The String Cheese Incident

Mandolinist and violinist Michael Kang anchors the bluegrass-rooted jam band the String Cheese Incident alongside guitarist Bill Nershi, bassist Keith Moseley, pianist Kyle Hollingsworth, and percussionists Jason Hann and Michael Travis. The ensemble came together in Crested Butte, Colorado, during 1993, and its self-described "sacrilegious mix of bluegrass, calypso, salsa, Afro-pop, funk, rock, and jazz" quickly attracted listeners on the regional club scene; within half a year the group received an offer to open the storied Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Early performances were accepted in return for complimentary lift tickets at ski areas across the Western states, yet mounting demand prompted a more professional approach that soon produced more than 170 concerts annually and led the members to establish their own imprint, Sci Fidelity.

Their first studio album, Born on the Wrong Planet, surfaced in 1997 and was joined later that same year by the live set A String Cheese Incident Live. The following year brought 'Round the Wheel, after which Carnival '99 documented another concert outing. Two further studio releases, It's About Time and Outside Inside, appeared in 2001, succeeded by a series of live documents drawn from the extensive 2003 touring schedule. Also that year the band issued the studio album Untying the Not, which was followed by additional live collections. One Step Closer, recorded in Boulder with producer Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Kaki King), reached listeners in 2005.

After maintaining a demanding slate of concerts and summer festivals, the String Cheese Incident declared an indefinite touring hiatus the next year. The musicians nevertheless scheduled scattered dates in 2007, among them appearances at Bonnaroo and the 10,000 Lakes Festival; in 2008 they performed at the Rothbury Music Festival while also presenting material from their various solo and side projects. The collective returned to Rothbury for its sole joint appearance in 2009 before mounting a summer tour in 2010.

Following several years of heavy road work, the group entered the studio in 2013 with former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison to commit a selection of road-tested compositions to tape. The resulting Song in My Head emerged in 2014. Three years afterward the String Cheese Incident again collaborated with Harrison on the band's seventh studio album, 2017's Believe.