Charlottesville - The lure of good music is like a drug.  It is a never-ending quest to add to the playlist in our heads.  A new band, a great song, an older band that you somehow overlooked - the MP3 player in my head (ok, I don’t actually own an MP3 player, but I was wary of referencing an eight-track player) is already on overload but still beckons for more.  Scanning the list of upcoming shows for the Charlottesville area recently, I saw that Big Daddy Love would be performing at the Southern Café and Music Hall for the afterparty of the Yonder Mountain String Band’s performance at the Jefferson on February 16.  I had first heard Big Daddy Love at FloydFest last year.  I fell in love with their sound, and have listened to their debut EP repeatedly.  Based in North Carolina, I believe this may have been their Charlottesville debut, so it was a good opportunity to see them close to home.  Rarely does the opening act or the band performing at the afterparty dictate checking out the main act, but that is exactly what transpired that night.  I had heard good things about the Yonder Mountain String Band, but was unfamiliar with their music.  Figured, “What the hell?”, I might as well make a night of it and take in both shows.  In doing so, I owe Daniel Justin Smith and Big Daddy Love a big “Thank You.”  Not surprisingly, I enjoyed their music.  They are a band we will hear a lot of in the future.  But because I wanted to give them a listen, there is a new folder in that imaginary music machine in my head.  Welcome to the club, Yonder Mountain String Band.

This concert took place on “The first day of the last week of a four week tour.”  The performance was more in line with a show at the very beginning of a tour.  The energy on stage was non-stop.  Jeff Austin is a beast on stage.  I have never seen anyone attack the strings of a mandolin quite like he does.  Dave Johnston played the banjo with a soft cast on the ring finger and pinky of his right hand.  Unless you happened to be up close to the stage and saw the cast, you would not have known it from the way he played.  He might have missed a beat somewhere during the night, but I didn’t notice it.  Ben Kaufmann provides a steady backbone to the sound with a big bass that thumps in perfect rhythm.  Adam Aijala’s performance on acoustic guitar was steady and consistent.  He was where he had to be, and at times you may not have noticed him, but he wasn’t playing to be noticed, he was providing a perfect melody to each song.  While Austin provides most of the vocals, all four contribute throughout the show.  Collectively, their styles mesh in a near perfect unison.

Not counting the twenty-five minute break they took, the concert lasted close to three hours.  If there was anyone in the audience not having a good time, I couldn’t see them.  Dancing, smiling people were pressed up to the stage, energy bouncing off the walls of this hallowed theater.  Austin commented, “So this is what a Wednesday night in Charlottesville is like, huh?”  Young, pretty women were shaking their hips, dancing with partners who did not share their rhythm, right alongside gray beards who more than likely haven’t moved like that since the last time YMSB passed through town.  And they weren’t just dancing.  There were looks of joy on their faces.  To some it seemed almost like a religious experience.

I took in the first half of the show at the foot of the stage.  After the break, I retreated to the rear section, just above the main floor.  The energy was the same in both places.  The people were dancing in the aisles and swinging on the stairs.  From that spot in the back, the audience looked like a sea of bobbleheads.  All that was noticeable were heads bobbing up and down, keeping in perfect rhythm with the music.

Jeff Austin told the audience, “The reason we play bluegrass is to watch all those beautiful Virginia women bounce around.  There’s a little wiggle out there!”  He should know, he was probably the main reason for all that wiggle.  His energetic style of play brought the crowd to a frenzy on more than one occasion.  As the concert headed toward the finale, the band launched into a jam that felt like it went on for twenty minutes.  They were reaching a crescendo that try as it might, could still not drain the energy from the stage or the dance floor.  I was standing near a middle-aged couple that for one night, at least, was reliving their younger years.  She danced with all the vigor of a teenaged girl, swinging her arms, bopping her head.  Her body appeared restless when the music stopped in between songs, yet full of life when that music was playing.

After they came ba ck out for the encore, Austin said that it had been six years since they last played in Charlottesville.  He went on to say, “I guarantee you it will not take us six years to play here again.”  One got the impression that the band was having as good of a time as the audience.  They performed two more songs in the encore before disappearing offstage for the final time.  As people started exiting the theater, some were still dancing on the way out, the music still ringing in their ears.  A good crowd will always feed a band, just as good music will always feed the hordes.  It seems like the Yonder Mountain String Band and the city of Charlottesville are a perfect fit.

YonderMountain.com

MySpace.com/YonderMountainStringBand