When talking about how things used to be two decades ago, Adam Aijala, guitarist and founding member of Yonder Mountain String Band said, “We could play a hardcore bluegrass festival, and we'd be the weird band; we could play a jam band festival and be the only band without drums.” That is not always the case for this now five-piece group nowadays, but they still find themselves in a place where few artists stay for long: bridging the musical territories of classic bluegrass with jam and psychedelia.

Ben Kauffman on bass and Adam Aijala on guitar during their set at Cold Mountain Music Festival 6-1-19

Host Joe Kendrick interviews the band, and brings in a conversation with Nick Forster of the group Hot Rize and the radio show eTown to this episode, which also features many live tracks that Yonder Mountain played at the Cold Mountain Music Festival in June of this year. One of those songs features a guest appearance from Mimi Naja of the band Fruition.

Yonder Mountain String Band performs at Lake Logan, NC 6-1-19

Southern Songs and Stories is produced in partnership with grassroots radio WNCW and the Osiris podcast network, and is available wherever you get your podcasts. One of the easiest ways to help spread awareness of the artists’ featured here on Southern Songs and Stories, their music, and this series is to subscribe to the podcast and to give it a good rating and a comment on the platforms where you listen to your podcasts. You can find us on Apple/iTunes here, on Stitcher here, and Spotify here, for example. This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it.

Artist stereotypes do not apply

How many times have parents cringed when their children fell in love with a musician? Let's be honest, the world has looked askance at artists of all stripes (with notable exceptions) for most of our history. Musicians tend to be thought of as people who may be great at their art but who are nonetheless pretty bad at life skills like paying bills, getting to work on time, and sticking with the missus.

Aaron turns all those stereotypes on their head; he is not only a fantastic songwriter and musician, but he also runs his own construction business and is a devoted family man living a stone's throw from where he grew up in the western NC mountains. He is as meticulous and intense about his guitar and ballads as he is about his green built homes and raising his two girls.

As you'll see in our pilot episode, Aaron does both life and art exceptionally well. The folks around him are a big part of that.