The Yonder Mountain string band is preparing for the New Year’s Eve concert in Aspen

The band’s co-founder, Jeff Austin, who left Yonder Mountain in 2014, died suddenly in June at the age of 45. The band, their fans and the progressive bluegrass community paid tribute to Austin last month at a charity concert at Broomfield’s 1stBank Center.

The show featured everyone from the bluegrass scene where Yonder Mountain flourished since its founding in 1998. Railroad Earth and Leftover Salmon were there, the Infamous Stringdusters and the Travelin ‘McCourys, Bill Nershi and Noam Pikelny, Hot Rise and Sam Bush.

“I enjoyed being greeted on stage the way we were,” Yonder Mountain banjo player Dave Johnston said in a recent phone interview from his home in Boulder. “It simply came to our notice then. I think the Yonder Mountain rope band could have been more important than any of us could have wanted. ”

Austin, he said, would have been pleased with the nightly performances of his musical community.

“These are terrible circumstances in which you come to these accomplishments,” Johnston said. “But I think Jeff would have been happy to know the impact of which he was a part.”

When Austin left the band, Yonder Mountain chose to evolve: try some more traditional bluegrass configurations than his early experimental years and some more structured compositions, evidenced on his 2015 album “Black Sheep” and “Love” from 2017. It’s not love. “

Johnston said the band’s creative process has shifted to focus on songs to tap into their improvisational roots.

“One of the wonderful and terrible things about the original band was that you never knew what would happen from measure to measure,” Johnston said laughing. “Everyone was freestyling everything. … What was lucky was that you could count on everyone, more or less, to help you have a good experience. “

They have hung on to the curiosity and creative spark of those early wild years, while part of the chaos reigned. As they mature and members have evolved, they have tried to cling to this freewheeling spirit by imposing a certain structure on the process.

“We’ve found a way for the parts of the pants seat to come out in the project and we can refine it to the more structured part,” he explained.

For the New Year’s Eve show, of course, they are planning a big and enjoyable set for people who get there until midnight.

“All bets are off,” Johnston said. “We have some things in works that are not the usual ones. And a big part of having a successful New Year’s program is having a list that connects with people and has an upward movement, an uplifting element. ”

Although Yonder Mountain plays Aspen regularly, the holiday program marks the first time the band returns to Wheeler since the old days of the 7908 Songwriter Festival, when they became involved with John Oates. They have turned Belly Up into their Aspen site in recent years.

And while it has changed a lot for Yonder Mountain, the band’s brilliant ability to play distant cover songs remains the same. Recent shows have included five-part bluegrass arrangements of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” and Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop”.

Finding covers is an alchemical process for the band. When they connect with a song, regardless of genre, they know they can make it work in a string band chord.

“These songs have an emotional echo with all of us, one way or another, so they’re easy to choose from,” he said. “There is only one component that is mysterious, fresh and magical. … We know that a cover song will stay when everyone feels that way. “

Looking ahead to the 2020s, Johnston said devout fans of the band should expect great things from Yonder Mountain.

“I feel like we’re at the peak of a creative breakthrough,” he said. “I have been writing constantly. There’s definitely a lot of new music starting to seep in, and I wish they’d like some things to get them through. “

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