Yonder Mountain String Band

Music Fests Like Coachella Drive Concert Sales to New Heights

Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Weekend

Who's excited for the Instagram pictures Questlove is going to post of Phoenix this weekend? I sure am. The Roots will be in town on Saturday, March 23, to play as part of McDowell Mountain Music Festival, plus, Questo will be dropping a DJ set at Bar Smith afterward. That's sure to yield some good ... More >>

Heartless Bastards: Songwriter Erika Wennerstorm Aims for "Clint Eastwood-meets-Nancy Sinatra" Sounds

Timberlake-style audacity aside, it takes some serious stones to open an album with a six-minute-plus slow burning anthem. But that's what Erika Wennerstrom does with "Marathon," the opening track of her band Texas-via-Ohio band Heartless Bastards' 2012 opus, Arrow. See also: -Questlove of The Ro ... More >>

Questlove of The Roots Is So Much Better at Instagram Than You

Of all the stupid things we do with our phones, Instagram might be the worst. Not only has the app falsely convinced us all we're professional photographers, but it's done something even worse: It's encouraged our worst vainglorious tendencies. No one is Amaro-toning his or her real life. There are ... More >>

Yonder Mountain String Band: Bluegrass for People That Don't Like Bluegrass

"I don't feel at all that we have made it in the bluegrass world. We exist on the fringe at best," Yonder Mountain String Band bassist Ben Kaufmann lamented back in 2003. "The bluegrass music we are writing is different than the other bluegrass music that is out there. I think it is going to take pe ... More >>

McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2013 Announces Local Lineup Featuring Kongos, Fayuca, and More

McDowell Mountain Music Festival's 2013 lineup, featuring The Shins, The Roots, Deer Tick, Les Claypool's Duo de Twang, and more, has expanded to include a host of local Phoenix-based acts. The weekend festival will now Kongos, Mergence, Banana Gun, Fayuca, The Veragroove, Yellow Minute, Decker, and ... More >>

Trampled by Turtles Slow Down Their "Speedgrass" -- Sort Of

The Shins and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes Added to the Expanding McDowell Mountain Music Festival Lineup

The quickly expanding lineup of McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2013 has added two more big names to the roster: The Shins and Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes. The 2013 installment of the festival is looking to have the most impressive lineup in MMMF history, as The Shins and Sharpe join Th ... More >>

Top Five Phoenix Music Stories of the Week

The news waits for no one -- at least that's what we read somewhere -- so it's perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of our biggest stories f ... More >>

The Blasters, Down, Coheed and Cambria, and More Just Announced Shows

The Blasters will be hitting The Rhythm Room on Saturday, December 15th. They'll no doubt be pushing their latest album, Fun on Saturday Night, a 12-track joyride through rockabilly and blues territory. The album also includes a June Carter Cash cover of "Jackson" with X's Exene Cervenka. After thir ... More >>

Les Claypool's Duo de Twang and Deer Tick Added to McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2013

Do you hear that? Off in the distance? It's the sound of a bass guitar being slapped. Furiously slapped. That's kinda what Les Claypool (Primus, Oysterhead, Frog Brigade) does, and I'm betting that's what he'll be doing with his Duo de Twang (Claypol plus MIRV) on Sunday, March 24. The act has been ... More >>

Top Five Phoenix Music Stories of the Week

The news waits for no one -- at least that's what we read somewhere -- so it's perfectly understandable that you, the reader, might have missed out on a musical tidbit, breaking news about your favorite venue, or one of our rants. So enjoy this digest-style sampling of some of our biggest stories f ... More >>

McDowell Mountain Music Festival 2013: The Roots, Dr. Dog, Heartless Bastards; New Location

When The Compound Grill closed in April, 2012, it set the future of the McDowell Mountain Music Festival, which had taken place there since 2010, in uncertain light. See also: Compound Grill Closes See also: All New Times McDowell Mountain Music Festival Coverage Of course, the festival (winner o ... More >>

Dead Winter Carpenters: Not Your Typical Virtuoso Punky Bluegrass Combo

Dead Winter Carpenters are another group of virtuoso musicians toiling in bluegrass obscurity. But it shouldn't--and won't always--be that way? Though it would be easy to write this band off as another Yonder Mountain String Band or Trampled by Turtles knock-off giving a punk spin to tradgrass as t ... More >>

Six New Times Contributors Name Their Top 10 Records of 2010

Yonder Mountain String Band

Meat Loaf, Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, and More in This Week's Issue

Meat Loaf for President in 2012?​This week's music feature is on Meat Loaf. The chatty singer just released his 11th studio album, but had lots to say on other subject matters as well. Like for instance, what he would do differently if he were president. (Something rockstars consider often, I'm su ... More >>

Yonder Mountain String Band, "This Train Is Bound for Glory" (Live in Flagstaff)

​Song: Yonder Mountain String Band, "This Train Is Bound for Glory" (Live in Flagstaff) Context: My train is bound for Flagstaff's beer festival this weekend. This Train Is Bound For Glory by stray-hound

This Week's Day-by-day Picks

Bubba Sparxxx

Deliverance (Interscope/Beat Club)

Jam Land

Local improv musicians converge on Sail Inn for 4:20 Fest. Sedona may lie in their future.

The Grass Is Greener

While stretching the boundaries of old-timey bluegrass, Yonder Mountain String Band has reached a peak