Review: Yonder Mountain String Band W/ Travlin’ McCourys @ The Orpheum Theater
Review by Andy Muschlewski
Yonder Mountain with no Jeff Austin you say? How do you replace a vocal and instrumental powerhouse like Jeff? You call your buddies the Travelin’ McCourys that’s how.
The Travelin’ McCourys opened the show with a barrage of barn burners that melted away some of the winter woe of this cold February night in Madison. The Travelin’ McCourys lineup includes Jason Carter (fiddle), Ronnie McCoury(Mandolin), Rob McCoury (Banjo) and Alan Bartram (Bass) from the Del McCoury Band. With multiple IBMA awards between them and a recent Grammy award these guys are some of the best of business. On Guitar Cody Kilby from Ricky Skaggs’ award winning Kentucky Thunder.
Yonder played two smoking sets with Ronnie and Jason sitting in to replace Jeff Austin. Jeff’s home with a brand new baby girl; congrats Jeff! It’s a rare treat to see this kind of collaboration outside of Nashville or one of the big festivals. A couple of times they got everyone from both bands plus Daren Shumaker (mandolin) on stage for a mega-pick. Ending the first set like this with an epic Pass This Way into EMD and back to Pass This Way was certainly a highlight. Second set highlights included a mesmerizing cover of Pink Floyd’s Dogs and a Sideshow Blues/Sidewalk Stars jam with everyone on stage jamming. The double encore of Ruben and Cherise and Let Me Fall got me dancing enough to warm me up for the walk to my car.
