Song Of The Week: New Bluegrass

This week's SOTW, in honor of this weekend's Vandalia Gathering, is a cool little tune by progressive bluegrass band, The Yonder Mountain String Band. "Left Me In A Hole" is a lament to a lost love from their 1999 CD "Elevation." Despite the sad subject matter it's an uptempo song with bright folksy vocals.

I first discovered the Yonder Mountain boys last year, when they provided the highlight of a CD tribute to the Beatle's "Rubber Soul" album. On checking out their website, I was mightily impressed. I'm not normally a big fan of country-leaning music, but occasionally a bluegrass band will cut through the twang, and get to me with their musicianship. The Yonder Mountain String Band manages to stay true to traditional bluegrass instrumentation while bringing a fresh approach to arrangements and vocal harmony. They manage to do this without giving in to typical Nashville gloss and phoniness. As they say in their press kit, they're "bridging the gap between bluegrass and rock."

Our SOTW is not from their latest self-titled CD. The new CD takes the band even further into new musical territory. Best of all, you can hear their new CD for free. It's streaming in the background when you visit their website. While visiting their website, you can also order their CDs and buy merchandise. I don't know if these guys have ever been on Mountain Stage, but if they haven't, they should be. They have the perfect sound for the show. They seem to be circling West Virginia for the next week, with shows in Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia. Maybe we can get them to play here some time.