Yonder Mountain doesn’t look back for future of roots rock

By Michelle Isham

Artist: Yonder Mountain String Band

Album: “The Show”

Label: Frog Pad

Musical genre crossing and blending has become a bit of a fad in recent years. Think Bon Jovi’s country album “Lost Highway”; Robert Plant with bluegrass darling Alison Krauss on “Raising Sand”; and Johnny Cash’s “Unchained,” an album featuring covers of songs by Beck and Soundgarden. Even Darius Rucker has gone on from Hootie and the Blowfish to establish a successful country career.

Rather than dabble in musical experimentation on a single CD, the members of Colorado-based quartet Yonder Mountain String Band have based their career on it. Claiming influences as divergent as Del McCoury and the Dead Kennedys, Yonder uses banjo, mandolin, guitar and bass to interpret popular musical styles of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Over the past 10 years, they have made a name for themselves by putting on energetic live shows blending bluegrass, rock and traditional string instrumentation. On their new release, “The Show,” Yonder are still kids running through a musical candy store. “The Show” moves from bluegrass to rock to jam to country pop in 13 songs.

“The Show” opens with “Out of the Blue,” a bluegrass tune growling arena-rock vocals. “Fingerprint” is a straightforward rock song. “Dreams” is a Grateful Dead-inflected jam. And “Steep Grade, Sharp Curves” is a knowingly clever country song in the tradition Pam Tillis’ “Cleopatra” or “Queen of Denial” and Garth Brooks’ “Two of A Kind (Working on a Full House).”

All the songs were written by Yonder, and the bandmates take turns on lead vocals, but some of Yonder’s members are better singers than others. High production values and polished playing cause the flat vocals on some of the cuts to be even more apparent. Several songs over use their hooks, leaving the listener feeling more exhausted than hooked.

Yonder sees itself as being on the leading edge of a new musical style. Yonder’s banjo player Dave Johnston is quoted saying, “We’re not interested in the past.” The challenge that Yonder faces is in making roots-music instrumentation sound contemporary.

“The Show” is definitely not for purists. For many, it may question whether the mandolin and banjo are so closely tied to roots music tradition that they can be successfully featured in another musical style.