Useful Jenkins to perform at the Yacht Club
The Yacht Club has brought in some of the more well-known bluegrass bands over the years, such as Henhouse Prowlers, Cornmeal, Split Lip Rayfield, and White Water Ramble. This Saturday, the venue will continue that tradition and host Useful Jenkins from Minnesota.
The band started as a group of friends playing music around campfires and attending music festivals together. Eventually, Useful Jenkins started touring and gained a following in southern Minnesota.
Useful Jenkins will perform at the Yacht Club, 13 S. Linn St., at 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $6.
The group consists of Pat Forsyth on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Travis Blunt on lead and backup vocals, acoustic guitar, and didgeridoo, Lucas Volz on backup vocals and mandolin, Ryan Donahoe on backup vocals and acoustic bass, and Josh Harvery on djembe and various percussion instruments.
Most of the band's members have been playing together for many years, but the group decided on the name Useful Jenkins only a few years ago.
In late 2006, Harvey joined the band to play djembe, and in 2007, the band added Donahoe to play bass. Lately Volz says he's been focusing on playing mandolin in the band.
"Since I picked up the mandolin, I really just fell in love with it," he said. "I don't play my guitar anymore."
Useful Jenkins' grassy sound is influenced by the Grateful Dead and Yonder Mountain String Band, which allows it to fit in well at various summer festivals.
"We're scheduled to play 12 festivals this summer," Volz said. "It's really good exposure to play for a lot of different areas in the Midwest."
Forsyth said they encourages people to dance at shows.
"We try to keep a real rootsy feel," he said.
The band played once before in Iowa City at the Blue Moose Tap House with Lick It Ticket. Collin Braley from Lick It Ticket still remembers the show.
"I played with those guys at a few festivals," he said. "It was a good time and fun to see those guys again."
In 2009, Useful Jenkins released the album Fast Eddie. The group made the album at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minn., which was set on a 10-acre lot.
"They got a separate building that houses the studio and an actual house that houses the artists while they're spending their time at the studio," he said.
Forsyth said Useful Jenkins spent eight days there recording the album.
"We were able to focus just on the recording, and we had nothing else to worry about," he said. "I think it was a really good experience to have everybody in there."
Useful Jenkins will perform at the Yacht Club with no scheduled opener, but it will have plenty of music to share with listeners.
"We haven't been through the bars in Iowa for a while," Volz said. "There's probably going to be a handful of tunes that we'll be playing that some people may not have heard before."
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