A Bach LP that’s cut from a different cloth

Next to Christmas carols, Sousa marches, and the collected works of Bobby “Boris” Pickett, there’s no more seasonal music than bluegrass, which comes to life at the 30 or so major outdoor festivals and scores of smaller events that take place every summer throughout the US.

As I write this, on the day after Thanksgiving, 2019’s bluegrass season is only a memory, and the 2020 season is more than a half a year away.

So I’m cheered to have a bluegrass reissue to recommend this month: the 20th anniversary LP release of Yonder Mountain String Band’s first album, (2LPs, Frog Pad Records, no catalog number). Recorded when the is an auspicious debut: four talented pickers who brought to the genre their own brand of songwriting, with unusual chord sequences and engaging lyrics that went well beyond the “My little darlin’ brings me corn in a jar” norm.