Jeff Austin

[Kevin Briggs]

I saw there wasn't a topic for this good manodlin player. I enjoy his work with Yonder Mountain String Band...maybe this should be in the "Newgrass" catagory. Apologies if I'm in the wrong spot.

Anyway, there's a lot to be said for a player who can play within' a group context. I can't imagine YMSB with a different mandolin player, because Jeff plays exactly what the songs need, I think. He doesn't do what a tradfitioanlist might always want on a fiddle tune ("Whiskey Before Breakfast" from Mountain Tracks 1), but what he plays works for what's going on around him.

Judging by what I already know and his video posted elsewhere on the Cafe, he spent a long time playing a Flatiron Festival, and then switched to whatever the doozy Collings MF is.

Thoughts? No biggie, just trying to rap about Mr. Austin (From Colorado, or New England or something like that).

[david blair]

Jeff Austin is a fantastic entertainer and a wonderful singer. The shows are always fun, too. His playing usually leaves me thinking I wouldn't do it that way. Adam, the guitar player is a monster. I think a great lesson can be learned from YMSB, they play fun music, jam, and people can dance. The sound is loud, too. No single mic here. My band aspires to be somehing like this.

[Kevin Briggs]

Yeah, Adam is sweet, and Darol Angor isn't too bad either when he sits in.

I view Adam as the best straight ahead picker, and the other players are all pretty good at their instruments. But you're right, it's all about th energy and the fact that YMSB is really more of a rock band. They're more Phish than Flatt and Scrugss.

[FlawLaw]

I think I read some where that he hasn't been playing mandolin all that long comparatively. That when they were starting out they needed a mandolin player and he agreed to be it.

[Kevin Briggs]

I read that too. They knew him and they knew his good vocal skills, and it was an added bonus that he played the mandolin. Now, he reportedly had the Flatiron Festival at the time. That to me means he had more than a casual cimmittment to the mandolin. I think I read that he had only been playing for three years before joining the group. He mentioend Roland White and Grisman as people he really learned from, along with some other notables I can't really remember.

[dang]

I have to agree with you ratherbpickin,
I think Jeff is a really decent mandolin player. #I have met him several times, once he signed a mandolin I had, and I probably wouldn't have played a mando before I heard Jeff....For some reason I thought you had to be a child prodigy to play mando!!

Jeff really didn't have any mando experience when he met dave johnston, and I believe the words dave used were "whatever you play, play it fast and loud" or something like that...
And to say Jeff is just a mandolin player is somewhat missing the mark. #Sure there are lots of pickers that can play circles around Jeff, but can they sing, write songs, and in general bring the stage presence to the band?

I think dave johnston is great, but has off nights...
and I think Ben is under-rated as a bass player, and brings a lot to the band as a vocalist and songwriter...
Adam, I agree, is a monster!

Most importantly, I think these guys have great influences, even if they don't stick to the traditional bluegrass.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Dave and Jeff were in a band called the Bluegrass Souls but moved to Nederland CO to have a go at playing professionally. There they met ben and adam. something like that...

[mandodude]

Thoughts? No biggie, just trying to rap about Mr. Austin (From Colorado, or New England or something like that).
FWIW, Jeff is actually an Illinois boy - Arlington Heights/Elk Grove Village... just outside of Chicago.

[Kevin Briggs]

I recently read the famous Grisman interview at Jam Bands something or other. When asked about Leftover Salmon and YMSB Grisman kind of scoffed at their unoriginality.

I don't want this to be a Grisman bashing thread, but c'mon, it's pretty easy to write his Dawg music off as Django-jam music or whatever. As far as Grisman's comments about he and Sam Bush doing 30 years ago what YMSB and Leftover Salmon do now, I think that's an overstatement.

I like Newgrass Revival stuff and certinaly like Grisman stuff from all eras, but it's a different genre altogether. YMSB is more of a touring, gigging "band" than anything Grisman has ever been a part of, first of all. Second, all you have to do is listen to "Kentucky Mandolin" on Disc 2 of Mountain Tracks III to know how far out YMSB can get.

Like I said, Grisman is a great, great mandolin player. I just think his ego is as big as his talent and dedication. Maybe that's what sets him apart from others. However, that ego is what keeps me from buying his CDs. I feel like I'm listening to Terrel Owens.

I'll never forget the look of disgust on his face when I screamed out Vassar's name at an "Old and in the Grey" gig in Philly a few years ago and the corwd went wild. He was like, "What about me? I'm great too."

Lol.

[Daniel1975]

I read that too. They knew him and they knew his good vocal skills, and it was an added bonus that he played the mandolin. Now, he reportedly had the Flatiron Festival at the time. That to me means he had more than a casual cimmittment to the mandolin. I think I read that he had only been playing for three years before joining the group. He mentioend Roland White and Grisman as people he really learned from, along with some other notables I can't really remember.
FWIW - I think Jeff actually plays (in addition to the Collings) a '96 Flatiron Performer. And I think I read where he had an old A style (maybe a Johnson) mando when they told him to bring it and play it loud. He later decided if he was going to do it professionally he might as well drop 2 grand on a decent instrument. Just thought I would try to add something to this discussion. I like them too! A lot of energy. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[Kevin Briggs]

I knew it was a Flatiron something or other.

[carler6]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Dave and Jeff were in a band called the Bluegrass Souls but moved to Nederland CO to have a go at playing professionally. #There they met ben and adam. #something like that...
Close they were actually in a band called the Bluegrassholes, who had the slogan "We're a drinking band with a bluegrass problem" Also part of that band is Noam Pikelney who is now the banjo player for John Cowan after a short stint with Leftover Salmon.

Overall YMSB is easily my fav band, I've seen them close to 60 times and every time gets better. Here is a link to a great interview with Ben (and also Grisman and some others)

Interview (http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=7536&pageNum=3)

I read somewhere that Jeff is getting a Nugget built for him I couldn't confirm it either way though.

[dang]

Yeah, Bluegrass Souls is a joke I think jeff says at a concert I have downloaded. I just didn't want to post it the way it sounds (a##holes) without being sure of the actual name.......but anyway...

Did anyone watch the DVD that came with mountain tracks volume 4? Wow. Though, I thought there was a bit of a commentary throughout that (some of?) the band did not like the way that american audiences tend to talk through the whole show.

[Kevin Briggs]

I gotta get Volume 4. I think YMSB woul dbe best served by releasing an entire DVD concert, kind of like the recent Dave Matthews one. I'm not a big DMB fan, but I can appreciate some of what the group does. They aren't 100% pop-junk.

[Kevin Briggs]

Dang, how do you like your Bighorn? I'm definitely thinking about getting one.

[cgwilsonjr]

Agree that YMSB is a great band. Jeff is a good picker with a good voice and great showmanship. Adam is an awesome picker. Ben is the premiere voice of the outfit. Definately a fun band to see live.

[djweiss]

The guitar player in the band I'm in was in the Bluegrass Holes...As far as I understand, He and Noam Pikelney later started Waffle Hoss after the other guys went to Colorado. I don't think Noam Pikelney played with the 'Holes.

[dang]

ratherbpickin, I have to say the bighorn is amazing...
I have an A-9 and though a different sound alltogether, the bighorn is worth the extra $$. I have a heavy hand, and it can take whatever I have and still have room for more. I have F-holes, so maybe the A-9 is a good place to start for comparison, but where the A-9 is woody, the bighorn is thick and a little bass heavy (the bass may be the Bush-Monel strings). Where the gibson sounds like in 20 years it will be worn paper thin on the top (I'm distressing it naturally), the Bighorn has a nice thick feel, in both the wood and the amount of resistance it can handle. Like the whole chamber was tuned to make that Weber sound and left thick enough for my yet unborn kids to have some mando left after I work it like a horse my whole life! (I really think some builders are pushing the limits of how thin the plates are carved and finish applied)
I like the weber sound! In general I think they sound more like what I want a mando to sound like. Nice vague discription, huh. It's hard to put into words, but Webers respond well to the way I play. They sound, to me, like they have the energy I want to put into my playing already there and just waiting to go. I only have to start the wheels in motion. I really can get my bighorn to sing--whereas other mandos I feel I'm only playing them.

[Kevin Briggs]

Dang,

I know what you mean. My Bitteroot is appointed for bluegrass with the Fern Maple and traditional Brekke, etc. I have played Flattys and Phoneixes and all that and they just don't feel the same in my hand when they vibrate. The Weber is like holding something special.

Thanks for the info.

[carler6]

The guitar player in the band I'm in was in the Bluegrass Holes...As far as I understand, He and Noam Pikelney later started Waffle Hoss after the other guys went to Colorado. #I don't think Noam Pikelney played with the 'Holes.
Is that Dan Broder(sp?)? My first YMSB show featured both Dan and Noam sitting in for a great couple songs.

[djweiss]

Yep, Dan Broder...You can check us out here:

117 West (http://www.117westbluegrass.com)

[KevinM]

And no one is mentioning Dave Johnston, the banjo player. he writes a great tune - Red Tail Lights, 8 Cylinders, all great country tunes. The album Town by Town is in my book their best.