Yonder Mountain String Band

Just as Phish and countless other electric bands stepped up to claim the tripped-out-jam-band legacy bequeathed by the Grateful Dead, several acoustic bands have come along to remind us that Jerry was a bluegrass aficionado too. Though the Yonder Mountain String Band is not expressly a jam band -- it mostly plays straight-ahead bluegrass and mountain ballads -- it's found success with the jam-band crowd, thanks to a penchant for occasional long instrumental excursions (and hey, dig that far-out merch table, man).

The Colorado band actually has roots in Illinois, where mandolin player Jeff Austin hooked up with banjoist Dave Johnston in the wonderfully named outfit the Bluegrassholes. After moving to the mountains, they completed the lineup with guitarist Adam Aijala and bassist Ben Kaufmann. Over the course of five albums, they've proved they can play it straight -- concentrating on relatively staid originals such as "This Lonesome Heart" and "A Father's Arms" -- or let their freak flag fly, as on covers of Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Blue Sky" and Peter Tosh's "Legalize It."