Yonder Mountain Magic

Long shunned by bluegrass purists, Yonder Mountain String Band was forced early on to carve out its own swath of musical turf. Now in its 11th year, the band's forthcoming September release is only more evidence that success in the new indie landscape is wide open for definition. Springing off their fourth, self-titled album — with Pete Thomas from Elvis Costello's band once again on drums, and rock producer Tom Rothrock (Beck, Foo Fighters) at the helm — The Show continues to bend the creative distance for Yonder's growing audience of hybrid music lovers. Just off the plane from a summer tour, and gearing up to headline Red Rocks amphitheater, Kaufman took a minute to explain the importance of creative independence.

Tonic: What are the benefits of producing on your own Frog Pad label?

Kaufman: In this day and age, you can count on people downloading the record for free. You don't make any money off of records. That's just the way it is, and I'm not complaining about it. I love technology. I'm a super geek and I'm not going to stand in front of this freight train. No way. But for us, since we're our own record company, we're free to write whatever is inspiring. We're not beholden to, "You got a hit. So now what are you gonna do?" It's a liberation, because it's all independent. It's really a blessing.

Tonic: Where does a studio album fit in for a live performance band?

Kaufman: Our primary obligation as far as the studio goes is to ourselves in trying to make the band grow, and that's totally different than the live show, where our primary obligation is to provide an opportunity for people to have a unique experience that they'll only get when they come to see us. Relating back to the [new] record, this whole experience has been our attempt to look inside of ourselves and find out, "Who are we as people? As musicians? As a band?" It's a departure from what people might expect, and that's good for us because we're always trying to redefine the boundaries of what we can do.

Tonic: You've been together 11 years now.

Kaufman: Sometimes people ask us, "How in the world did this happen?" I don't know. We were in the right bar at the right place at the right time. We were four young kids driving around in some RV that was held together with duct tape. What did Snoop say? "You gotta dream big because you might never wake up." It's brilliant. You have to do the things that are true to you. And then you cross your fingers and hope people like it. You may or may not succeed, but what's success, really? You may not make a lot of money, but at the end of the day, you did it.

Tonic: With all the commercial overkill, more and more people seem to be looking for something real in music.

Kaufman: I think Bill Monroe said it best. He said, "You gotta play it true." That's a powerful statement. He was a revolutionary, man. When you look to those people as examples, it doesn't really matter what people want to call your music. It's more like, "We can do this. We can be free to create." And then you can bring all of that freedom and that energy to your show, and that comes across to people. And for those brief moments, maybe, hopefully, they can feel free too. For this moment we can come together as people and experience this freedom together.

Photo courtesy of Shore Fire Entertainment