The band has always played music by its own set of rules. Bending bluegrass, rock and countless other influences that the band cites, Yonder has pioneered a sound of their own. With their traditional lineup of instruments, the band may look like a traditional bluegrass band at first glance but they’ve created their own music that transcends any genre. Dave Johnston points out “What could be more pure than making your own music.” Yonder’s sound cannot be classified purely as “bluegrass” or “string music” but rather it’s an original sound created from “looking at music from [their] own experiences and doing the best job possible.” The band continues to play by their own rules on their new record The Show.
The Colorado-based foursome has crisscrossed the country over the past eleven years playing such varied settings as festivals, rock clubs, Red Rocks Amphitheater in the band’s home state, and recently the Democratic National Convention in Denver at Mile High Stadium opening for Barack Obama. Their loyal fanbase has been built from this diverse setting of music venues as fans latched on to their genre-defying original sound.
In between tours the band spent time this last year working on its fifth studio album. Set for a September 1 release on the band’s own label, The Show is the second album with rock producer Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliott Smith, Foo Fighters). While some might scratch their heads as to why a string band would want a rock producer, this decision was a natural choice for the band. “We don’t have a lot of nostalgia for the past,” says banjo player Dave Johnston. “You shouldn’t try to recreate the 1940s. I like to think of us as informed by the past and all the great performers before us. But we also want to look forward rather than give people something that has already been perfected.”
The Show has the similar acoustic instrumentation (Adam Aijala on guitar, Johnston on banjo, Jeff Austin on mandolin and Ben Kaufman on bass with all four singing) as many of its classic bluegrass forefathers. Though once again drums are present (as with the self-titled fourth album) with the great Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello’s bands adding a rhythmic backdrop to Yonder’s still-acoustic sound on six of the tracks. The record consists of thirteen songs all written by Yonder.
The band has long cited such varied influences as the bluegrass of Del McCoury, Johnson Mountain Boys, Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe, Osborne Brothers as well as the punk rock of Bad Religion, Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys. Somewhere in between these two tent poles are early 20th Century composers and alternative rock bands like Grandaddy and Postal Service. It’s all funneled through the band’s unique chemistry, honed since they first met at an informal club performance in 1998. With band members writing individually, in different pairings and as a collective, the album proves that this group is a collection of creative peers and you can hear it in the rich tapestry of music that makes up The Show.
Here Yonder offers such traditional bluegrass sounding fare as “Out Of The Blue” and “Casualty.” The band has explored its country roots in the past and does so again this time on “Steep Grade, Sharp Curves,” a song that describes the roads around its home base in Nederland as well as a particularly dangerous femme fatale. A little further from the roots is the impressionistic “Isolate” with its simple but ominous bass line and minimal arrangement. There is also a bevy of rockers like “Complicated,” “Fingerprints” and “Belle Parker,” a gem of a song about a hard-hearted woman. The band even finds some excellent middle ground between bluegrass and rock on “Fine Excuses” thanks in part to a scorching guitar solo from Adam Aijala. There is also the extended “Honestly” -- at eight-minutes, the longest song on the album, with a middle section that is an excellent platform for lengthier live excursions that are as improvisatory as any electric band on the live music circuit.
The band is a regular at bluegrass festivals like the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the band's own Northwest String Summit as well as massive multi-stage events like Austin City Limits Festival, Bonnaroo and Rothbury. Fans are no doubt drawn to Yonder’s anything goes attitude, its humor and passion about music, and the band’s ability to stretch out live. “We love that people come to see us,” Johnston points out. “Everyone appreciates good music. Some people want to go to a recital and some people want to party.”
But as its fans know, Yonder Mountain String Band does something a little different, more than just a musical party. The Show is the band’s most varied and versatile album to date, and the summation of the journey that these guys are on together. It’s bluegrass for the masses, acoustic tunes filled with dazzling chops, and it’s fun to boot. The humble Johnston sounds as surprised as anyone by the band’s success, but knows that it all boiled down to chemistry, which has never changed. “Somewhere down there we all kind of recognized that we had something unique,” he explains. “But there is no way I could have imagined the amount of success that the band has had.”
New Horizons
Yonder Mountain String Band Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Come daughter, jump into my arms
Come sweet darling wife, move quickly I'll keep us from harm
Well, the water from the sky, it is coming
And it's rising each minute of the day
And soon our dear home and our pleasures will be washed away
Chorus:
Coming soon but I don't know when
When the sky will dry up and stop all this raging
When we'll be coming back again
The sun is trying to start shining
But the rain is pouring down
With the thunder and the lightning
With the rain is pouring down
For two long weeks it's been falling
And rolling through streets of our town
Forcing families to flee from their homes, pulling crops from the ground
We must leave behind our pleasures
Yes darling we must leave them all behind
Come family now move quickly, higher ground we must find
[ Chorus ]
The sun is trying to start shining
But the rain is pouring down
With the thunder and the lightning
Where the rain is pouring down
As I stand at this lonely hilltop, and I stare at the town down below
Tops of trees and muddy old roofs now all that do show
As the tears roll down my cheeks
And they match with the patter of the rain
Look in the distance for the horizon, pray we'll come again
[ Chorus ]
The song "New Horizons" by Yonder Mountain String Band is about a catastrophic flood that is wiping out a town. The song describes a family, a husband, his wife, and their children, that is trying to flee the flood and find higher ground. The father is urging his family to move quickly and is trying to keep them from harm. The chorus of the song talks about the hope of a new horizon, a time when the rain will stop and the sun will once again shine. The song is about the struggle to survive in the face of disaster and the hope for a better future.
Line by Line Meaning
Come son, take hold of my hand now
Father is urging his son to join him in the face of an approaching disaster
Come daughter, jump into my arms
Father is urging his daughter to join him in the face of an approaching disaster
Come sweet darling wife, move quickly I'll keep us from harm
Husband is urging his wife to move quickly to safety and promises to protect her
Well, the water from the sky, it is coming
It is raining heavily and a flood is approaching
And it's rising each minute of the day
The rising floodwaters are becoming more and more perilous with each passing minute
And soon our dear home and our pleasures will be washed away
Their home and all the things they value will be destroyed by the flood
Chorus: There's a new horizon and it's coming my son
Despite the disaster, there is hope for a new beginning
Coming soon but I don't know when
The arrival of this new beginning is unknown at this time
When the sky will dry up and stop all this raging
The end of the rain and the flood is needed for the new beginning to happen
When we'll be coming back again
The hope of returning to what was lost due to the disaster
The sun is trying to start shining
Despite the heavy rain, there is a glimmer of hope that things will get better
But the rain is pouring down
The rain is still strong enough to diminish the hope
With the thunder and the lightning
The rain is accompanied by thunder and lightning, making the situation even more dangerous
For two long weeks it's been falling
The rain and subsequent flood have been happening for two weeks
And rolling through streets of our town
The flood is affecting the streets of their town
Forcing families to flee from their homes, pulling crops from the ground
The flood is causing families to leave their homes and destroying crops in the fields
We must leave behind our pleasures
In order to survive, they must leave behind all the things they enjoy and cherish
Yes darling we must leave them all behind
They must abandon the things they love in order to find safety
Come family now move quickly, higher ground we must find
The family must move with urgency to find higher ground and avoid being trapped in the flood
As I stand at this lonely hilltop, and I stare at the town down below
The artist is looking down on the town from a hilltop
Tops of trees and muddy old roofs now all that do show
The only things visible from the hilltop are tree tops and dirty roofs due to the floodwaters
As the tears roll down my cheeks
The artist is crying as they witness the devastation from the flood
And they match with the patter of the rain
The sound of the rain matches the tears that are rolling down the singer's cheeks
Look in the distance for the horizon, pray we'll come again
Despite the disaster, there is still hope for a new beginning in the future
Contributed by Arianna V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.