Yonder Mountain String Band was formed in late 1998, and has become an important member of the Jamgrass musical community, where they draw fans from both the bluegrass and jam band worlds. Their unique progressive acoustic sound, rooted with bluegrass fundamentals, keeps your toes tapping and your body moving as you marvel in their amazing playing. They have established a tradition at Telluride Bluegrass, where they have the Saturday 3 PM slot permanently locked in for some time now. For the second time during the Pandemic, Yonder performed at B Chord Brewery in Round Hill over the July 4rth weekend, and I had the chance to sit down with their mandolinist and multi-instrumentalist, Nick Piccininni. Nick, who is a songwriter and virtuoso on a number of fretted instruments, joined the band about a year ago, and he has stepped up Yonder's sound and performances another full notch (www.yondermountain.com/nick-piccininni/).

SC: What first got you playing and when did you first start performing?

NP: I was always interested in music because my mom's family was really big into music. They all played piano by ear and she went to music school, so I was introduced to it early on. I was never one of those kids that sat studiously at the piano--I didn't want to be taught anything. I just wanted to sit there and bang away. While I was always intrigued by it, I wasn't really serious about music until I was 11 or 12 and my buddy got a banjo. I just thought it was the coolest sound ever. I didn't know anything about bluegrass music. I just knew that I liked that sound. And so I begged my parents for a banjo. My mom basically said, well, we have a piano and I have the ability to teach it to you and teach you theory, so give me a good year of proving that you can learn the instrument and stick with it, and then we'll get you a banjo. So I did that and for my 13th birthday, they got me a banjo and I just fell in love instantly--I was obsessed. I was homeschooled, so I had a lot of time to put into it. It was maybe six months after we found out there was a local jam session and my parents took me to it. I had never experienced anything like that before- it was amazing. I met a bunch of people and one guy said "we need a banjo player". I was 13, I'd been playing for six months and I was thrown up on stage, freaking out. It was crazy how fast it all happened.

SC: I saw you six, seven years ago with the Band, Floodwood. What was it like playing with the band?

NP: Floodwood was probably the most career changing thing that I've done. It changed my whole trajectory and whole view of what music can be-- it tore down a lot of the genre walls. I'd never really been exposed to jam bands or large festivals. I was always playing traditional bluegrass, with smaller and older crowds and I had never thought about playing in a bluegrass band that had a drummer, so all of a sudden here I was put into Floodwood and with guitarist Al Schnier and drummer Vinny Amico from the band moe., where people are dancing and really enjoying the music and not just sitting there staring at you. It was a whole new world. It put me on this track towards where I am now with the Yonder. Without Floodwood, I never would have known about this kind of music or known the people that I got connected with, and they ended up being my connections to Yonder.

SC: How did you land the Yonder gig?

NP: Floodwood was playing at Summer Camp festival a few years back and I got to know Allie Kral, Yonder's fiddle player. When mandolinist Jake Jolliff was not able to make a couple of Yonder's gigs, they needed to get a fill in. Allie saw a video of me playing guitar and said "I thought Nick was just a banjo and fiddle player?" She said to Yonder's guitarist, Adam Aijala, "if he plays guitar he must play mandolin", and Adam nodded asked if I could play fast, so she texted me. The rest is history. It's such a random, strange thing that happened because I was not putting myself out as a mandolin player. And next thing I know I'm getting asked; do you play mandolin? I said, "well, yes, I have a mandolin." So I sent a video of me playing something fast and they were like, yeah, come do some gigs. So I do a couple of fill-ins. And then next thing you know, Jake was moving on and they asked me to go on tour for a couple of weeks. And by the end of the two weeks, they had a talk with me, "we'd like you to come on full time." It was mind boggling. It's not anything that I could have dreamt up, you know? And it just goes to show you that you never know who you're connecting with and getting to know.

SC: How has the pandemic impacted the band?

NP: I think we have tapped into a creative process that what we found to be a better way to create an album. This is my first time experiencing it, but Adam and Ben have said it seems to have helped our creativity. We worked on the new album over Zoom and we sent demos back and forth, which contributed to the full-fledged demos of the songs before going into the studio to record. I thought it was great. It was definitely the most I've ever been prepared to go in studio. And it was just a really neat way to work things out, you know, just dumping everything into a Google drive that allows us to make comments and hash things out when we're at home. That was really cool and was a neat thing that came out of the pandemic. And the other thing is that you feel so grateful just to be on stage again. It's like we all have a new lease on life and definitely on the music--it feels amazing.

SC: Last week you were at the center of the Bluegrass universe in Telluride. Each time I'd been at Telluride bluegrass, you really feel that the energy of the field go up about a hundred-fold at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon when Yonder Mountain String Band walks onto the stage. How was that?

NP: It was a whirlwind, for me. There's something surreal about walking into that. It was my first time ever setting foot in that town. And just looking at the surroundings I thought, where am I right now, you know? And then just getting to walk onto that stage and look out at that view, and the people, it was something I've heard, and dreamt about since I was about 14, when I started playing bluegrass, I heard everyone talking about Telluride and, and the bands that we played with there were talking about Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas being there. And next thing I know I'm standing on stage with those guys and they came and sat in, and every inch of my body was tingling. The adrenaline that I got from it was crazy. It was a huge highlight of my life.

SC: There's a couple of recent Telluride Bluegrass videos of you onstage surrounded by some Telluride greats--Sam Bush, Ronnie McCoury, Drew Emmitt, and Jerry Douglas playing with you. How was that experience?

NP: They were all so gracious. Here I was, not really feeling like a mandolin player per se, and I almost tried to get out of that jam. I said to Adam, "you're not going to make me do this, are you?" And he said "go on, do it, get in there. Adam told Sam and Ronnie, just surround him. I think that is when I kind of blacked out was when that happened, and I played the music with them. Jerry Douglas was a trip. I didn't get to meet him beforehand. Next thing I know he's on stage with me, it was just gripping. And then backstage, he came right up to me and put his hand right out and said "I didn't get to meet you yet." They were all just normal, nice people, that just happened to be some of the most talented bluegrass musicians on the planet.

SC: What does the band think of the B Chord Brewery venue?

NP: We all love this place and the great audiences. We have had a really good experiences here. The staff is just so nice, and that makes a huge difference. It's just like any job-- coworkers can make a huge impact on someone enjoying their job--they love music here and they really take care of you. It has been that mutual appreciation that that makes you want to come back.

You can listen to the B Chord July 3 and 4 shows at nugsnet.com, or download the shows at bt.etree.org .

Steve Chase is playing Yonder Mountain String Band on his porch in Unison.