Editor’s note- In one sense Jupiter Coyote is by no means a NEW groove, as the group was gigging throughout the 1990’s . Nonetheless, this is a band that probably is new to much of our readership, and we’re happy to share the good word. So hear you go….

Jupiter Coyote is a Southern Appalachian funk rock band that formed in Macon, Georgia. The two founding members, Matt Mayes (vocals, banjo, guitar, guijo- editor’s note: a guijo is a hybrid guitar/banjo which Mayes crafted himself) and John Felty (guitar, vocals) have been friends since first grade. Drummer Gene Bass came on board in 1989, and bassist Sanders Brightwell joined in 1992. The band went through two percussionists, King Rapa and Robert Soto, before realizing that the trap kit was fine on its own. Although the four members had been playing together as Jupiter Coyote for nearly a decade, they felt that something was still lacking in their sound. They found the missing link in Boulder, Colorado in 1998 – a fiddle player named Steve Trismen.

“What Steve has added to the band is irreplaceable,” says Matt. “The fiddle really rounds out our sound. And he’s no random fiddler – he was the 1989 Telluride fiddle champ!”

And what is their sound? Matt describes it as “jazz, funk, blues, folk, country, and bluegrass all rolled into a giant rock burrito.” Sometimes you want to twirl, sometimes you want to spin yer partner round and round. But one thing’s for sure : you won’t be sitting still for long. And with an average of 250 shows a year, you should be able to catch a show or three. Well, unless you live on the West Coast. Unfortunately, for the time being the furthest west they play is Wyoming.

Coyote released their sixth album, a double live CD simply titled Jupiter Coyote Live, in mid- December. As with most groove-oriented bands, studio albums, although good, don’t do them justice. The live CD is a fat serving of gourmet Coyote for the unseasoned listener, and a healthy appetite suppressant for those of us with long spans between shows. It also marks the band’s return to total independence.

The first four CDs, Cemeteries and Junkyards, Wade, Lucky Day, and Ghost Dance were released and promoted through their own label, Autonomous Records. With the fifth record, Here Be Dragons, they decided to do things differently. “We were gonna give our music to a bigger operation to see if they could expand our horizons because we were only able to get so far as an indie,” explains Matt. “Not that it was bad – it just kinda leveled off.”

So they signed with Roadrunner Records. But they ran into problems almost immediately. “It was implied that with commercial radio you could forget any songs [being added] that are over four minutes long,” Matt recalls. “We thought, great, we’re screwed.” But the record company paid for the album so there had to be a compromise. “You can’t send these guys into battle with a slingshot and that’s kinda what you’re doing if you give them an eight minute song,” he says.

To give the marketing team a fighting chance, Jupiter Coyote dropped some of the verses from what was to be the first single, “Ship in the Bottle.” Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to help. “The irony was, we did all this and they still couldn’t get our single added,” he laments. “Now that’s the same thing to me as painting a three by five picture and cutting off the top third so it will fit in a space on the wall in an exhibit. That’s bullshit! Don’t put on a clown suit for anybody. Play your shit the way you feel it!” There were other problems and the band and label soon parted ways.

The musicians, although slightly disappointed, actually felt a great sense of relief. They’ve become a complete in-house operation band. Sanders takes care of the fan e-mail and the JC announcement, John does payroll and accounting, Steve is the publicist, Gene fronts the gigs, and Matt runs the merchandising arm and books the band with Steve Epstein. They rely heavily on modern technology – cell phones, laptops and the Internet to keep the machine well greased and running smoothly. And their fan base is strong enough that the band can tour (most of) the country and make a living, but it’s never easy.

“I talk to a lot of these younger bands and explain to them how lucky I am to have these guys who love what they’re doing and won’t quit,” says Matt. “I tell them to crawl out on the road and see how hard it is to make a living as a touring band.”

They’re constantly touring and totally self-sufficient, and they’ve managed to sell over 150,000 albums. That’s a pretty amazing feat for a band that is not being pushed by a major label. And considering, as Matt explains, “We’re a destination band. People don’t really gravitate towards us unless they heard something about us from a friend, or saw something then kinda moved in our direction. We’re not blasting down the main medium of communication channels where someone’s just gonna fall on us. You kinda gotta seek us out.”

One of the easiest ways to seek them out is via the Internet. “I like the way this piece of technology has enabled us to get directly in touch with the fans – no record company, no retail, just straight from the horse’s mouth,” he says. Matt also embraces the new MP3 technology. Although the band currently doesn’t have any downloadable music, they do have five trading trees accessible through their website ( www.jupitercoyote.com). There are two analog trees, one DAT and two CD-Rs. He scoffs at the idea of record companies being worried about the MP3 issue. “I’ve always felt weird about putting a price tag on your art, because art truly came from some inspired place,” he says. “For me, it has nothing to do with whether I thought people would like it or buy it. The thing with art is that something was in your soul that inspired you enough to express it.”

And, he adds, “all this technology has put the art back into the hands of the artists and the people attracted to it without suits and retailers trying to get their cut.”

Jupiter Coyote has come a long way since their days of being a frat band. “I didn’t think I’d be doing this for a living,” explains Matt. “I feel good about what we’ve done because I don’t think we’ve bastardized ourselves or jumped through hoops to achieve anything we’ve done.”

For more information about Jupiter Coyote or to view upcoming tourdates, log on to www.jupitercoyote.com.