Town Mountain Straddles the Melodic Line
Tuning up his guitar backstage at the Reeves Theater in downtown Elkin, Town Mountain’s Robert Greer relaxed into his chair and gazed around the room at the rest of his bandmates just before the group took the stage to a raucous audience.
“There are so many great bluegrass players that have come out of Western North Carolina — it’s impossible to forget the rich musical history from this region,” Greer said. “All of those folks who made that great music continue to inspire our band and what we ultimately want to do and achieve in music.”
Formed in Asheville in 2005 by Greer and banjoist Jesse Langlais, Town Mountain has rapidly risen in recent years. In 2013, the band won the International Bluegrass Music Association Momentum Award for “Band of the Year.” From there, it’s been about seemingly endless tours around the country, all in hopes of breaking through and finding stability in the music industry.
“We’re just trying to carry that legacy of great music from Western North Carolina, and there’s a great responsibility that comes with that,” Langlais said. “And for us, we’re really trying to take the foundation of bluegrass, country and string band music, and put our own twist on it — we’re trying to take this music to the next generation.”
Nowadays, Town Mountains find themselves headlining festivals around the Southeast and beyond. With its latest acclaimed album, “New Freedom Blues,” the group collaborated with close friend and country sensation Tyler Childers for the popular song “Down Low.” That friendship soon parlayed itself into an opening slot for the sold-out Childers and Robert Earl Keen performance last year at the storied Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado.
“Playing Red Rocks felt like when we first played the Grand Ole Opry. It had that kind of significance, where the people in the crowd were really into bluegrass,” Langlais said. “That Red Rocks audience was wild — they know all about bluegrass music. But, to have the stage lights go on and see that place filled up, it was pretty encouraging for the long road we’ve been on.”
Straddling the fine line between bluegrass and country music, Town Mountain is an ensemble that’s just as comfortable playing the neon lights of some back-alley dive bar in some city as they are standing in front of the microphones at a rural community gathering.
“The drive of bluegrass music is always appealing. It can swing like Flatt & Scruggs, but it can also really drive on top of the beat,” Langlais said. “And it’s unique in that it doesn’t have any drums, so the string instruments have to provide that rhythmic foundation, where what it ends up doing is making the whole band kind of like its own drum kit.”
With Town Mountain, it’s about the music, and about finding a way to connect with the listener on deep emotional levels and intricate musicianship.
“It’s amazing how the music resonates with people,” Greer said. “They come to see and hear bluegrass, they kind of know what to expect, and they know a lot of the traditions — it’s all about the energy between the band and the audience.”
And as Town Mountain’s star continues to ascend, the bandmates are continually inspired and awe-struck by the music of the past, this “high, lonesome sound” that the group aims to preserve and perpetuate in the 21st century.
“There’s something really honest and soulful about this music — what you see is what you get,” Greer said. “And it also ties into the whole traditional country aspect of Hank Williams, too, where he sang the stories he lived. We’re singing about what they lived, and how we’re living today, too.”
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From 2020 Down the Road – Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Guide by the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area produced in collaboration with Smoky Mountain News. Story by Garret K. Woodward. Photo by Rob Laughter.
