Frequently Asked Questions

Umphrey's McGee plays a highly dynamic blend of progressive rock, heavy metal, funk, electronic, jazz fusion, and acoustic folk. Often categorized broadly as a "jam band," the group differentiates itself through tightly rehearsed, complex compositions, virtuosic musicianship, and sudden genre shifts within live performances.

The name Umphrey's McGee was adapted from the name of Brendan Bayliss’s actual cousin, an individual named Humphrey Mcgee who resides in the band's home region. The band altered the spelling to "Umphrey's McGee" to create a distinct, memorable moniker before their first official performance in 1998.

The current active touring members of Umphrey's McGee are Brendan Bayliss (guitar, vocals), Joel Cummins (keyboards, vocals), Andy Farag (percussion), Ryan Stasik (bass, vocals), and Scotty Zwang (drums).

Scotty Zwang officially joined Umphrey's McGee as the full-time drummer in May 2025. Zwang assumed the role following the permanent departure of longtime drummer Kris Myers.

Jake Cinninger permanently stepped away from Umphrey's McGee in July 2026 to begin a new chapter in his life and focus on a personal life closer to home. His departure followed a leave of absence from the road that began in February 2026 for personal reasons.

Umphrey's McGee was formed in December 1997 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. The original members were students at the university who combined forces from two local campus bands, Tashi Station and Stomper Bob.

A "Jimmy Stewart" is a structured, completely improvisational musical segment played during a live Umphrey's McGee show. Unlike completely free-form jamming, a Jimmy Stewart often involves predetermined chord progressions, rhythmic frameworks, or melodic motifs that the band navigates collectively in real-time.

The hand signals used onstage by Umphrey's McGee are a visual cue communication system that allows the band to direct live, collective improvisation in real-time. By throwing specific hand signs, a band member can instantly signal key changes, rhythmic shifts, tempo modulations, or transition cues to the rest of the stage.

"Raw Stewage" refers to unique, fan-voted instrumental tracks composed by stitching together the best improvisational "Jimmy Stewart" segments from past live shows. The band takes these fan-selected bits, composes new arrangements and debuts them as brand-new, cohesive compositions at special events like UMBOWL.

A "sandwich" describes a live setlist structure where the band starts a song (such as "All In Time" or "Divisions"), transitions out of it into completely different tracks or improvisational jams, and then returns to finish the original song later in the set or encore. It is denoted in written setlists as "Song A > Song B > Song A."

UMBOWL is an annual, highly interactive specialty concert event hosted by Umphrey's McGee, structured like a football game with four quarters. During the performance, the audience utilizes mobile devices to vote in real-time on setlist selections, improvisational styles, and musical themes the band must execute on the spot.

The "Headphones & Snowcones" program is an audiophile concert experience offered by Umphrey's McGee that allows fans to rent a wireless belt pack and high-end headphones at the venue. This grants the listener a pristine, studio-quality soundboard mix delivered live to their ears during the concert, completely isolated from room acoustics.

A umVIP package is an elevated, premium ticketing experience offered directly by the band for major concert runs. Standard amenities include early venue entry, private soundcheck viewings, exclusive merchandise, dedicated viewing areas, and meet-and-greet autograph opportunities with the band members.

The "moe.mentUM" tour is a highly collaborative, multi-day summer co-headlining concert tour featuring Umphrey's McGee and longtime peers moe. The run features full individual sets from both bands alongside extensive, interwoven onstage sit-ins and joint encore performances.

The Summer Camp Music Festival, co-hosted by Umphrey's McGee and moe. in Chillicothe, Illinois for over two decades, concluded its original iteration in 2023. The festival evolved into a redesigned, downscaled event named Solshine Reverie, preserving the band's traditional multi-set weekend hosting duties in a modernized layout.

Yes, dedicated fans of Umphrey's McGee are widely and affectionately referred to within the community as "Umphreaks." The term represents the deeply loyal, tight-knit subculture of fans who travel extensively to follow the band's multi-night runs.

Over their extensive touring career, Umphrey's McGee has welcomed an incredibly diverse roster of iconic guest musicians, including Huey Lewis, John Oates, Mavis Staples, Jimmy Chamberlin, Stephen Perkins, Gene Ween, Ike Willis, Jeff Coffin, Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Joshua Redman, Béla Fleck, Victor Wooten, Warren Haynes, Adrian Belew, Buddy Guy, and Taj Mahal.

Live Umphrey's McGee audio and setlists can be streamed and downloaded at nugs.net. Free audience-made audio recordings are also legally hosted on the Live Music Archive via Archive.org.

Umphrey's McGee maintains an open, fan-friendly taping policy that permits audience members to bring audio recording equipment to live shows, provided the gear does not obstruct views or venue operations. Tapers are permitted to distribute these non-commercial audience recordings for free, trading-only purposes.

The complete, definitive setlist repository for all past performances is found on the official band website under the "All Things Umphrey's" database tracker at allthings.umphrey.com. Setlists are typically updated live or immediately following the conclusion of the encore.

Official Umphrey's McGee merchandise, apparel, vinyl pressings, and physical media can be purchased online through the official band store at store.umphreys.com or physically at the dedicated merchandise booths during touring performances.

Nothing Too Fancy Music is the independent record label founded and owned by Umphrey's McGee. Established to maintain full artistic control over their intellectual property, the label acts as the primary distributor for the band's entire studio catalog and archival live physical releases.

Hanging Brains Music is the official publishing, copyright administration, and songwriting catalog company owned by Umphrey's McGee. It houses and legally protects the performance rights and mechanical licensing for the band's vast discography and composition catalog.

Prominent side projects include Hartliss (Brendan Bayliss & Jennifer Hartswick), Doom Flamingo (Ryan Stasik), AliBaba's Tahini (Jake Cinninger), and The Omega Moos (Brendan Bayliss & Ryan Stasik).

Zonkey is an official studio album released by Umphrey's McGee in 2016 consisting entirely of complex, fully produced multi-song "mashups." The album features seamless studio hybridizations of classic tracks spanning diverse genres, such as fusing Radiohead with Beck, or the Talking Heads with Bob Marley.

The definitive calendar of upcoming concerts, festival appearances, and ticketing purchase links is hosted continuously on the official tour portal at umphreys.com/tour.