RIP Jeff Austin

[m2711c]

​Spent a lot of time having a lot of fun listening to this guy play some awesome fucking music over the years. Hard to believe he’s passed at such a young age.


https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/jeff-austin-yonder-mountain-string-band-dead-obituary-852268/



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[Danno]

RIP. Saw him at Palisade Bluegrass a couple of years ago. Fun set.

[MakersTeleMark]

What a mess. Saw Jeff many times. What a player.

[fastfred]

total bummer to hear not cool
did my year with him and the conservatory, him and my roomate were best buddies since they were both dirty hippies
they listened and talked about the the dead for hours on end and played all kinds of music
to be 18 again

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

RIP. Last time I saw Yonder was Rothbury 2008 w/ Fishman on drums. Saw Jeff Austin Band in April. Could tell the seas were getting rough again though. Was looking forward to the Pine Creek show in July.

[Danno]

anyone have a clue of cause of death?

[MakersTeleMark]

anyone have a clue of cause of death?

A rope I believe.

[Danno]

ouch

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

A rope I believe.

Pretty sad. Dude was tortured. Seemed like he was skiing again when I saw him in Feb, but heard he did have a few years off the slopes. Recently that changed again it appears. He played Mishawaka a month or so ago and was apparently incoherent the whole show. Speaking jibberish and at one point saying something about "coke heads".

[Danno]

Maybe this isn't the right place, but I have a question that maybe nobody has an answer to, but JA seemed like a successful musician. YMSB was certainly successful, and his solo band certainly seemed to be reasonably successful, though perhaps not at the same level. What kind of $ would he make with that kind of path? Because there's a Go Fund Me (or similar) set up for his family, and it seems odd to be collecting donations for the family of the "star" up on stage. But maybe I vastly overestimate what being a "successful" bluegrass jam band headliner earns.

[Phall]

I found an article from 2014 that shows rates, Nickle Creek (only similar band I could find on the list) was 40-60k for the show. DBT 20-30k, North Mississippi All Stars 10-15k. That being said, they have merch costs, fuel costs for the bus, etc, then divided by 4 musicians, etc. I have zero idea of any of this but i'd hazard a guess that a nationally touring act like YMSB would have had contracts, obligations, etc. Id hazard somewhere low 6 figures as the HIGHEST end of an annual income?
Like I said, no idea what i'm actually talking about.

[RockChalk]

Sad stuff - YMSB turned me on to bluegrass and the jam scene in general back in the early 2000s. Some of my fondest memories are of yonder shows during my HS and college years - jeff brought it every time he was on stage.

RIP

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Maybe this isn't the right place, but I have a question that maybe nobody has an answer to, but JA seemed like a successful musician. YMSB was certainly successful, and his solo band certainly seemed to be reasonably successful, though perhaps not at the same level. What kind of $ would he make with that kind of path? Because there's a Go Fund Me (or similar) set up for his family, and it seems odd to be collecting donations for the family of the "star" up on stage. But maybe I vastly overestimate what being a "successful" bluegrass jam band headliner earns.

Much much less than you think. At the height of YMSB they were doing decent, but not getting really rich. Rumor goes that for whatever reason Jeff asked/demanded for more of a share of the profits when YMSB was killing it. He was the natural frontman and brought most of the energy. He WAS the reason they were blowing up. Instead they showed him the door. I'm sure his late night antics were a HUGE part of the problem.

His solo band has never really blown up. They were scheduled to play Pine Creek over in Livingston, MT on a week night in July. Great small venue, but I bet the band walks away with maybe $2-4k for that show? Maybe. He definitely moved the family out of Boulder County/Ned back to Illinois to save some money I would think. No idea what the wife does for work, but I bet money was tight.