Umphrey’s McGee Packs Field With Special Guests At UMBowl XI In Nashville

Umphrey’s McGee leaned into Nashville’s rich history with country music over the course of their two-night UMBowl XI event at The Ryman Auditorium this weekend.

The band’s two football-themed shows unfolded at The Ryman over six distinct sets, with bluegrass multi-instrumentalist Sam Bush, Trey Anastasio Band trumpeter/vocalist and longtime UM collaborator Jennifer Hartswick, rising guitarist Grace Bowers and Greensky Bluegrass dobroist Anders Beck among the guest players taking the field.

“So we invited a bunch of friends over,” UM guitarist Brendan Bayliss explained to the Ryman crowd. “But we didn’t think they were all going to say ‘yes.’”

Friday’s opening show was introduced by the hosts of Intentional Talk, followed by a new UMBowl set theme “Single Song Set,” which was built around fans guiding the improvisation of a nearly hour-long “Mantis.”

The second set was the band’s choice of song selections. Anders Beck was the first guest to join UM onstage at the Ryman, playing dobro on “In The Kitchen.” Beck left as Grace Bowers brought her guitar out to augment the set-closing pairing of Buddy Miles’ “Them Changes” and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Lenny.”

UM then put the country in UMBowl with the third set’s “Outlaw Umphrey’s” theme. Guests accompanied Umphrey’s throughout the second set, beginning with Sam Bush on fiddle and Beck on dobro for Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” and Hank Williams’ “Kaw-Liga.”

Beck exited before Kurt Ozan, who tours with Luke Combs, came on to play steel guitar on the Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson-popularized “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys.”

UM’s first time playing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “I Know A Little” and the John Phillips-written/Grateful Dead staple “Me And My Uncle” kept the countrified set rolling on. Beck came back and Ozan left before Willie Nelson’s “Whiskey River.”

Hartswick was summoned to sing lead on John Prine’s “Angel From Montgomery” with Beck added back onto the squad. JHa then fronted the ensemble on a performance of Dolly Parton’s “9 To 5.”

Hartswick broke out her trumpet for the set-closing “Call To Arms” by Sturgill Simpson. The encore started with Beck and Ozan adding instrumentation to “Bullhead City” and Hartswick adding vocals. Bush then came back with his mandolin in hand to help close out the first night of UMBowl XI with The Band’s “Up On Cripple Creek.”

UM returned to The Ryman on Saturday for UMBowl XI night two. The first set’s theme was a “Soundtrack Set,” made up of fans guiding the band as they improvised along to cinematic visual accompaniment. The second set’s theme was “Choose Your Own Adventure” and consisted of fans selecting how the setlist unfolded by voting on a series of options.

Set three was another “Band Picks” set that featured banjo player Matt Menefee, who is currently a touring member of Mumford & Sons, sitting-in with UM. According to UM’s social media post, they met Menefee in Nashville shortly before he shared The Ryman stage with the band.

Menefee picked along to “Phil’s Farm” in the third set and rejoined the band during the encore for The Police’s “When the World Is Running Down You Make the Best of What’s Still Around.”

MBowl debuted in UM’s hometown of Chicago in April 2010. Chicago hosted UMBowl through 2013 before it moved to The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York in 2014. UMBowl was staged in Las Vegas in 2015 and 2016. The interactive shows were revived and expanded to two-show format when UMBowl returned to The Cap in 2021. Umphrey’s brought the concerts back to Chicago in 2022 with the most recent edition held in Boston last year.

Scroll on for additional pro-shot videos and official soundboard audio from nugs.net where subscribers can watch on-demand video replays of the UMBowl XI livestream.