Hailing from Asheville, North
Carolina, Town Mountain is the sum of all its vast and intricate
influences — this bastion of alt-country rebellion and honky-tonk
attitude pushed through the hardscrabble Southern Appalachian lens
of its origin. “For us, it’s all about the interaction between the
audience and the band — doing whatever we can onstage to facilitate
that two-way street of energy and emotion,” says mandolinist Phil
Barker. “Whether it’s a danceable groove or a particular lyric in a
song, we’re projecting what we’re going through in our daily lives,
and we feel that other people can attest to that, as well — it’s
all about making that connection.”
Amid a renewed sense of self is the
group’s latest album, “Lines in the Levee,” a collage of sound and
scope running the gamut of the musical spectrum in the same
template of freedom and focus found in the round-robin fashion of
the musical institution that is The Band — a solidarity also found
in the incendiary live shows Town Mountain is now revered for from
coast-to-coast, this devil-may-care gang of strings and swagger.
“This is the sound we’ve been
working towards since the inception of the band,” says guitarist
Robert Greer. “We realized we needed to do what’s best for us.
We’re being true to ourselves. It isn’t a departure, it’s an
evolution — the gate is wide open right now.”
“We’ve always had such a reverence
and respect for those first and second-generation bluegrass bands,
and it was that sound that initially inspired all of us to get
together,” Barker adds. “And that will always be part of our sound.
But, we also need to grow as artists, and as individuals — for us,
that means bringing in a wider palette of sonic influences.”
Formed by Greer and banjoist Jesse
Langlais over 15 years ago on a ridge high above the Asheville
skyline, the sturdy foundation of Town Mountain came into play with
the addition of Barker not long into the band’s tenure. From there,
the group pulled in fiddle virtuoso Bobby Britt and bassist Zach
Smith. And though the road has been long, it’s also been bountiful.