Few groups seem to explore popular music’s back-pages as profoundly as everyone’s favorite Ozzy Osbourne covering bluegrass group, Yonder Mountain String Band. On October 12, YMSB will more than live up to their “everything old is new again” credo, with the third and latest installment in their on-going series of incendiary live recordings, “Mountain Tracks Volume 3.” Unlike the previous two volumes, “Mountain Tracks Volume 3” is the first double-album compiled by the band,
andbrings together an inspired collection of moments taken from last year’s annual Kinfolk Celebration (Sept. 12 -13, 2003 at Planet Bluegrass in Lyons, Colorado), a two-day celebration for the band’s extensive nationwide family of fans.
If you’ve never experienced YMSB’s singular brand of riff-rollicking Americana, “Mountain Tracks Vol. 3,” is the ideal place to begin. YMSB has shared the stage with everyone from harmonica-shredding Blues Traveler frontman John Popper, to like-minded bluegrass visionaries such as Bela Fleck and Sam Bush. Put simply, “Mountain Tracks Vol. 3” presents one of the most captivating live bands placing their fingers to steel-strings today. Furthermore, the album also serves as a moving tribute to the inspiration behind YMSB’s innovation: Namely, The Kinfolk, or to laymen, YMSB’s uber-dedicated fan-base by way of street-team by way of adoring friends and family. Having a 2-disc document of YMSB beaming live from The Kinfolk Celebration is more than just newsworthy; it’s akin (no pun intended) to Jerry Garcia coming down from the heavens, and gracing his audience with another legendary live album with The Dead.
