Artist:     Mountain Heart

Album:     Soul Searching

Label:     Compass Records

Release Date:     8.10.18

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Looking inward lyrically, while continuing to reshape and polish their rustic sound, acoustic roots music virtuosos Mountain Heart take another leap forward with the lush and lovely Soul Searching. No longer the narrowly focused bluegrass traditionalists of old, they’ve evolved while taking care not to stray too far from their original calling.

Around since 1998, its revolving-door lineup spinning almost nonstop, Mountain Heart blends timeless folk and pop elements into a more ecumenical embrace of Americana in all its forms – purists be damned – on Soul Searching. The songs go down easy, although the taste is often bittersweet, as they summon warm, bucolic charm and Southern grace from slightly weathered vocal harmonies and rich, skillfully woven instrumentation. A pretty ride through a rolling, rural soundscape, “In the Ground” overcomes debilitating heartache, as the surging, uplifting hymn “More Than I Am” takes listeners to life-affirming higher ground before lively flurries of wheeling, fast-paced bluegrass in “You Can’t Hide a Broken Heart” and “Curly Headed Woman” oscillate wildly.

While memories of Little Feat’s foot-tapping musical gumbo are evoked by “No Complaints” and its New Orleans vibe, the light jazz-rock fusion and soft twang of “Festival” bring to mind fond recollections of wandering around a county fair at twilight. An expansive, reflective ballad that feels as wondrous as a desert night sky, “Stars” stays with you like an epiphany. And the craftsmanship involved in the instrumental jam “Amicalola Falls,” a remarkably delicate interplay of musical chops and preternatural feel from Josh Shilling, Seth Taylor, Aaron Ramsey and Jeff Partin, is simply stunning. There is a purity to the production that enhances the well-defined mix of steely dobro, acoustic guitar complexities, sawing violin, melodic bass, sumptuous piano and cycling mandolin the foursome and their friends cook up on Soul Searching. Whatever their looking for, Mountain Heart seems close to finding it.

—Peter Lindblad