Steve Kimock Band

Driving onto Marvin's Mountaintop for the first time, I was overwhelmed at the beauty of the place. Now I'd heard plenty of tale about this legendary site, but couldn't have prepared myself for the natural wonder that awaited me and thousands of other music lovers and good-doers this eleventh annual holiday of jam, the much anticipated All Good Music Festival & Campout.

So, I like axe-welders…here’s one who can truly be called The Man! Well, there’s a reason he was nicknamed Eu De Mon by his late friend, Doug Greene. These nine tracks are the first studio excursions of the Steve Kimock Band. Hard to believe it’s been five and a half years for this lineup and nary a studio track: Kimock on guitar, steel guitar, mandolin, ukulele, Rodney Holmes on drums, Alphonso Johnson on bass, Mitch Stein on guitar and Jim Kost on keys. Holmes also serves as Kimock’s co-producer, occasional writing partner and persistent sonic foil on track after track where tone and colors are applied with equal feel towards improvisational eudemonica.

I had the pleasure of attending All Good Music Festival at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, West Virginia in July of 2004. It was a weekend I will remember forever. I got the opportunity to watch as Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon jammed backstage to and with anyone that would play or listen. I also sat and enjoyed my coffee the next morning as Jon Fishman of Phish and Jazz Mandolin Project recounted a trip to Hawaii in which he peered through a healing fountain’s waters giving him momentary 20/20 vision. Needless to say, when I found a copy of the All Good DVD in my mailbox this past fall I was more than anxious to relive moments from one of my favorite festivals of the year.