Heartless Bastards - The Mountain - Alternative - CD

The Mountain will be the 3rd full-length release from Heartless Bastards. Leader Erika Wennerstrom recently re-located to Austin, TX and recruited a whole new band for this album working with producer Mike McCarthy. The Mountain weaves in an adventurous sonic evolution, expanding their 3 piece rock by adding pedal steel, mandolin, banjo, strings, and Erika's transcendent voice. This will be the first release with a notable producer, artist management, and a larger publicity firm.

After cutting their first two albums as a lean but muscular power trio, the Heartless Bastards have grown into a somewhat different creature on their third LP, The Mountain. Vocalist and guitarist Erika Wennerstrom is the only survivor from the group's original lineup, and after leaving behind her hometown of Cincinnati, OH for Austin, TX, she's assembled a new version of the Heartless Bastards. Along with new members Billy White on bass and Doni Schroader on drums, The Mountain features violins, pedal steel guitar, mandolin, and banjo as well as a few guest guitarists, and though this music is still rooted in Wennerstrom's full-bodied vocals and thick, no-frills guitar work, The Mountain is a more introspective and rootsy sounding album than this group has released to date. Wennerstrom has a voice that can shake apart a room when she's of a mind, but she takes a more subtle approach here, slipping in a few acoustic tunes that allow her to explore the softer side of her instrument, and "So Quiet" and "Had to Go" could pass for a new millennium version of the sort of music Harry Smith would dig up on a regular basis. But if The Mountain is a more diverse set than the old Heartless Bastards gave us, it's still rooted in the same emotionally direct songwriting and performing that is this band's trademark, and for all that's changed with the band, Wennerstrom has held on to her core virtues -- this is fierce, heartfelt rock & roll that tells stories you can believe in and lets the music sing out with a power that's all the more compelling for being firmly rooted in the real world. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Performer	Heartless Bastards
Music genre	Rock, Alternative
Music subgenre	Garage
Music release type	Release
Media format	CD
Original release date	2009-02-03
Edition	Standard
Language	English
Number of tracks	10
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Series title	Heartless Bastards - The Mountain COMPACT DISCS
Track listing	The Mountain, Be So Happy, Early in the Morning, Hold Your Head High, Out at Sea, Nothing Seems the Same, Wide Awake, So Quiet, Had to Go, Witchy Poo, Sway
Record label	Fat Possum Records
Target audience	Adult
Composer	Erika Wennerstrom
Songwriter	Erika Wennerstrom
Music producer	Mike McCarthy
Number in series	3
Occasion	All Occasion
Track name	The Mountain, Be So Happy, Early in the Morning, Hold Your Head High, Out at Sea, Nothing Seems the Same, Wide Awake, So Quiet, Had to Go, Witchy Poo, Sway
Duration	50.3 min
Digital audio file format	MP3
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N