Yonder Mountain String Band

DOORS  OPEN AT 6:30 PM | SHOW BEGINS AT 8:00 PM

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YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND

Bluegrass music is currently experiencing widespread popularity among mainstream audiences but transforming the vintage sound into music that could gain popular appeal didn’t happen overnight. At 25 years old, Yonder Mountain String Band continues to exist at the forefront of the progressive bluegrass scene as undeniable innovators and pioneers of the modern jamgrass movement. Blending bluegrass with elements of rock, alternative, psychedelic and improvisational music, Yonder Mountain String Band brought their high-energy acoustic sound and light show into rock n’ roll settings with tremendous success, proving it was possible for a bluegrass band to not only exist but excel in a rock world, without drums. The inroads they made created opportunities for like-minded acoustic bands to perform at festivals, rock clubs, theaters and stadiums previously considered off-limits for string bands. Yonder Mountain's high-energy sound, compelling original music and anything goes attitude cultivated a spirit of collaborative improvisation that continues to fuel today’s progressive bluegrass and jamgrass scenes. It is a testament to the legacy of Yonder Mountain String Band that their original songs and unique interpretations of covers are regularly performed by next generation bands in the scene.

Yonder Mountain String Band celebrates their quarter century mark with a Grammy Nomination for their 2022 release Get Yourself Outside. Band members Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals), Ben Kaufmann (bass, vocals), Dave Johnston (banjo, vocals) and Nick Piccininni (mandolin, banjo, fiddle, vocals) co-wrote all tracks on the album over zoom sessions when Covid shut down the music touring industry. Yonder Mountain was recently honored with an induction into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame alongside friends and legends Leftover Salmon, Hot Rize, The String Cheese Incident and The Fox Theater (where they played their very first show as a band in 1998). They will celebrate this achievement with an official ceremony this summer.

THE DIRTY GRASS PLAYERS 

With a nod to the past and glance to the future the Dirty Grass Players are keeping alive the long history of bluegrass while pushing the traditional genre into the next generation.  The Dirty Grass Players are an energetic explosion of old-time pickin’, colored with an inventive, newgrass hand, that is given lyrical life by their soaring vocal harmonies that exist on an ethereal plain.  They live at the crossroads between the traditional, which is the backbone of what they do, and the progressive with their innovative forward-thinking approach.  The Dirty Grass Players, with their steady, workman-like precision and loose adventurous spirit are a band that can both confound Bill Monroe and cause him to smile uncontrollably.  Their music is progressive, traditional, experimental, imaginative, and at its core, Dirty. 

The Dirty Grass Players formed in 2015 around banjo-picker Alex Berman, guitarist Ben Kolakowski, and mandolinist Ryan Rogers at a series of informal picking-sessions in the Baltimore area.  The band quickly started to garner attention in the area, culminating in them winning the competitive Charm City Bluegrass Festival Battle of the Bands in 2017.  The band’s original bassist and fiddler left shortly after and they solidified around the addition of bassist Connor Murray and reemerged as a powerful four-piece.  Since then they have released two albums, 2020’s Beneath the Woodpile and 2023 Shiny Side Up and established themselves as one of the most exciting young bluegrass bands around.  With their high-octane shows they have become a mainstay on the festival circuit, being invited to play at some of the most prestigious gatherings from coast to coast including Delfest, GreyFox, Kingman Island, Hot August Music Festival, Dark Star Jubilee, Ramble Fest, First Class Music Fest, and many others.

Their latest album Shiny Side Up, produced by The Travelin’ McCourys’ Coldy Kilby, continues to further the evolution of bluegrass with its hard-driving sound that showcases the progressive, dark side of bluegrass with its forward-looking, non-traditional playing and songwriting.  In its praise of the album, Bluegrass Unlimited says, “Shiny Side Up validates the arrival of the Dirty Grass Players onto the scene and shows bluegrass is in good hands going forward.

For any wheelchair or ADA needs, please contact the Box Office in advance of the performance at (202)-787-1000.

Please note that the front row of tables and chairs will be cleared for this show to create a general admission Pit. Be advised that there may be some seated areas where vision of the stage is obstructed.