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 On
January 31st, progressive-bluegrass quartet Yonder Mountain String Band will hit the road to launch Cabin Fever Tour 2003.
The 24-city run will begin at the Pageant in St. Louis and make
theatre and large club stops in all major markets throughout the
Midwest and East Coast before concluding March 1st at the Cabooze
in Minneapolis. YMSB begins
the New Year on a high note; 2002 was the band's most successful
year ever and concluded with the group selling-out their two final
shows of December entirely in advance - December 30 at the 1000-seat
Boulder Theatre and December 31 at Denver's 2000-seat Historic Paramount
Theatre.
Hailed by Dirty Linen as "one of the most dynamic
and versatile ensembles in bluegrass," Yonder Mountain String
Band features Adam Aijala - acoustic guitar and vocals, Jeff
Austin - mandolin and vocals, Dave Johnston - banjo and
vocals, and Ben Kaufmann - upright bass and vocals. The band's
highly original style is rooted in bluegrass, but also draws influences
from country, rock, and jazz. In addition to respecting the bluegrass
tradition, YMSB also breaks the mold by performing creative and
improvised shows as well as covering songs from artists as diverse
as Ozzy Osbourne, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, The Allman Brothers
Band, J.J. Cale and John Hartford.
Since forming in 1998 in Nederland CO, Yonder Mountain String Band
has made the leap from playing local coffeehouses and bars to touring
heavily throughout the U.S., and is gaining a large, devoted following.
The group now plays approximately 170 dates per year, selling out
such prestigious venues as San Francisco's Fillmore and Denver's
Fillmore Auditorium, New York's Irving Plaza, Boston's Paradise
Rock Club, Atlanta's Variety Playhouse, among many others. Additionally,
YMSB plays a handful of festival dates each year, most notably MerleFest,
Berkshire Mountain Music Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival,
and High Sierra Music Festival.
To date, Yonder Mountain String Band has released
four albums on their own Frog Pad Records label. Elevation,
the band's 1999 debut has sold over 20,000 copies. The band's second
studio effort Town By Town, released in 2001, has
sold over 30,000 copies and features bluegrass legend Tim O'Brien
as producer and collaborator. YMSB has also released two live discs:
Mountain Tracks Volume 1 in 2001, and most recently
Mountain Tracks Volume 2 in 2002. Ryko Distribution
began distributing all four albums last year and they have sold
a combined 100,000 records since the band's inception.
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