This spring, guitarist Brendan Bayliss of the improvisational Chicago band Umphrey's McGee and mandolinist Jeff Austin of Boulder's top-flight Americana unit Yonder Mountain String Band join forces as 30db. 30db releases their new album, One Man Show, on May 11, 2010. The band, which tours select cities throughout the month of May, also features Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi All Stars on drums, percussion, and keyboards; Nick Forster, guitarist for the groundbreaking newgrass group Hot Rize and host of the syndicated radio show "E-Town"; and highly sought after player/producer and Open Road bassist and Eric Thorin. The list of currently confirmed tour dates is included below.
A visceral and personal album, 30db's One Man Show is a moving account of busted relationships. Within months of each other, long-time friends and tour mates Jeff Austin and Brendan Bayliss both witnessed the end of long-term relationships.
Austin recalls, "Sometimes emotionally and personally, there's a lot of stuff going on, and we both had that happen at the same time. We started talking pretty often at that point, just to help each other through it, because we were going through the same personal situation. We were both able to understand each other – partners in pain, almost. You go through this heavy stuff, and people say, 'Oh, I understand,' but when I reached out to Bayliss, he really understood."
Working from their shared perspective, the two musicians wrote, edited, and shaped the 14 tracks that make up One Man Show together. By turns affectingly subdued and passionately hard-rocking, One Man Show is an astonishing and unexpected collaboration that covers the musical spectru
Current 30db tour stops are as follows:
May 6 Minneapolis, MN Cabooze
May 7 Madison, WI Majestic Theater
May 8 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
May 19 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
May 20 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
May 21 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
May 22 Portland, OR Berbati's Pan