Track Listing

1. Sidewalk Stars
2. I Ain't Been Myself in Years
3. How 'Bout You?
4. Angel
5. Fastball [Instrumental]
6. East Nashville Easter
7. Just the Same
8. Classic Situation
9. Night Out
10. Wind's on Fire
11. Midwest Gospel Radio [Instrumental]
12. Troubled Mind

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21463 in Music
• Released on: 2006-05-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
With the chiming opening strains of "Sidewalk Stars" and the propulsion that follows evoking memories of vintage U2, it's plain that Yonder Mountain is up to something a little different with its label debut. Long a concert powerhouse and popular jam band, with a combination of traditional bluegrass instrumentation, eclectic material, and organic improvisation dubbed "jamgrass," the quartet here demonstrates the difference between the demands of the recording studio and the liberation of live performance. Dave Johnston's banjo still drives the music, but the material (with the majority of the cuts under four minutes) depends more on hooks, harmonies, and tight arrangements than instrumental virtuosity. Some of the results suggest a similar spirit to the adventurousness of bluegrass prodigies Nickel Creek, though "How 'Bout You" could pass for an outtake from alt-country avatars Uncle Tupelo. The musical interplay takes flight on the instrumental "Fastball," but it barely lasts more than a minute. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

grows on you like a sweet, psychedelic fungus
First of all, let me say that I fully didn't expect to like this CD. I've seen these guys many, many times since the September 2001 Kinfolk shows in Boulder, fell in love with their music, think Jeff is the best front man going (at least as long as Vince Herman and Salmon are on...hiatus. Bout time to crank it back up again isn't it boys - how long are you going to torture us?) and we're homies. I love the straight forward, no frills, rockin', slammin' bluegrass and I justa didn'ta want no drums dagnab it! And Pop music?!? That'd just be downright blasphemous!

I was on their website looking up tour dates and had my computer speakers on. They have a streaming jukebox that plays every song all the way through and so I listened. Then I listened again...and again...and again. Then I knew amost every word to every song - especially "Troubled Mind" which I first heard at the StageStop in Rollinsville a few years ago (I told Ben that it sounded like a song that had been around a hundred years - he correctly took that as a compliment). But I knew all the other ones too. I loved it. I hardly ever, ever listen to studio music due to the fine people at etree, cotapers, and tapers.org - but I couldn't stop listening.

I definitely have to agree with the earlier reviewer who said that Dave REALLY stands out on this CD. From "Angel" - a great song to play when you're P O'd at your girl - to "Just the Same", to "Fastball" to the absolutely haunting "Winds On Fire" - with Adam killing the slide - Dave just flat out takes it to a new level!

And the poppy, drum polluted "How 'Bout You" may be a new anthem along the lines of "Keep on Going". The drums sound so good with the banjer - sweet Jesus I'm converted!! Filled with great arrangements, vocally perfect, musically groundbreaking songs...it's a CD that you'll listen to over and over and over. These guys are great musicians, smart as hell, and not afraid to take chances. Not all of them have worked in the past - but this one does BIG TIME!!

Different, but still some great stuff from Yonder!
This album, while much more polished and focused than previous album, is really, really good. The songs are tight and the band sounds as though its really playing as a collective. The focus here isn't on jamming, and its not even really on bluegrass, but more on the songwriting and arrangements. The addition of drums on a few songs takes their sound even further, and proves that Yonder is much more versatile than one might expect. They typically get lumped into the jamgrass genre, but this cd proves they are much more than that.

Album of the Year
Having recently been introduced to this YMSB, this is their most accessible album to date and a brilliant work of bluegrass/alternative rock fusion. Their long-time fans may be disappointed with the transition away from classic bluegrass but so were Dylan's fans when he played electric guitar for the first time. Run and get this album and you'll see for youself.