Music of the Mountains: The Yonder Mountain Special Part 2 of 2 with Dave Johnston

Earlier this week, The Mountain-Ear Podcast brought you the first of two interviews with founding members of The Yonder Mountain String Band, the first being with guitarist Adam Aijala. Now, here's the second one, with banjo player Dave Johnston!Yonder Mountain String Band has built a legacy over the last 26 years, and it all started completely spontaneously. The band has primarily focused on bluegrass stylings over their career, but none of the founding members started by playing bluegrass. Dave Johnston didn’t pick his instrument of choice until college when a friend brought his father’s banjo to the University of Illinois. Eventually, Johnston played in his first ensemble, Giblet Gravy, and when he and others split from that group, those members formed The Bluegrassholes.At one point, Johnston invited Jeff Austin to sing and play with The Bluegrassholes. Austin revealed he didn’t play an instrument but did have a mandolin. In response, Johnston encouraged Austin to “play anything, just play fast and loud” at the performance. After the Bluegrassholes dissolved, Johnston moved to Boulder and Austin moved to Nederland. The two played in other Colorado projects, including Johnston’s project Fireweed with Patrick Latella. However, one night in 1998, something magic happened.Read the Music of the Mountains article for Yonder Mountain String Band and both parts of this week's podcast segment to learn more about how the band started with founding members Johnston, Austin, Aijala, and bassist Ben Kaufmann, and how their history has grown with four other people joining the lineup over the last 26 years! Our theme song is courtesy of singer-songwriter Brittney Wagner. Stream her record Better off Dead here. Support the showThank you for listening to The Mountain-Ear Podcast, featuring news and culture from peak to peak! Additional pages are linked below.If you want to be involved in the podcast or paper, contact:Barbara Hardt, our editor-in-chief, at [email protected] Hickman, multimedia producer, at [email protected] Lammers, podcast host, at [email protected] inquiries: [email protected] to our website for all of the latest news. Subscribe to The Mountain-Ear in print and online.Submit local events to promote them in the paper and on our website.Find us on Facebook @mtnear and Instagram @mtn.earListen and watch on YouTube today.Share this podcast by scrolling to the bottom of our website home page or by heading to our main hub on Buzzsprout.Thank you for listening!