By Jared Johnson
The group that MTV.com deemed the 'Dave Matthews Band gone bluegrass' is giving fans the opportunity to carry home a concert.
Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band has sold over 16,000 copies of their first two albums and released a live album on June 1 titled 'Live.' The new disc is only available at concerts.
BYU students may recognize the album''s photography from the 2001 Spring Fling said Sarah Champion, administrator of the Shupe Grupe, a group of fans that promotes concerts and other band events. Shupe''s band performed at the end-of-semester campus party in April.
The music on 'Live' was recorded during two sold-out shows February 2-3 at the Junction Theater in Ogden. Six of the 15 songs are not available on the band''s two studio albums, 1996''s 'If I Were a Bird' and 1999''s 'Simplify.'
The previously unreleased material includes a nine-minute version of The Charlie Daniels Band''s bluegrass classic 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' and a version of Kermit the Frog''s 'Rainbow Connection' that leads into 'Banjo Boy.'
This is the first album recorded since Shupe recruited Bart Olson on drums and Jeremy Nielsen on bass. In fact, the band leader said his backup crew is called the Rubber Band because there is an elasticity that allows the group to change members regularly.
Completing the lineup for 'Live' are Craig Miner on the banjo and Roger Archibald on guitar.
Fans may have seen Shupe and Miner perform with Peter Breinholt and Big Parade, another popular Utah act. Breinholt typically turns the stage over to Shupe for one song during Big Parade''s concerts.
Shupe is a member of musical royalty, according to Robyn Nelson, executive director of the Utah Arts Festival. Nelson once said the Shupes are 'the royal family of bluegrass in Utah.' Shupe''s grandmother, father, and uncle formed the Utah Old Time Fiddlers.
In and out of bluegrass bands, Shupe performed with multiple groups while studying communications at Weber State University.