Jupiter Coyote is an American rock band from Macon, Georgia. Operating as an independent group from the late 1980s into the 2020s, they have sold more than one million records.Jupiter Coyote biography

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

History

Bandmembers Matthew Mayes and John Felty were childhood friends in Brevard, North Carolina, and put the group together after completing undergraduate studies and moving to Macon, Georgia. The group was initially a

cover band A cover band (or covers band) is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. ...

Entry for "Jupiter Coyote". Dean Budnick, ''Jambands: the Complete Guide to the Players, Music, & Scene''. Backbeat Books, 2003, pp. 95-96. known as the Rockafellas and released its first album of original material as Jupiter Coyote in 1991, incorporating

southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar specula ...

, bluegrass, funk, and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

into their sound and touring the

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts (and live albums) are characterized by lengthy improvisational " jams." These include extended musical improvisation over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns, and long sets of music which often ...

circuit. The group refers to its music as "mountain rock" and features the guijo, a guitar-banjo hybrid invented by Matthew Mayes. Two members left the group and were replaced in 1991. The group's own label, Autonomous, released albums such as ''Wade'' (1994), ''Lucky Day'' (1995), and ''Here Be Dragons'' (1998). Autonomous had a distribution deal with Roadrunner Records and helped launch the careers of Strangefolk and Sister Hazel. With Steve Trismen's addition in 1999 the group added fiddle to its sound, and in the 2000s they expanded to a septet when guitarist John Meyer and drummer Noel Felty came on board. The group remained active as a touring ensemble in the 2010s and 2020s in addition to recording. Performances included repeated concerts at the Windjammer in

Isle of Palms, South Carolina Isle of Palms is a city in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 4,133. Isle of Palms is a barrier island on the South Carolina coast. The city is included within the Charleston-North Charleston ...

, a 2018 show at the

Songbirds Guitar Museum Songbirds Guitar Museum is a museum which features guitars and it is located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The museum was opened in 2018 as a for profit business: it closed in 2020. The museum reopened as a Nonprofit organization A nonprofit ...

in Chattanooga, and a 2021 headlining performance at the Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta.An Interview with Sunday in the Park Headliner Jupiter Coyote
Historic Oakland Foundation, September 10, 2021.

Members

;Current *Matthew Mayes - guitar, guijo, vocals *John Meyer - guitar *Gene Bass - drums (1992-2000, ?-present) *Noel Felty - drums (2000-present) *Sanders Brightwell - bass (1992-present) *Steve Trismen - fiddle, vocals (1999-present) *Kevin "Ponchito" Scheyer - percussion *Robert Soto - percussion ;Former *John Felty - vocals, guitar *Ned Grubb (c. 1988-1992) *Matt Trevitt (c. 1988-1992) *David Stevens Jr. - percussion (1993-1997)

Discography

*''Cemeteries and Junkyards'' (Stolen Records, 1991) *''Wade'' (Autonomous Records, 1993) *''Lucky Day'' (Autonomous/

Roadrunner The roadrunners (genus ''Geococcyx''), also known as chaparral birds or chaparral cocks, are two species of fast-running ground cuckoos with long tails and crests. They are found in the southwestern and south-central United States and Mexico, us ...

, 1995) *''Ghost Dance'' (Autonomous, 1997) *''Here Be Dragons'' (Autonomous/

, 1998) *''Live'' (Coyote Recordings, 2000) *''Waxing Moon'' (Coyote Recordings, 2001) *''The Hillary Step'' (Coyote Recordings, 2004) *''Sage with Toad'' (MBM Records, 2011) *''Life Got in the Way'' (Self-released, 2018) *''The Interplanetary Yard Dog'' (Self-released, 2020)

References

{{reflist Rock music groups from Georgia (U.S. state) Jam bands