History
The band was formed in 1998 by Steve Gulley, Barry Abernathy, and Jim Van Cleve. Johnny Dowdle was the original bass player. For a short period, Steffey left the band. During that period, Steffey was replaced by mandolinist Alan Perdue. After their debut album, Dowdle left the group, and was replaced by former James King bass player Jason Moore. After Steffey's return to the group, Mountain Heart added virtuoso guitarist Clay Jones to the lineup. In December 2006, the band announced that Steve Gulley would be leaving the group. On January 5, 2007, Josh Shilling debuted with the band at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, TN, and was announced as the group's new lead singer. The group received and astounding standing ovation on the famous Opry stage after Shilling sang one of his original songs. In September of that year, Jones was replaced by Grammy Award winning guitarist, Clay Hess. In December 2007, mandolinist Aaron Ramsey replaced Steffey, making his debut in Shilling fashion on the stage of The Grand Ole Opry. Clay Jones returned replacing Hess in January 2009, joining the band again at the Ark in Ann Arbor, the site of their 2007 (live) recording. Mountain Heart had been with the Skaggs Family Records label since 2002, but signed with Rural Rhythm Records out of Los Angeles, CA for a single record deal. They released their first live recording, entitled Road That Never Ends. This album has been critically acclaimed and highly sought after. A music video for Road That Never Ends was produced by Josh Shilling and landed the group a spot in heavy rotation on GAC and CMT.
Since 2007, Mountain Heart has been on tour with acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Punch Brothers, Marshall Tucker, Travis Tritt, Levon Helm, John Fogerty, Tony Rice, and many more. After playing the Grand Ole Opry over 125 times, winning dozens of awards and legions of fans across the country, and assembling what is considered one of the strongest groups of musicians in acoustic music or any genre, in 2010, Mountain Heart decided to open their own record label. MH Music Group was born and their first ever self-produced/released project "That Just Happened" hit store shelves in the Fall of 2010. The album, which features guests like New Grass Revival front man & current Doobie Brother bassist John Cowan, legendary session drummer Eddie Bayers and guitar whiz Bryan Sutton received high praise from critics, even scoring a prestigious Four Star rating from Country Weekly Magazine.
In January 2012 the band welcomed into the group Seth Taylor, an eighteen-year-old guitar prodigy who has won numerous awards and shared the stage with the likes of Charlie Daniels and his mentor, Brad Paisley. In his second week with the band Seth got to share the stage two nights in a row with one of his guitar heroes, Tony Rice when Mountain Heart shared back to back dates with him in Georgia.
Mountain Heart has grown from a traditional bluegrass into a group that critics describe as "acoustic overdrive" and simply can't say enough about. Hints of rock, jazz, blues, bluegrass, country, and even classical music appears on stage every night these days. Mountain Heart is continuing to pave the way for musicians and music lovers across the world.
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