When Adam Aijala of Yonder Mountain String Band was a kid, presents came twice a year: on birthdays and Christmas. So when, at 12, he saw a guitar-and-amp combo on sale for $99, he figured they’d say no; after all, he’d been asking for two years.
But it couldn’t hurt to ask once more, so he did. To his surprise, they said yes—as long as he was willing to take lessons.
He’d always loved music. His dad had some great records: Hendrix, Zeppelin, Bob Marley and the Wailers. The first one he bought for himself was Men at Work’s Business As Usual. But listening was one thing; playing was another.
He began to learn. In time he found punk rock. When he talked to his instructor about what he was into then—the Clash, the Sex Pistols, Black Flag, the Dead Kennedys—he didn’t judge, just asked if he wanted to learn how to play that kind of thing. Aijala did.
In his junior year, he got an acoustic guitar for Christmas. He started smoking weed and listening to Dylan, Neil Young, and The Grateful Dead. There was a metal phase. Different genres, same foundation: a love of what the guitar could do.
In 1998, he ran into some other musicians at the Verve, a local club. They formed Yonder Mountain String Band, a bluegrass/jam band outfit. Twenty-seven years later, they’re still together; on Thursday, December 4th, they play St. Cecilia Music Center.
Some bands last a year or two before combusting; some last less. Making it to nearly three decades is a rare feat, one that requires internal harmony—or at least not extreme drama. It also requires offering something audiences want. On 18 albums, some studio, some live, and on countless nights in countless venues, Yonder Mountain String Band has done that.
Onstage, Aijala does his best to have fun. It’s not that he doesn’t take the craft seriously; he does. “I don’t take what we do lightly,” he said. But he also doesn’t take himself lightly. And he understands that he’s in the pleasure business. It’s great if audiences are impressed, but it’s better if they’re simply enjoying themselves.
When it comes to bluegrass, he and the band respect tradition, but they aren’t shackled by it. “Music was made to evolve,” he said. There’s a balance to be had: you want to respect the past but push forward a little, too. “It doesn’t have to be 1, 4, 5 chords, or whatever.”
They recently finished recording their new album, due out early next year. It’s a mixture of bluegrass, rock and roll, and even alternative; one track has a Dylan vibe. As of the writing of this article, they’d yet to play any of the new songs live, but it’s not out of the question that they will on this tour.
The sense you get talking to Aijala is that he’s an active, physical guy. He always has to be doing something. Sometimes that’s snowboarding. Sometimes it’s joining his bandmates onstage, doing his best to make sure that people leave the show saying, "Wow, that was great. That was such a good time."
The Yonder Mountain String Band
St. Cecilia Music Center
Dec. 4, 7:30 p.m.
https://www.scmcgr.org/concerts/yonder-mountain-string-band-2025
