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Town Mountain in the news

Naming rights
Asheville's Town Mountain spreads the good bluegrass word
by Dane Smith in Vol. 16 / Iss. 9 on 09/23/2009

Town Mountain loves Asheville.

So much so, in fact, that they named their band after one of the city's most recognizable natural landmarks. And, says bassist Barrett Smith, they can't stop talking about it. Criss-crossing the nation, spreading their adrenaline-filled blend of aggressive bluegrass and traditional country, it's obvious to the band that people are genuinely interested in their hometown.

"We drive around the country bragging about Asheville, just inadvertently. It's such a great town, and there's so much hype about it that everybody wants to talk about it, especially in the acoustic music world," Smith says. "Everywhere we go, especially out West, the thing we hear over and over again from people west of the Mississippi is, 'If I ever had to move to the East Coast, Asheville is definitely where I'd go.'"
Good grass a'mighty: Town Mountain has been traveling the country, winning competitions and letting people know that Asheville's the place to be.

And for Town Mountain, that's just fine. When they are on tour, these guys aren't just taking their music on the road. Smith says, in their minds at least, they're taking Asheville on the road too, which is why they chose a name that would so intimately link the band with the city in which it was formed.

"We like being associated with it," he says. "We like putting the name of Asheville with our band, and when we travel somewhere, like, say, Portland, Ore., we like to be representing Asheville in Portland. People seem to be into that and they really associate us with Asheville."

Rest assured that Town Mountain is representing Asheville well. From their earliest beginnings in 2005, the band has been winning awards and enthusiastic fans from Colorado to California with their mountain-bred sound and unmistakable sincerity.

In fact, the band's first national tour was an early indicator of just how well-received its seamless blend of traditional and modern elements would be. After weeks of performing in clubs and bars across the western United States, the trip culminated with a spot at the prestigious Rockygrass Band Competition in Colorado. And remarkably, the rookies from North Carolina won.

"I think that's pretty much what really brought the band together," remembers Smith. "Winning that competition gave us a little more leverage, as far as booking and stuff like that, and it gave us a little more of a name for ourselves. It definitely helped solidify our identity at that moment. That became what Town Mountain was all about."

Since then, Town Mountain has been tirelessly spreading their sound and developing one of the most raucous live shows in bluegrass today. And it's working. The constant touring has won the band a hefty national following and slots at some of the biggest bluegrass festivals in the country, including several showcases at the upcoming International Bluegrass Music Awards in Nashville.

But it won't just be the band in the spotlight this time around. Mandolin player Philip Barker will be a featured songwriter at the event, a highly coveted honor, one that the band is quite excited to have bestowed upon one of their members.

And then there are the parties.

"We get selected by different companies and different sponsors who put on the IBMA showcases," Smith explains of the event, "and they go on all night. Festival promoters and booking agents and bookers for clubs, they can all come to the hotel suite and see us play along with people who just want to come and party. And we party at IBMA. It's a huge party, and Town Mountain has a really good time playing and partying all night."

Don't think you can only catch Town Mountain rocking out in the flesh though. While the band has undoubtedly cut their teeth on the road, they've also got two self-released albums under their belt, and Smith believes they're just coming into their own in the studio. The biggest obstacle these days, he says, is coming up with the time and money to record.

"I think in this last project," Smith says of Heroes and Heretics, "we actually became a pretty good studio band, as far as knowing what we want and how to get it. And we have enough material, probably, to do another album right now. But it's so expensive to do it. And thus far, we've really avoided the whole record label thing all together. The most daunting thing about going into the studio right now is definitely the money."

Luckily, fans in Asheville won't have to wait for the band to get in the studio to get a preview of new Town Mountain material. This Friday, the five-piece will be back to play for the city it loves. And that, Smith says, will be the perfect end to a highly successful summer.

"The show that we're most excited about is this next Grey Eagle show," he says. "There's always one somewhere off in the next couple months that's the one that we're really really looking forward to and not really considering what happens after that, and right now, that's definitely the Grey Eagle.

"We're all looking around realizing not only have we not played at home in a long time, but we haven't even really been at home in a long time. It'll be great to actually be there in front of the hometown crowd and get grounded again."

Asheville's Town Mountain visits Randy Wood

by Bill deYoung, The Savannah Morning News

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Lest you think that bluegrass players have to look, act or behave a specific way to be "genuine," direct your attention to the band Town Mountain, the pride of Asheville, N.C., and Saturday's featured performer in the "Pickin' Parlor" at Randy Wood Guitars.

These are young, college-age guys who dress in T-shirts, jeans and baseball caps - in fact, you might initially mistake them for Hootie & the Blowfish.

But this is bluegrass, played - masterfully - on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, banjo and standup bass. Town Mountain's music has a sort of beerhall-cowboy country edge, which makes it a tad less polite than standard-issue bluegrass - woodenly executed at festivals by clean-cut fellows wearing shirts, ties and Stetsons - but much more exciting.

Granted, Town Mountain isn't the only group of very young players exploring Appalachian traditions. But the band's music - their most recent album is called "Heroes and Heretics" - is lyrically rich, and musically adrenalized.

Guitarist, singer and "de facto bandleader" Robert Greer graduated from Wofford College with a B.A. in government; his "Ruination Line" is a blistering state of the union address disguised as catchy mountain music.

Town Mountain's strongest link to bluegrass' illustrious past might be their performance style: They use a single microphone, balancing their three-part vocal harmonies around it. Each player takes his solo by literally "stepping up" to the mic.

And that is delightfully old-school.

Town Mountain - Pickin' the Scene Apart

The Village Idiot/Crankit Magazine

Bluegrass fans have something to hoot and holler about now that Asheville born Town Mountain is touring. They have been out on the road promoting their new CD called Heroes and Heretics which is up to #22 on the Bluegrass charts. The current CD has even been named top Bluegrass album of the year on David Smith’s list from WDUR Radio.

Town Mountain consists of Robert Greer (vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter); Jesse Langlais (banjo, writes a large part of Town Mountain’s original material and sings tenor and baritone); Barrett Smith (bass, guitar, vocals); Phil Barker (mandolin, vocals); and the fiddle players include Josh Goforth, John Garris, Steve Trisman, Don Lewis, Justin Hoffenberg, Bobby Britt, Merl Johnson and Megan Gregory. The fiddle players alternate shows, each adding his/her own unique flavor and style to make the sound interesting, yet complete.

Town Mountain plays DragonFly March 21

by Frank Ruggiero, The Mountain Times

Town Mountain is coming to town, bringing their high-energy, foot-stomping repertoire to the DragonFly Theater and Pub in Boone on Saturday, March 21.

A malted mixture of old, new, borrowed and blue, the Asheville quintet prides itself as a bridge between traditional bluegrass, outlaw country and old-time, with sounds reminiscent of Hank Williams, Bill Monroe, J.D. Crowe and Tony Rice.

“We’re big fans of traditional country music, like George Jones, earlier stuff like Hank, as well as outlaw country, like Waylon Jennings and that kind of crowd,” said Phil Barker, mandolin and harmony vocal. “We’re not as big fans of the new stuff, but more of the traditionalists.”

The traditional sound rings loud and clear on their latest album, Heroes & Heretics, released last October to critical acclaim, even climbing to the No. 22 spot on the bluegrass charts. “People have been taking notice of the album; it’s been really great,” Barker said.

This is Barker’s first appearance on a Town Mountain album, having joined two years ago after the band had released its first album, Original Bluegrass and Roots Country. The band was founded in 2005.

Part of the album’s appeal is its uncanny resemblance to a live recording, even though it was recorded in a studio with band members playing separately.

“It’s a lot of high-energy bluegrass, the kind way play live,” Barker said. “We didn’t play live at the same time, but we try to keep as many people playing at the same time as we could – not the whole band, but maybe two or three.”

Band members include Robert Greer on guitar and lead vocals, Barrett Smith on bass and harmony vocals, Annie Staninec on fiddle and Jesse Langlais on banjo and harmony vocals.

And while tradition plays prominently in their music, Town Mountain’s writing touches on relevant and familiar modern-day issues. “Ruination Line,” written by Barker, touches on the hardships faced by everyday Americans in the early 21st century.

“That song was actually inspired after I was turned down for health insurance for the third time, and I’d just recently lost a job, and I was trying to play music for a living and not doing so well at the time,” Barker said. “This was a response from that general emotion of feeling kind of left behind, which is kind of frustrating with the way things are working in the world.”

Barker acknowledged there is still hardship involved in both making music and making a living, so the song translated easily for the bluegrass style.

“It just comes naturally from the songwriting,” he said. “We try to, as far as I’m concerned, write about things we’re actually going through. We can’t always write about trains and some of the older topics that tend to get run over again and again; it just kind of comes naturally with the songwriting.”

Though the bulk of the album consists of original material, Town Mountain finds room to add a couple covers, one somewhat unexpected. Heroes & Heretics features an expert cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire,” along with Townes Van Zandt’s “Snowin’ on Raton.”

“We’re big fans of both those guys,” Barker said. “The Springsteen cover, I’m not really sure where we got it from, but we started playing it in practice and just liked the way it felt and decided to put it on the record.”

As for Van Zandt, Barker called the tragic singer-songwriter one of his favorites, and while “Snowin’ on Raton” may not be well known as some of his others, “It’s one of his best, I think.”

No strangers to Boone, Barker is hoping Town Mountain’s upcoming show will be one of their best. They’ve played a couple times at Murphy’s downtown, but DragonFly offers a new venue they’re excited to try.

The show starts at 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, and local favorite Boss Hawg is opening.

“And I’m sure they’ll be joining us on stage at some point,” Barker said. “One of the good things about bluegrass music is it’s real communal, and you end up jamming with everybody. It’s going to be a high-energy, rowdy show, I can guarantee you that.”

Tickets cost $6 and are available at the door. For more information, visit www.townmountain.net or www.dragonflytheater.com. The DragonFly Theater and Pub is located at 215 Boone Heights Drive.

Town Mountain Heroes and Heretics

by Jason Rooks

December 18, 2008

Town Mountain is an electrifying young bluegrass band from Asheville, North Carolina that burst into the limelight after winning the Colorado Rockygrass Festival’s coveted band competition in 2005. Since then, they have toured the nation extensively honing their bluegrass sound while earning new legions of fans with their high energy live shows. With their newest release, Heroes and Heretics, Town Mountain blends their fresh, but old as the hills, bluegrass sound with original honky-tonk songwriting. This alone brings them to the forefront as one of the top young bluegrass bands today. The strength of the band lies in its primarily original material composed by the trio of vocalist/ guitarist, Robert Greer; banjo player, Jesse Langlais; and mandolin player, Phil Barker.

On tracks like Leavin Montana and Ruination Line hard driving banjo mixed with Greer’s whiskey soaked vocals give them a traditional but fresh sound. My favorite track of the album is Black Eyed Susan which bassist, Barrett Smith, lends his vocals over a high lonesome fiddle with an irresistible hook. It makes this one of the best original bluegrass songs of the year for me. Phil Barker’s instrumental, Picket Ricket displays lightning fast fret work by Barker and his bandmates proving that the band can pick as well as write great songs. Throw in a few untraditional covers with a bluegrass twist by Bruce Springsteen (I’m on Fire) and Townes Van Zant (Snowing on Raton), and you have a refreshing new spin on music that makes this album a must have for music fans. With original songwriting and an innovative new bluegrass sound, Town Mountain has all the right ingredients to become the newest young bluegrass band sensation.

Town Mountain Comes to Town

by Jim Newsom, The Portfolio Weekley, Norfolk, Virginia

Tuesday, Mar. 27, 2007

When David Grisman brought his Quintet to the Granby Theater last November, folks who came to hear Grisman’s "dawg music" blend of bluegrass and jazz were pleasantly surprised by the energy, enthusiasm and spirited good timeliness of the opening act, Town Mountain, from Asheville, N. C.

Greer, who brings his band to his dad’s school for a concert Friday night, then travels over the Bay Bridge-Tunnel for a Sunday afternoon show at the Palace Theatre in Cape Charles, grew up with an eclectic soundtrack at home.

My parents liked all sorts of music," he said. "They’re big classical music fans. But Dad, in particular, loves country music. When I was a little boy, they’d have parties at the college he was working at, and a lot of times there’d be a bluegrass band playing. Dad had a lot of influence on that I’m sure. I wasn’t submersed in it by any means, but I’ve been around it.

"Pretty much everybody in our band is that way—they didn’t grow up around bluegrass and most of us didn’t grow up playing music. Our bass player, Barrett Smith, is the guy who’s been playing the longest. He’s actually a lifelong guitar player. He was a classical guitar major at UNC—Chapel Hill. We’re completely underutilizing the guy!"

One of the band’s most immediately obvious trademarks is their one-microphone style of singing and playing. It’s like watching the old Martha White Flour Hour, with the five Town Mountaineers leaning in to sing those sweet bluegrass harmonies, then backing away to let each instrumental soloist step forward.

Running that one mike is easier to get a better mix," Greer explained. "It’s less hassle. You don’t have to use monitors, so you don’t have as much hardware to carry around. You’re right there in each other’s faces when you’re singing, so you can hear each other and hear exactly what’s going on.

"And it’s the old school way of doing it. That’s something that’s real appealing to all of us, with the swooping in and weaving in and out of each other. It’s kind of a choreography going on. You know, it’s boring being glued to one microphone all night long, not being able to move around. So this frees that up."

Greer and his band mates are constantly expanding their repertoire.

"All of the songs on our CD except one were written by somebody in the band. There was a period a couple of years ago when I had just broken up with a girl and I went on a tear, four songs in 24 hours. They would just be poems, basically, and I’d give them to Jesse our banjo player. And sometimes he would come up with chord progressions that I liked, and then I would do the rest. It really helped working with somebody else. And we’ve done a little of that since."

They’re planning to record the two gigs this weekend for a possible live album. And they continue to grow their audience through the Internet and live concert appearances.

"Playing and performance is the name of the game. We really are trying to stay away from the stereotypical bluegrass path. That means staying away from a lot of those regional bluegrass festivals. We’re interested in playing festivals that have a more eclectic collection of music—we want to be the only bluegrass band surrounded by a bunch of rock’n’roll and jam bands. We’re talking with the Northwest String Summit people about going out to Oregon and playing this summer.

"We’re still trying to figure it out and working real hard. If you know any booking agency that wants a bluegrass band to take on, tell ‘em about us!"

Town Mountain at El Burrito

by Elizabeth Renedo, the Free Times, Columbia, South Carolina

Saturday, October 22, 2006

Each July, the country’s best and brightest traditional musicians get together in Lyons, Colorado for the Rockygrass Bluegrass Festival where they develop their skills and compete for some of the most prestigious titles in bluegrass music. In recent years, the Rockygrass band competition has developed a reputation for being a springboard, propelling the most deserving and talented young bands (Yonder Mountain String Band, Steep Canyon Rangers, among others) into the national limelight. 2005 winners, Town Mountain, are no exception to this rule. They will be bringing their blistering hot brand of bluegrass and country music to Columbia Saturday night, performing out back at El Burrito.

Based in Asheville, NC, Town Mountain produces some of the finest “original bluegrass and roots country” being made today. The lineup consists of musicians who have racked up numerous individual honors in addition to those they have earned together. Robert Greer, the splendidly booming voice of Town Mountain, was named Western North Carolina vocalist of the year in 2003. Much decorated fiddle player, Josh Goforth was even starred as Fiddlin’ Will in the 2000 Sundance Festival-featured movie “Songcatcher.” Rounding out the band are Jed Willis on mandolin, Jesse Langlais on banjo and Columbia native Barrett Smith on bass.

IBMA Showcases

Nashville, Tennessee

2005

This year at the International Bluegrass Music Association, Town Mountain will be show cased in two of bluegrass music’s’ circle of friends, the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society and Magnolia State Bluegrass Association. Town Mountain is very excited to be there this year; this is their first appearance at IBMA as a band. Check our schedule page to find out times.

Asheville Bluegrass Band Wins Presitigious Competition

by Michael Thornhill, Mars Hill College

Asheville-based bluegrass band Town Mountain took home top prize last weekend in the band competition at the 33rd annual RockyGrass Festival in Lyons, Colorado. The contest pitted twelve bands from across the United States, vying for a first prize of cash, instrument supplies, and an invitation to perform a full set at next year’s RockyGrass.

Town Mountain members describe the band as a “straight ahead” traditional bluegrass band, with tunes ranging from classic George Jones ballads to standard and original bluegrass numbers. The five members of Town Mountain are Robert Greer, guitar and lead vocals; Jed Willis, mandolin; John Garris, fiddle and vocals; Jesse Langlais, banjo and vocals; and Barrett Smith, stand-up bass and vocals.

RockyGrass is one of the elite traditional bluegrass festivals in the world. This year’s RockyGrass was held July 29-31, 2005, along the banks of the St. Vrian River in Lyons, Colorado. Performers included Doc Watson, the Del McCoury band, Ricky Skaggs, Allison Krause and Union Station, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice. Previous winners of the RockyGrass band competition include the Steep Canyon Rangers, Yonder Mountain String Band and Hit and Run Bluegrass.