Mountain Heart

Bluegrass favorites Mountain Heart paid tribute to the Allman Brothers Band Sunday afternoon, rumbling through the Southern rockers’ sprawling catalog. Arguably one of the finest pickers in Nashville, guitarist Seth Taylor stretched out during “Blue Sky” and “Midnight Rider,” with keyboardist Josh Shilling (on the Hammond B3 organ) channeling his inner Gregg Allman for a rollicking “Dreams.”

Mountain Heart bills itself as a hybrid bluegrass group, of which there are several who have released albums in the last few months. What sets Mountain Heart apart is their instrumentation, notably no banjo or fiddle but piano, guitars, mandolin and dobro instead from the core group. Electric guitars find their way into the mix as well. Also, all four members are contributing songwriters and harmony vocalists. On Soul Searching the band continues to explore their rather unique sound that marries bluegrass, pop, and roots music. The combination of piano with acoustic string instruments is a rather unusual configuration and it sounds just natural and splendid with these players. For more:

The dynamic, virtuosic and ever-evolving acoustic outfit Mountain Heart have never sounded better than on their new Compass Records release, SOUL SEARCHING, out today, Friday, August 10. With deft arrangements and all members contributing to the songwriting, Mountain Heart continues to put their own contemporary twist to traditional acoustic music with the addition of piano (think Little Feat, Bruce Hornsby). The title track, a co-write with Mountain Heart’s Josh Shilling and the The Infamous Stringdusters (featured on their GRAMMY-winning album,Laws of Gravity), captures the restlessness and melancholy of deciding which direction to take in life.

Looking inward lyrically, while continuing to reshape and polish their rustic sound, acoustic roots music virtuosos Mountain Heart take another leap forward with the lush and lovely Soul Searching. No longer the narrowly focused bluegrass traditionalists of old, they’ve evolved while taking care not to stray too far from their original calling.