Yonder Mountain String Band To Release Four-Song EP

When Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band tours, they like to find recording studios on the road to lay down tracks for a series of EPs they have planned. The first of those EPs, YMSB EP ’13, is set for an October 8 release via their own Frog Pad Records label, with the digital version due on October 15.

The EP will feature four songs each written and sung by a different member of the band: “Straight Line” by Ben Kaufmann (bass, vocals), “Don’t Worry Happy Birthday” by Dave Johnston (banjo, vocals), “Rag Doll” by Jeff Austin (mandolin, vocals) and special guest songwriter Danny Barnes, and “All the Time” by Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals). Yonder laid down the tracks at Electrical Audio in Chicago and have produced it themselves.

“YMSB EP ’13 is the first in a series of EPs we’ll release,” says Aijala in a statement announcing the release. “We dropped one show per tour to head into the recording studio. Touring is such a big part of Yonder’s life that recording while out on the road is an excellent new paradigm for us.” Kaufmann adds, “The music world is so different these days, it’s all about bite-sized chunks, so we felt a series of EPs was the best way to capture magic in the studio, and something that our fans could truly relate to. We asked ourselves, what’s really feasible when you have a band with so many songwriters? When you have an EP, you can have all these connections and interrelations in four songs, it just works for YMSB.”

“Yes, we will make a full-length album again,” Aijala assures in the statement, “but for now our focus while out on the road is to find special recording studios, and lay down a handful of tracks at a time.”

Here’s a list of YMSB’s fall tour dates:

10/9 -Wilmington, NC -Greenfield Amphitheater
10/10 -Charlotte, NC -Amos’ Southend
10/11 -Athens, GA -The Georgia Theater
10/12 -Silk Hope, NC – Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival
10/13 -Chattanooga, TN -Track 29
10/16 -Oxford, MS -The Lyric
10/17 -10/19 -Ozark, AK -Mulberry Mountain Harvest Music Festival
10/23 -Milwaukee, WI -Turner Hall Ballroom
10/24 -Minneapolis, MN -First Avenue
10/25 & 10/26 -Chicago, IL -House of Blues
10/29 & 10/30 -Brooklyn, NY -Brooklyn Bowl
10/31 -Philadelphia, PA -Theatre of Living Arts
11/1 -Boston, MA -House of Blues
11/2 -Portland, ME -State Theater
12/11 -12/14 -Puerto Morelos, Mexico -Strings & Sol
12/27 -12/31 -Boulder, CO -Boulder Theater