Yonder Mountain String Band & Drive-By Truckers Co-Headline Red Rocks

Article Contributed by JP Cutler Media | Published on Monday, March 7, 2016

Yonder Mountain String Band (YMSB) and Drive-By Truckers bring the best of bluegrass and southern rock to Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Saturday, August 20, 2016 for a blowout summer celebration with the rich jazz tradition of New Orleans with special guests Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Pre-sale tickets via YMSB's Applauze begins Wednesday, March 9 at 10 am MST, and the public on-sale is Friday, March 11 at 10 am MST. For detailed information, please visit yondermountain.com. Drive-By Truckers will also hold a pre-sale that begins Wednesday, March 9 at 10 am MST via Drive-By Truckers ticketing.

"It's hard to beat the feeling you get when you walk across the stage at Red Rocks -- the otherworldliness of the landscape, the rush from the hometown crowd, and the sense of participating in something both unlikely and unusual, makes for a highlight without comparison," says Dave Johnston, banjoist/vocalist of YMSB. "Come celebrate with us and the Drive-By Truckers and Preservation Hall Jazz Band as we explore the many musical styles that essentially make up the fabric of American music: bluegrass, Americana, and age-old New Orleans jazz."

Yonder Mountain String Band -- Adam Aijala (guitar, vocals), Dave Johnston (banjo, vocals), Ben Kaufmann (bass, vocals), Allie Kral (violin, vocals), and Jacob Jolliff (mandolin, vocals) -- begins a new era with the release of Black Sheep. The first YMSB album produced by the band itself, Black Sheep is, by any measure, a triumph, perhaps the most mesmeric of their career. Black Sheep marks the first time in Yonder's history that they're actually utilizing, throughout an entire record, the conventional five-piece instrumental arsenal of bluegrass music (guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle and bass).

Co-founded by Patterson Hood (guitar, vocals, bass, banjo, mandolin) and Mike Cooley (guitar, vocals, bass, banjo, harmonica), the rock five-piece Drive-By Truckers also includes Brad Morgan (drums), Jay Gonzalez (keyboards, guitar, vocals, accordion, saw), and Matt Patton (bass, vocals). Their 12th studio album, English Oceans (March 2014; ATO Records), is an elegantly balanced and deeply engaged effort that finds the group refreshed and firing on all cylinders. Drive-By Truckers recently released their long awaited live album, It's Great To Be Alive: Recorded Live at The Fillmore (October 2015), which was recorded over a three-night run at the historic Fillmore in San Francisco, CA.

The New Orleans jazz band Preservation Hall Jazz Band got their name directly from the Preservation Hall venue located in the French Quarter. Preservation Hall was among the few NOLA venues that welcomed both Caucasian and African-American musicians during the early 1960s when the Jazz Band first got its start. The current line-up includes Joe Lastie Jr. (drums, backing vocals), Clint Maedgen (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, vocals), Rickie Monie (piano), Mark Braud (trumpet, backing vocals), Ronell Johnson (tuba, piano, vocals), Charlie Gabriel (clarinet, tenor saxophone, vocals) and Ben Jaffe (tuba, string bass, banjo, percussion, backing vocals). In 2013, Preservation Hall Jazz Band released their first album, That's It!, consisting of all original material written over the course of their more than 50-year career.

For more information on Yonder Mountain String Band and their forthcoming tour dates, please visit: yondermountain.com

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