Town Mountain plays DragonFly March 21
Asheville bluegrass quintet promises high-energy romp

By Frank Ruggiero

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.