founding members Adam Aijala (guitar), Ben Kaufmann (bass), Dave Johnston (banjo) and Nick Piccininni (mandolin, fiddle, banjo).