Yonder Mountain String Band Discusses Its New Album, Nowhere Next

Over the course of its quarter-century-plus life span, Yonder Mountain String Band has released eleven studio albums that capture its enduring appeal and creative songwriting abilities. Fans of the Nederland-spawned jamgrass outfit might hold up its debut platter, Elevation (1999), or Town by Town (2001) as standouts among these releases. The band's early efforts included the late mandolin player and songwriter Jeff Austin, of course. And while the group has soldiered on since Austin's untimely death in 2019, absorbing new members and offering the well-received Get Yourself Outside in 2022, the past five years constitute a transitional period for the legendary bluegrass-inspired outfit.

Yonder's latest effort, Nowhere Next, which dropped on November 8, finds the talented pickers on pleasantly familiar yet fresh-feeling ground, featuring an impressive batch of new ditties in addition to a couple of Yonder classics. Westword caught up with one of the ensemble's founding members and anchoring guitarist, Adam Aijala, to talk about the new release and the sometimes mysterious process of songwriting.

Westword: How long was Nowhere Next in the making?

Adam Aijala: We started working on this album shortly after our last release [Get Yourself Outside, 2022]. We were still sort of shaking off the lockdown and just living and getting back into the swing of playing live shows and stuff. But we went into the studio in November last year to actually make it happen. We tend to go into the studio with a batch of song ideas, and whoever is singing lead on a particular song is generally the person who is responsible for the original idea of the song. Then we add stuff as needed — be it a bridge or a solo section or whatever.

Can you share a bit about how the title track came to be?

The title track for the new album, which is actually kind of a combined effort, started as a bass line. The song's genesis goes back to a show at the Music Farm in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2016. Ben [Kaufmann] was doing a bass solo and he was playing this cool idea. After the show I got a hold of the recording from our sound guy and I pieced together what would become the song from what he had played. The tune is driven largely by his bass lines and the mandolin chop, with just a bit of almost ethereal instrumentation by the guitar, banjo and fiddle.

What is the song "Nowhere Next" about?

Dave [Johnston] and I collaborated on the tune, but he wrote a lot of the words. To me it feels like a day in the life of Yonder Mountain String Band or of one of its bandmembers, or just the life of a traveling musician. A lot of the stuff I write, or co-write, has a foundation in a lived life experience that's truthful but that's also not. I don't write a lot of literal songs. I think many of our songs are open to interpretation. Lyrics like "Once you're in the system" and "You don't have to click 'agree,'" which are in the song, are about being online and being sucked into that world. You can apply that to life.

None of us has to agree on anything. A lot of the stuff we write is stream-of-consciousness. Some people write with specific intent, and some not. For example, some of Bob Dylan's early rambling stuff feels like him almost just typing words. Not that our songs are like Dylan's, but I think a lot of times you write what comes into your head and then you realize that it has meaning after you write it. Maybe you don't consciously realize what it is until it comes out. I don't know that any kind of lyric, literal or otherwise, makes a song good or bad. It just depends on how it it feels to the listener.

Has your recording method changed much over the years?

It has changed a bit. We didn't always write songs together at first. I've been working on songs with Dave for a long time now, but Jeff and Ben didn't always write with other people. Even though recording the songs would be a group effort, they tended to have their individual tunes pretty well realized by the time we got to them as a group. I think now we're more comfortable bringing in songs that aren't completely formed. It used to be that we would present material that was more developed before beginning the process. But now we can just go off of a few chords, some scratch lyrics or maybe just by humming a melody. Our mandolin player, Nick [Piccininni], had written songs before, but not with other people. He seems to really enjoy collaborating with the group. It's a rewarding process, I think. We all want the best song possible, so I'm not always married to my ideas. There's not a lot of ego involved. If someone has strong feelings about changing something, I'm okay with it. I don't mind a team effort, though sometimes a song might not need any input.

What ages are you all now?

I'm the oldest bandmember at 51. Ben will be 50 in June next year. Dave will turn 51 in January. Nick is the youngest at 35. Coleman is ten years younger than I am; he's 41. 

Do you feel like the band is at a turning point, or has found new footing?

We're feeling pretty good, but I don't begrudge anyone who likes a particular era of any band. Bands have personnel changes. So it can depend on your particular connection to a band — when you discovered them or whatever. The Grateful Dead had various keyboard players and went through different eras that appeal differently to people. We started with Jeff, who was a unique individual, and then we had Jake [Jolliff] and Allie [Krall] and now we have Nick and [our fiddle player] Coleman [Smith]. Coleman brings a great energy that jibes really well with us. He's a multi instrumentalist and a great singer and he gets the jamming aspect and goes with it. He picks stuff up really quickly and the more shows he gets under his belt the more he becomes one of us. He's got a great personality. He's easygoing and he's sarcastic. He fits in. As a traveling band, you're a team. The more you can let go of thinking that everything is going to go your way, the better off you are, because things aren't always gonna go your way.

What year do you consider the starting point for Yonder Mountain String Band?

We started in 1998. I've been in this band now longer than I haven't been.

Any last thoughts on the new release?

I hope people like it. It's amazing to think we've been going for 26 years. Every time we release a new record, I get excited and I think it's awesome, but this feels like a really good one to me.

Nowhere Next is available on all streaming platforms.