Surprising Ticket Surplus

[BillyBeru]

Here are the songs from Mountain Tracks:

Tracklist Hide Credits
1   Sharecropper's Son
Written-By – C. Stanley*
3:06
2   Keep On Going
Written-By – J. Austin*
12:05
3   My Gal
Arranged By – YMSB*
Written-By – Traditional
5:52
4   Snow On The Pines >
Written-By – J. Austin*
14:36
5   Whiskey Before Breakfast >
Written-By – Traditional
3:02
6A   If You're Ever In Oklahoma >
Written-By – J.J. Cale
6B   Elzic's Farewell >
Written-By – Traditional
6C   If You're Ever In Oklahoma
Written-By – J.J. Cale

   At The End Of The Day
Written-By – J. Austin*
4:38
2   Dawn's Early Light >
Written-By – J. Austin*
11:05
3   Two Hits And The Joint Turned Brown >
Written-By – John Hartford
3:38
4   Raleigh And Spencer
Written-By – Traditional
5:26
5   Good Hearted Woman
Written-By – Jennings*, Nelson*
4:03
6   No Expectations
Written-By – Richards*, Jagger*
10:02
7A   Peace Of Mind >
Written-By – J. Austin*
7B   Follow Me Down To The Riverside >
Written-By – J. Austin*
7C   Peace Of Mind
Written-By – J. Austin*


1-1   Bloody Mary Morning
Written-By – Willie Nelson
3:14
1-2   Coo Coo's Nest
Written-By – John Hartford
3:23
1-3   Town
Written-By – B. Kaufmann*
2:27
1-4   If There's Still Ramblin' In The Rambler (Let Him Go)
Written-By – J. Austin*
3:42
1-5   Steep Grade, Sharp Curves / Ramblin' Reprise
Written-By – J. Austin*
7:05
1-6   Traffic Jam
Written-By – B. Kaufmann*
10:28
1-7   Years With Rose
Written-By – B. Galloway*
7:16
1-8   Winds O' Wyoming
Written-By – B. Galloway*
4:17
1-9   Traffic Jam
Written-By – B. Kaufmann*
4:36
1-10   Holding
Written-By – John Hartford
8:56
2-1   Queen Of The Earth
Written-By – Traditional
3:22
2-2   Train Bound For Glory Land
Written-By – B. Galloway*
3:54
2-3   Little Rabbit
Written-By – Traditional
7:46
2-4   Left Me In A Hole
Written-By – A. Aijala*
5:40
2-5   Old Plank Road
Vocals – Sally Truitt
Written-By – Traditional
3:01
2-6   Deep Pockets
Written-By – B. Galloway*, D. Johnston*
3:54
2-7   Maid Of The Canyon
Written-By – D. Johnston*
3:59
2-8   Too Late Now
Written-By – J. Austin*
6:19
2-9   Yee Haw Factor   0:45
2-10   Kentucky Mandolin
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – Bill Monroe
8:53
2-11   Peace Of Mind
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – J. Austin*
5:30
2-12   Snow On The Pines
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – J. Austin*
8:37
2-13   Peace Of Mind
Cello – Rashad Eggleston
Fiddle – Brittany Haas
Written-By – J. Austin*
4:07

[BuckeyeDog]

I think critically, YMSB sounded as good as ever last year, whether it was with Ronnie McCoury or with the two Sarahs. The latter, at Elks Park, was one of the highlights of the festival for me. The musicianship was better, except for the usual suspect, they just did not have that driving "front man" that people were used to. Ronnie was not much for bantering, the mandolin did the talking for him. Jolliff and Allie Kral are more laid back, too. To me they are just as good, but different. Perhaps because they are more laid back, maybe that has an impact on ticket sales?

[zack_adcock]

 Despite your point, Billy, it seems like they're productively pushing themselves more now than they were the last couple of years w Jeff.. They might be less of a party, but Jeff also seemed to wield a lot of control as "frontman." Ben has a lot of great songs, and along with that many of their oldest.  I really like the direction they're going, though as I posted in another thread, Yonder has never been a primary draw for me when it comes to Telluride and they likely never will be. I do think they'll eventually need to go the way of the Mule and solidify a final lineup, and I think that's likely to be the telltale moment for their future.

[Hot Sugar]

Billy, your post made me think I should revise my statement to say that 75% of my favorite Yonder songs are Ben songs, but then I decided to do some digging.

I went and looked at the liner notes of every album and EP Yonder has available on their website and counted the song writing credits. I kept track of solo credits as well as co-writing credits. Some of the co-writes were with other members of Yonder and others were with songwriters outside of Yonder, such as Burle. I also checked all of the mountain tracks albums for songs that were released on studio albums, too, so as not to give any one member 2 song writing credits for the same song. Here are the results:

Jeff Austin:
Solo Credits - 16
Co-writing credits - 10

Ben Kaufman:
Solo Credits - 13
Co-writing credits - 8

David Johnston:
Solo credits - 11
Co-writing credits - 15

Adam Aijala:
Solo Credits - 8
Co-writing credits - 11

So it is fair to say that Jeff wrote more songs than any other member, but I don't think it's fair to say he was the primary song writer. I like Jeff, and I like the rest of Yonder. I would like to see more Jeff Austin Band shows end up on archive; the few I've seen on there don't impress me much, but I've seen several videos from other shows that blow me away. I think the idea that Jeff is Yonder is ridiculous. Jeff does not equal Jerry or Fogerty or Sam. I never thought of him as the band leader or the driving force behind Yonder. I don't think any one member can take that credit.

The main conclusion you can draw from these statistics is that I'm really bored at work.

[BillyBeru]

Well done, Sugar. My job (yes, I have one) is selling research so I applaud the effort! 

Bottom line for me: Yonder Mountain String Band is Jeff, Adam, Ben, and Dave. The current lineup isn't really Yonder - can never be. I know they are damn good and I know Jeff Austin Band is damn good. Sadly, the old Yonder Mountain String Band is gone...and nothing's going to bring them back (well, that may not be true!).

Comparisons between old and new Yonder just don't make sense. It just don't make no damn sense! It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!

 Listening to: apparently multiple voices/thoughts in the dude's head

[BuckeyeDog]

Billy, is there a rat in a drain ditch? 

[psuruns10]

I loved Yonder with Jeff.  I like yonder with out him.  It though has not effect on my plans to travel 2500 miles.  Albeit this is my first TBF and we had planned 18 months to pull this off.

To some degree the challenge is planning with how "hard" it is to get tickets on day one.  Didn't they sell out in last than an hour?  For someone like me who is planning on flying out, getting a condo (which needed to be booked last June) that can be scary even though I know I will always find a ticket to a show.  To drop condo cash upfront knowing tickets may sell out is scary.

just a thought

[zack_adcock]

^^ Amen to that. The condo game is a hard one to play, but necessary for some of us - especially when we don't come every year.

[phishhead]

I think to some extend the tarp run makes some not want to do the festival as much.

[Hot Sugar]

I think to some extend the tarp run makes some not want to do the festival as much.

Which is why it sells out every year?

[FaceOnMars]

Jeff Austin:
Solo Credits - 16
Co-writing credits - 10

Ben Kaufman:
Solo Credits - 13
Co-writing credits - 8

David Johnston:
Solo credits - 11
Co-writing credits - 15

Adam Aijala:
Solo Credits - 8
Co-writing credits - 11

Nice job!   I think the stats you compiled corroborate that Yonder was truly a group effort & likewise was another situation of "the whole being greater than the sum of its parts" as Billy alludes to.

Even if Jeff wasn't "prolific" (in the sense of penning a disproportionate number of tunes under his belt, or instrumentally far far beyond anyone), his improvisational interplay was a major driving force of what I believe was the band's strong suit ... "taking songs for a different walk in the woods each time" vs. being mostly an arrangement based band.

As to Jeff's banter & being a "frontman", I always thought he was kind of a bit over the top as a "ham" on stage.   I suppose a similar thing about "whole > sum of parts: when Jeff & Sam share the stage ... for some reason, two hams together makes it work far better than just one.

Otherwise:

- As much as I'm not a fan of the tarp situation,  I really don't believe it's a factor ... since nothing has changed in recent years on this front & tickets still sold out within hours.  I highly doubt people were weighing this after having purchased a ticket.   I was actually considering waiting it out a few days after Santa Clara and hit up High Sierra on Thursday / Friday for SCI,  and heard about how their land rush is also pretty competitive -- which is a big turn off for me, but in the end, I realized it's not a make or break aspect of my decision to go or not (rather not going because too much time & $$$).

- Another point to consider:  PB accepts returns, which I noticed there was a re release of 4-day passes at some point earlier in the year.  So, it's possible this aspect allows a safety net for people to buy more tix up front "to be safe".  I'd be curious to see what would happen if PB no longer offered refunds?

I don't think anybody going to poo poo seeing the core crew in Telluride ... and likewise, once you're committed, our minds naturally support such a decision as a matter of human nature.  So, I do find OP's framing of the question in a constructive manner - which some might have been thinking, but afraid to put forth - to be a great constructive question.  As memorable as Winwood and Fogerty were, I'd also hate to see another M&S surge of crazy demand ... it makes things difficult.  So even though I see how there's a happy medium to walk, it still almost seems like a big act fell through at the last minute & the decision was made to simply run with things as they are.

[IMHBTR]

To some extend, I would extent my opinion that the tarp run has nothing to do with 99% plus of the tickets sold.
But I like fish.


 Listening to: Prince Caspian

[immckenzie]

Can barely give our tickets away this year. The Ride Fest (July) is starting to be stiff competition...

[FaceOnMars]

My cousin was a food vendor at Huck Finn this year (and last) and his report was there were fewer people there this year compared to last & he took in about 2/3 the revenue compared to last year.  So, apparently Huck Finn was not a big factor.

As far as The Ride goes:  I think it's a great lineup, but definitely skewed toward the "panic fan" and likewise not sure if there's a huge crossover appeal for bluegrass fans ... so my hunch is that it's not really a factor either.

[Mandhoe]

Let's face it, the lineup isn't very strong this year.  Haven't been impressed with the headlining acts the last few years either, very safe pics.  Huck Finn's line-up is wayyyyyyy better than TBF's, and that ain't right.   

 Listening to: Blitzentrapper