Shipyard brings music for everyone this weekend

When Shipyard Music Festival returns Friday and Saturday, one of the musical acts will involve a unique take on bluegrass.

The two-day festival will again be held on the grounds of Century Casino Cape Girardeau.

Yonder Mountain String Band

Who's in the band and where are you from?

Right now there are four permanent members. Myself (Ben Kaufmann); Adam (Aijala), who also plays guitar; Dave Johnston, who plays banjo. The three of us are all founding members of Yonder. We have a multi-instrumentalist named Nick Piccininni. He plays fiddle and banjo and guitar and mandolin, primarily fiddle and mandolin for the band. We're inviting friends to fill the fifth position with us. For the Cape Girardeau show, we are actually playing with a local guy, Michael Schembre. We're kind of all over the place, but the band formed in Colorado about 25 years ago.

How did you get into music?

As far as playing it, it was from hearing people at the time. I (Aijala) started on electric guitar hearing people like Jimi Hendrix, and hearing/watching "The Song Remains the Same" (from) Led Zeppelin made me say, "Oh, this looks fun." (Kauffman's) father was a musician and music was like a requirement in my house. I was taking piano lessons all the way through fifth grade. My teacher said, "He's not a piano player, he's a bass player." Dave didn't get into music 'til he was in college. Nick grew up playing music. He grew up in rural New York going to super traditional bluegrass music festivals.

Describe your music

We're bluegrass, but it's an evolved version of it, or maybe devolved. It's an offshoot of what someone might think of as bluegrass.

What should audiences expect?

High energy, humor, lightheartedness. We're serious about what we do. But when we're on stage, we're there to have fun.

Biggest moment for the band so far?

In one year, we played Red Rocks, the DNC (Democratic National Convention) with (former President Barack) Obama and the Pepsi Center -- where the Denver Nuggets play — with Widespread Panic.

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For more information on the Shipyard Music Festival, visit www.shipyardfest.com.