To replace the man Gulley calls “this generation’s great mandolin player,” Mountain Heart looked to VanCleve’s longtime picking buddy, 30-year-old Alan Perdue. The two had been part of Rambler’s Choice, a one-off project on Rounder Records with some veteran musicians produced by Dan Tyminski of Alison Krauss’ band.
“We went through a few mandolin players before we got to Alan, because everybody said he’s a great musician, but he won’t go on the road,” Gulley says with an affable drawl. “He’s got two small children and he doesn’t drink and go in for all the other extra-circular activity [common to touring], and he wanted a situation where he could go on the road and travel with guys and come back and feel good about family life.” He adds pointedly: “And that’s the kind of situation we run.”
Perdue contributes staggering speed and captivating lines to barnburners such as Vince Gill’s “Midnight Train” and Paul Johnson’s “Katy Cline”, and a gentle, bluesy thrust to midtempo tunes such as Jack Tottle’s “Cold Winds”. He and Abernathy favor the leading edge of the beat, which, cantilevered against Johnny Dowdle’s in-the-pocket bass playing, keeps things propelled along nicely.
Dowdle, 26, also was brought in through ties to VanCleve, and his vocal abilities gave the band its third harmony line. He even contributes one stirring lead vocal on Tim Stafford’s “Gambler’s Lament”.
Ultimately, Mountain Heart’s singing is its chief weapon. “Their vocal blend is remarkable,” says Hays. “You find a lot of groups that have one great tenor singer. With Mountain Heart you’ve got any number of vocal options. By the time you’re fifteen minutes into their set, you’ve heard each one of them come to the mike and do something unique and of their own voice.” Moreover, he says, the group took far less time than many bands to find their own sound, especially given that three of them had been schooled in the Doyle Lawson style.
Gulley, the band’s senior member, assumes the frontman role, taking most of the lead vocals and wrapping up the album with a solo, self-penned gospel folk song called “Patching It Up”. He’s quick to credit Lawson with teaching him and Abernathy how to put a band together and make its parts add up to a fulfilling whole. “Doyle’s a subtle motivator,” Gulley says. “His biggest attribute is how to get a bunch of different personalities together and make it gel.”
When the band departs from tradition, it’s less in a newgrass direction than toward a clean, modern folk idiom. “It’s The Love” revolves around a warm, minor-seventh chordal vamp. The poignant “Roses” begins with a delicate set of guitar riffs and climaxes with a lush, descending three-voice chorus. “Bitter Harvest” has much the same vibe, reminiscent of the mellow work for which Lonesome River Band vocalist Ronnie Bowman took home an armload of awards from this year’s IBMA gathering.
As the band heads back into the studio this winter to cut a second CD, they would do well to put more emphasis on variety in their song choices. They might give VanCleve a fiddle tune to stretch out on. They obviously have the depth to muster a killer a cappella vocal gospel number. Mountain Heart’s current album doesn’t have a single tune in a minor key.
That said, having achieved touring prominence right out of the box, Mountain Heart has time to plumb their depths and broaden their palette. They clearly are animated by the profound satisfaction that comes from finding the right band situation after a lot of slogging. Gulley logged 15 years at the Renfro Valley Music Park, where the help would get nudged to “smile more.” VanCleve took a pay cut to be in Mountain Heart. Finding that chemistry is the toughest lock to pick in bluegrass, where musical tastes run strong, where bad band gigs are ubiquitous, where the pay is low even in good circumstances, and where egos and rivalries can muck up seemingly positive situations.
But Mountain Heart, from all appearances, has found that rapport — much of it undergirded by their shared Christian faith — that will let them tour extensively and chart their own musical path. “Everybody in the band feels that way,” Gulley says. “We’re finally getting to do our own music and make it on our own merit. There’s nothing wrong with playing with heroes like Doyle Lawson, but here we’re five individual personalities, and everybody’s vote counts.”
