Get Yourself Outside was voted the best bluegrass album of 2022 by Westword, Denver’s independent source of local news and culture. Digging into my own playing and I was able to practice and work on stuff on my instrument that I wouldn’t do if we didn’t have that break.” I’m not saying they’re done forever, but maybe I will rework some of them or figure something out. “I ended up shelving a few songs that I sang and/or wrote, and just felt like they weren’t really translating to me in the same way. “I went and listened to a bunch of our live shows,” he says. For Aijala, he spent time playing the guitar and listening to the band’s recorded gigs. Many bands considered the pandemic as a sort of ‘sabbatical from live shows,’ which allowed for some introspection. Co-writing can sometimes have egos getting involved, but I feel fortunate with these guys in the band.” If someone says ‘I don’t like this line or lyric,’ or ‘maybe try a different chord here,’ I don’t get offended. I’m not married to any given idea of a song I come up with. “I think that’s one of the things when we talk about being a family - we realize that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. “Everything I write: lyrics and music, I run by the whole band,” he says. Since the group consists of multiple singers and songwriters, there could be potential for clashing of styles or particular opinions, but Aijala says he’s grateful to work collaboratively. The jamgrass group is currently on tour and headed to The Capitol Theatre in downtown Flint on 4/20. Dave and Ben are both really good songwriters.” Nick is very melodic, his songs are cool and we help each other with lyrics. I think having a new songwriter gave the band a boost of energy. “We’ve never done it before, and it actually proved to be very helpful and made the actual studio time pretty efficient. “A lot of bands do pre-production for every record,'' Aijala says. Aijala says nine of the 11 songs came to existence after the March 2020 lockdown, many during Zoom call writing sessions. Writing and recording of the record took place amidst the pandemic and ushered in a brand-new (to the band) way of doing things. You spend way more time offstage than you do onstage.” He’s got a really good ear, and even better, he’s really great offstage which to me is just as important.
He’s considerably younger than the rest of us too, 16 years younger than me, but fits really well. “He’s a great banjo player, great guitar player, great fiddle player, and he’s a songwriter and great singer too. “Nick is the newest member of the band, who plays mandolin mostly, but he is really amazing at all the bluegrass instruments,” Aijala says. of this year, saw the addition of a new band member, Nick, and with that, a new, refreshed energy. Their latest record, Get Yourself Outside, released in Feb. Today, they’re still writing new material and putting out new records, something Aijala is happy to do alongside his bandmates who became friends. Aijala says the band had already exceeded his expectations after five years together and continues to do so. “This will be our 24th year, come July,” he says of the musical group. The quintet (Adam Aijala, Ben Kaufmann, Dave Johnston, Allie Kral, Nick Piccininni) combines the use of electric rock and pop instruments with the traditional bluegrass slide dobro guitars, and banjos to create a genre-defying sound that varies each show.Īdam Aijala, vocalist, songwriter, guitar player, and one of the band’s founding members in Yonder Mountain String Band spoke with Flintside about the band’s history and their upcoming Flint show.
On Wednesday, April 20, the group brings their modernized, free, expansive version of traditional bluegrass to the Capitol Theatre in downtown Flint. The group, which originated in a small Colorado town, has sold out Red Rocks Amphitheatre, performed at Bonnaroo, and has continued to play a steady lineup of gigs since 1998. It’s a unique mixture of jam band and bluegrass, and it’s one of Yonder Mountain String Bands’ defining traits.
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