The String Cheese Incident will preview tracks from long-awaited album at the Festival at Sandpoint

Jul. 27—When the String Cheese Incident named their first album "Born on the Wrong Planet," the Colorado-based jam band couldn't have been more apt. There's no act quite like the String Cheese Incident, which delivers an incredibly eclectic mix of genres.

Rock, funk, jazz, bluegrass, calypso, salsa and Afro-pop are part of the sonic mix.

"We've always enjoyed playing different types of music," keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth said by phone from Denver. "During the early years it felt like we were this weird military operation. We stood out. Moving in different directions has always been natural to us going back to when we started this band."

The String Cheese Incident is going back to its salad days with "Lend Me a Hand," its first album in six years. The group's long awaited project is more song based than jam oriented. "That's how we were when we started out," Hollingsworth said. "It was more about the songs and less about going off in different directions."

Expect to experience two or three new tunes from "Lend Me a Hand" when the String Cheese Incident performs Sunday at the Festival at Sandpoint. The new material is a snapshot of the band's life. Friends such as their close pal Jesse Aratow, who was part of the group's management team, have died, and love and loss have inspired many of the poignant tracks.

"We were coming out of a tough time," Hollingsworth said. "We were dealing with the pandemic and some serious loss."

The lyrics wouldn't be overshadowed by the music. Producer Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxayatchee) made certain the message would rise above the sonics. "I can't express enough how much of an impact Brad had on this album," Hollingsworth said. "He knew what we wanted and helped us achieve our goal."

The String Cheese Incident enjoys being all over the place in terms of genre, but "Lend Me a Hand" could easily be tossed into the folk-rock bin. "Everything happened in an organic manner with this album," Hollingsworth said. "It all came straight from the heart."

It's the 30th anniversary of the String Cheese Incident, which also includes violinist-vocalist-Michael Kang, bassist-vocalist-Keith Mosely, guitarist-vocalist Bill Nershi, drummer Michael Travis and percussionist Jason Hann.

"It's a big deal for us to celebrate such a milestone," Hollingsworth said. "Since we started this band, it's always felt like it was us against the world. It's easy to see why since it's so hard to get anywhere in this business. And then you have this unclassifiable band that is our group. What we've accomplished is a dream come true."

Next up is a tour with the iconic Willie Nelson and the release of their 11th album. "It's a great time for us but we wouldn't have this opportunity without our fans," Hollingsworth said. "They support us since they're into our style of music and they like that we switch up the set list. They enjoy all of the surprises we give them and the greatest surprise for us is that we've been doing this for 30 years. Who would have guessed?"