Long-time festival favorites and jam-grass pioneers Yonder Mountain String Band have joined forces with JamBase to present Yonder May—a weekly video broadcast of YMSB sets from the 1990s and early 2000s, culled from the band’s personal, fan-gifted VHS tape collection and hand-edited (yes, painstakingly cut and spliced, remember that?) and digitized by guitarist and founding member Adam Aijala. Airing every Thursday in May at 4:20 pm EDT, Yonder May will raise funds to support the entire YMSB team while not on tour via a “virtual tip jar” for Venmo and Paypal donations. Fans can tune in to raise money here.
The first installment of Yonder May is from Dexter Lake Music Festival on June 23rd, 2000; a pivotal moment in the band’s now longstanding relationship with the American Northwest and a particularly “kind” memory for the Yonder Mountain boys. “I remember hanging backstage with Leftover Salmon and smoking copious amounts of marijuana with Vince Herman, Ben Kaufmann, and Dave Johnston,” recalls Aijala. “I must have swam in the lake because I was wearing a red Hawaiian bathing suit on stage!” Dexter Lake Music Festival was also a significant moment for the band, as that’s where they met the team that would eventually go on to produce Northwest String Summit. “I remember that our appearance at this festival was basically 100% thanks to Leftover Salmon vouching for us,” says Kaufmann. Johnston adds, “Not only were we playing with Leftover Salmon, who we revered in the way of older brothers, but I believe it was our first summer playing any festivals out there. It would prove to be a lynchpin in our presence in the Northwest. It was the beginning of the feeling that would strike me again and again whenever we came to the Northwest, that we belong here and there were plenty of people who made us feel that way.”
Tune in today at 4:20 pm Eastern at JamBase.com and again on May 14th, 21st, and 28th for continued archival video releases from Yonder Mountain String Band. Missed the Thursday set or just want to watch it again? Keep an eye on Yonder Mountain socials on Saturday night for a rebroadcast!
