Greensky Bluegrass Honors Jeff Austin In Portland

On Saturday, Greensky Bluegrass debuted another Yonder Mountain String Band song in honor of the late Jeff Austin at the Oregon Zoo in Portland. The band previously dedicated their first ever take on YMSB’s “Dawn’s Early Light” on Friday in Bonner, Montana and a cover of The Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations” on Thursday in Salt Lake City to Austin. Jeff often covered “No Expectations” during his time in Yonder and with his own band.

Greensky’s version of “Keep On Going” came within their first set on Saturday. Austin wrote “Keep On Going” for Yonder, who first started performing the tune in 2000 and played over 200 versions leading up to Jeff’s departure in 2014. Greensky fit in a jam on John Hartford’s “2 Hits & The Joint Turned Brown,” which was a staple of YMSB’s repertoire, during “Keep On Going.”

Dobroist Anders Beck took a moment to address the crowd before “Keep On Going” to explain how much Jeff meant to Greensky and how they loved hanging with Jeff at the nearby Northwest String Summit. “We’re trying to play music as much as we can for our friend,” added Beck, who said playing music “is how we deal with stuff” and that Greensky are “trying to play some of Jeff’s songs to send some of that energy out into the world.”

Listen to an audience recording of Saturday’s GSBG concert taped by Mark Burgin:

Setlist (via PT GSBG)

Set One: Past My Prime, Money for Nothing, Take Cover, More of Me, Murder of Crows, Ashes, Hit Parade of Love, Keep on Going1, Living Over

Set Two: Cold Feet, In Control, All for Money, I’m a Worried Man, Better Off, Wish I Didn’t Know, It’s Not Mine Anymore, Fixin To Ruin, Leap Year

Encore: Old Barns

1 -First time played; w/ 2 Hits jam