Yonder Mountain String Band Hosts Guest-Filled Set At Northwest String Summit

Yonder Mountain String Band held a guest-filled Saturday night performance at the final Northwest String Summit. The host band brought out many fellow festival performers, including members of Greensky Bluegrass, Leftover Salmon, Kitchen Dwellers, Fireside Collective and Buffalo Commons.

This weekend marks the last NWSS at Horning’s Hideout in North Plains, Oregon. The festival hosted by YMSB that started in 2002 comes to an end today with a final day of performances. Yonder will make their final NWSS appearance tonight, headlining the main stage one last time. The performance and several others are available to livestream via Mandolin.

Saturday’s main stage set began with “Shady Grove” and banjoist Dave Johnston revving up the audience while trying to remember the song’s lyrics. The five-piece continued with bassist Ben Kaufmann and mandolinist Nick Piccininni leading “Boatman’s Dance,” guitarist Adam Aijala leading “Left Me In A Hole” and fiddler Allie Kral leading a cover of Billy Joel’s “Travelin Prayer.”

Greensky Bluegrass mandolinist Paul Hoffman, banjoist Michael Arlen-Bont and guitarist Dave Bruzza were the first guests brought to the stage. The trio of pickers augmented a lengthy cover of John Hartford’s arrangement of The Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations.”

The GSBG guys left and Kitchen Dwellers banjoist Torrin Daniels and Fireside Collective mandolinist Jesse Iaquinto came out for “Casualty.” Those two guests then exited and Buffalo Commons vocalist Tyree Woods and Fireside Collective banjoist Alex Genova joined YMSB on “Keep On Going,” which segued into “Jesus On The Mainline” before returning to “Keep On Going.”

The guests exited and YMSB kept the set going with the newer original “I Just Can’t.” The quintet then dropped into Split Lip Rayfield’s “Used To Call Me Baby.” Next up was a bust out cover of Hank Williams’ “Pan American,” which Kaufmann explained they learned from the Seldom Scene.

Leftover Salomon banjoist Andy Thorn was Yonder’s last guest of the evening. Thorn accompanied the group on the traditional “Raleigh And Spencer,” which segued into “Nowhere Next” before heading back into “Raleigh And Spencer.” The LoS YSMB collab brought an end to the guest-filled set.

Setlist

Set: Shady Grove, Boatman’s Dance, Left Me In A Hole, Travelin Prayer, No Expectations [1], Casualty [2], Keep On Going [3] > Jesus On The Mainline [3] > Keep On Going [3], I Just Can’t, Used To Call Me Baby, Pan American, Raleigh And Spencer [4] > Nowhere Next [4] > Raleigh And Spencer [4]

Notes:

• [1] with Paul Hoffman, Dave Bruzza and Michael Arlen-Bont
• [2] with Torrin Daniels and Jesse Iaquinto
• [3] with Tyree Woods and Alex Genova
• [4] with Andy Thorn