CaveJam Collaborations: Kris Myers & Infamous Stringdusters Link Up With String Cheese Incident

The String Cheese Incident closed out their spring tour by headlining the second annual CaveJam festival in Pelham, Tennessee on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday saw SCI welcome Kris Myers for one of his first appearances since departing Umphrey's McGee and bring out fellow festival performers The Infamous Stringdusters for an extended collaboration.

Cheese played a total of four sets at The Caverns. Both headlining performances on Saturday and the first set on Sunday took place at the Above Ground Amphitheater before the sextet ended the festival deep within The Caverns’ underground concert hall.

The String Cheese Incident delivered a seamless run connecting “All We Got,” “Lost,” a cover of Tupac’s “California Love” and “Boo Boo’s Pik-A-Nik” to start their first set on Saturday. Next, the band fit a debut cover of “Three Little Birds” within “Stay Through” and offered oldie “Miss Brown’s Teahouse.”

Guitarist Bill Nershi then introduced The Infamous Stringdusters sans bassist Travis Book to share the stage. The Dusters’ guitarist Andy Falco, fiddler Jeremy Garrett, banjoist and dobroist Andy Hall added to “Clusterpuck” versions of “Black Clouds” and “Bollymunster” to punctuate SCI’s first set of the weekend.

After launching Saturday’s second set by pairing “Jellyfish” and a “Howard” featuring Kyle Hollingsworth on keytar with the fan-favorite “Sometimes A River,” Kris Myers emerged to join Jason Hann on percussion. Myers augmented the sextet on “MLT” and then engaged in a “Drums” trio with Hann and SCI drummer Michael Travis. The rest of the band returned as Myers left the stage and capped the night with a sequence of “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody),” “It Is What It Is” and “Valley Of The Jig.”

Sunday’s action began above ground with a nine-song set featuring such gems as “Sweet Spot,” “Song In My Head,” “One Step Closer” and “Rivertrance.” A “Colliding” encore was tacked on for good measure.

The String Cheese Incident headed underground to cap the weekend. “Colorado Bluebird Sky” opened the Cave Set and was followed by “Lend Me A Hand” and “Manga.” From there, “Best Feeling” bled into “Joyful Sound” and “Let’s Go Outside” preceded the “Hi Ho No Show” that ended the festival.

Livestream replays of the above-ground sets are available via nugs.net. Watch a fan-shot montage of Saturday CaveJam highlights below:

Setlists

Saturday, May 24 (via FriendsOfCheese.com)

Set One: All We Got > Lost > California Love > Boo Boo’s Pik-A-Nik, Stay Through > Three Little Birds > Stay Through, Miss Brown’s Teahouse, Black Clouds [1], Bollymunster [1]

Set Two: Jellyfish > Howard, Sometimes A River, MLT [2] > Drums [2], This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) > It Is What It Is > Valley of the Jig

• [1] – with the Infamous Stringdusters
• [2] – with Kris Myers (Formerly of Umphrey’s McGee)

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Sunday, May 25 (via SCI Facebook)

Above Ground: Sweet Spot, Song In My Head, Just One Story > Rain, Solution, You Wreck Me, Roll Around The Sun, One Step Closer, Rivertrance

Encore: Colliding

Underground: Colorado Bluebird Sky, Lend Me A Hand, Manga, Best Feeling > Joyful Sound, Let’s Go Outside, Hi Ho No Show