When Bluegrass Gets Weird And Psychedelia Goes Acoustic: Yonder Mountain String Band

When talking about how things used to be two decades ago, Adam Aijala, guitarist and founding member of Yonder Mountain String Band said, “We could play a hardcore bluegrass festival, and we'd be the weird band; we could play a jam band festival and be the only band without drums.” That is not always the case for this now five-piece group nowadays, but they still find themselves in a place where few artists stay for long: bridging the musical territories of classic bluegrass with jam and psychedelia. 

Ben Kauffman on bass and Adam Aijala on guitar during their set at Cold Mountain Music Festival 6-1-19

Host Joe Kendrick interviews the band, and brings in a conversation with Nick Forster of the group Hot Rize and the radio show eTown to this episode, which also features many live tracks that Yonder Mountain played at the Cold Mountain Music Festival in June of this year. One of those songs features a guest appearance from Mimi Naja of the band Fruition.   

Yonder Mountain String Band performs at Lake Logan, NC 6-1-19

Southern Songs and Stories is produced in partnership with grassroots radio WNCW and the Osiris podcast network, and is available wherever you get your podcasts. One of the easiest ways to help spread awareness of the artists’ featured here on Southern Songs and Stories, their music, and this series is to subscribe to the podcast and to give it a good rating and a comment on the platforms where you listen to your podcasts. You can find us on Apple/iTunes here, on Stitcher here, and Spotify here, for example. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it.

On The Road With Southern Songs And Stories: Tales From Colorado To Carolina

Happy summertime, y’all. It is the time of year to go places and take in some live music. And in this episode of Southern Songs and Stories, we tag along with several artists as they tell us some of their tales from being on those highways and byways. You will hear new stories from bands featured on previous episodes, like Town Mountain and Jon Stickley Trio, and from artists like Hiss Golden Messenger, Dangermuffin, The Deer, Yonder Mountain String Band, and The Travelin’ Kine, which will give you a peek at some of what we have in store. From practical jokes played on band mates to being locked in a kids’ bedroom to a stolen instrument, a lost tooth, stinky cheese and more, it is all here on this podcast. Of course, there is plenty of good music to go along with these tales, too.

Southern Songs and Stories is produced in partnership with grassroots radio WNCW and the Osiris podcast network, and is available wherever you get your podcasts. One of the easiest ways to help spread awareness of these artists, their music, and this series is to subscribe to the podcast and to give it a good rating and a comment on the platforms where you listen. We always want to improve, and want your input so we can give you more podcasts and experiences that you love. So, we are doing a listener survey. When you click to complete the survey here, you can enter to win an amazing limited edition, original Osiris poster. It is shown below. We will be selecting 3 winners at random. Thanks for listening, and for supporting great music and great podcasts! - Joe Kendrick

limited edition Osiris poster giveaway

Songs played in this episode, in order:

Hiss Golden Messenger “Pittsboro Farewell (Two Monarchs)” excerpt, from Poor Moon

Yonder Mountain String Band “Black Truck”, performed live at Cold Mountain Music Festival 6-1-19

Hiss Golden Messenger “I Need A Teacher” excerpt, from Terms Of Surrender

Jon Stickley Trio “The Price Of Being Nice” excerpt, from Maybe Believe

Acoustic Syndicate “Vanity” excerpt, from Terra Firma

Canned Heat “On The Road Again” excerpt

Tim O’Brien “Me And Dirk’s Trip To Ireland” excerpt, from Two Journeys

Getting Ruened With Henry And Rupert Stansall Of The Ruen Brothers

It all began with the desire to give a platform to all the great off-the-cuff conversations about music heard in the hallways at WNCW. A dozen years ago, as then morning music host, I started the feature What It Is, with journalists, artists and other music professionals taking on a wide array of topics ranging from album and concert reviews to debates on overrated icons, and everything in between. My love of producing multimedia projects rooted in music conversation continued with other independent projects that followed What It Is, and now that comes full circle, with Southern Songs and Stories becoming a part of the WNCW lineup, while remaining a proud member of the Osiris podcast network and Bluegrass Planet Radio. 

The Ruen Brothers perform at the Albino Skunk Music Festival. Photo: John Gillespie

This episode takes a detour from the very South-centric array of artists and history heard previously on the series with a show on The Ruen Brothers, from England. Their music is inspired by a lot of pioneering Southern artists, however: The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Muddy Waters and Johnny Cash, among others, are all acknowledged as being key to their sound. 

I caught up with Henry and Rupert at the spring Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, SC. They talk about similarities between the rural area where they grew up and the rolling hill country of Upstate South Carolina, how people often forget that rock and blues greats from the mid 20th century had an air of danger about them, and how the Americana scene is booming in England; woven into these conversations are many live songs from their performance. - Joe Kendrick