Umphrey's McGee

Who Are They?

Umphrey's McGee are an American progressive jam band formed at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, in 1997. They are the band that answered a question nobody had quite asked: what if the improvisational freedom of the jam world were handed to musicians raised on Frank Zappa, Genesis, and thrash metal?

The result is a sound with two speeds that somehow run at once. The composed sections are intricate, tightly arranged, and genuinely difficult, full of odd meters and stacked guitar harmonies. Then the arrangement drops away and the band improvises in the open for ten minutes before snapping back to the chart as though nothing happened.

They are, in other words, a prog band that jams, and the distinction matters. Where much of the scene improvises toward looseness, Umphrey's improvises toward precision.

The Story

Nearly thirty years, one relentless touring schedule, and a lineup that held remarkably steady until it did not.

1. 1997

   The band forms at Notre Dame

   Guitarist and singer Brendan Bayliss, keyboardist Joel Cummins, bassist Ryan Stasik, and drummer Mike Mirro start the band in South Bend, Indiana. Percussionist Andy Farag joins the following year.

2. 2000

   Jake Cinninger joins

   The arrival of the second guitarist changes everything. The twin-guitar interplay between Cinninger and Bayliss, one leaning metal and modal, the other melodic and vocal, becomes the band's signature for the next twenty-six years.

3. 2004

   Anchor Drops

   The record where the identity locks in. Composed suites, sharp songwriting, and open improvisational space sit side by side, and the live catalog it feeds is still the heart of the show.

4. 2009

   Mantis

   The most deliberately progressive album they made, a densely arranged record that leans all the way into the prog side of the equation.

5. 2016

   ZONKEY

   A full album of mashups, splicing songs from wildly unrelated artists into single coherent tracks. A joke that turned out to be a genuinely serious display of arrangement skill.

6. 2025

   Kris Myers departs, Scotty Zwang arrives

   The drummer who had held the chair since the early 2000s resigns in May. After an interim stretch shared with Duane Trucks of Widespread Panic, Scotty Zwang is named the permanent drummer.

7. 2026

   Jake Cinninger leaves after 26 years

   Following a leave of absence for personal reasons that began after a February show in Washington, D.C., the band announces on July 7 that Cinninger has departed. He thanks fans and bandmates for the years of music in a statement days later. The band continues.

Start Here

Three videos, one studio single and two live performances, are the fastest way into what this band does. Watch in order.

The Albums 5 to start with

Umphrey's are a live band first, so the studio records work as the songbook: the written source material the improvisation is launched from. Start with these five.

Playlists

One curated YouTube Music playlist of Umphrey's McGee essentials, the written songs before you go chasing the live tapes.

The Band

For most of their history Umphrey's were a six-piece built on two guitarists trading roles. The last two years have reshaped that lineup significantly.

• Brendan BaylissGuitar / Lead VocalsFounding member and the band's lead voice, the melodic and lyrical center
• Joel CumminsKeys / VocalsFounding member; the harmonic glue and the band's textural range
• Ryan StasikBassFounding member; the anchor holding the odd meters together
• Andy FaragPercussionJoined in 1998; the extra rhythmic layer under the kit
• Scotty ZwangDrums / VocalsNamed permanent drummer in 2025 after Kris Myers resigned that May

Influences

Umphrey's sit at an unusual crossroads: the improvisational tradition of the jam world crossed with the composed ambition of 1970s progressive rock and the attack of 1980s metal.

Interviews

Two interviews: the band talking through a record, and a hometown look back at nearly thirty years.

Going Deeper

Umphrey's built one of the deepest live archives in the scene, and the studio albums are only the map.

• The live recordings. The band has recorded and released shows for decades; the improvisational stretches are the reason the catalog exists.
• "Jimmy Stewart." The band's own name for a fully improvised passage invented on the spot, often built into a composed song and sometimes given lyrics live.
• Frank Zappa and Phish: the two poles the whole approach sits between.
• The mashups. Start with ZONKEY, then look for the one-off live mashups that never made a record.

Related Guides