Customer Reviews

Mountain

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In his liner notes, Steve Earle says his primary motive for writing the songs on this album (he wrote all 14 tracks) was an attempt at immortality. His stated hope was that at least one of these songs would be performed at every bluegrass festival in the world "long after I have followed Mr. Bill (Monroe) of this world." After giving this album several listens, I'd say he won't have to worry about that.

This is one of Earle's finest albums and very much in the vein of his 1995 album Train a Comin'. This time out he hooks up with the Del McCoury Band, simply one of the best bluegrass outfits playing today--check out their excellent 1996 album The Cold Hard Facts for further proof.

There isn't a weak track on this album. But if I were to pick a single highlight it would be the closing track, the confessional and mournful "Pilgrim" with its all-star vocal harmony cast (Emmlou Harris, Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, John Hartford, Peter Rowan, et. al.). Overall, this is an honest and sincere record from an artist who deserves to reach a wider audience. Unfortunately, even the best bluegrass albums are lucky to sell a hundred thousand units. Let's hope it doesn't keep him from putting out another bluegrass album. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

When my brother called me and asked me to drive to Nashville to see Steve Earle & the Del McCoury Band in concert at the Station Inn, I had no idea what I was in for. I read many reviews of this CD and they were all very favorable, yet I had never heard any of the music. I sat there shell-shocked with a slack jawed expresion on my face that turned into the biggest ear-to-ear grin I've ever had on my face. The performance going on in front of me was something of legend. A tiny little hole-in-the-wall full of smoke and stale beer, came alive with music that truly elated my soul. I promptly ran out and bought this CD, along with several other Del McCoury Band CDs. Steve Earle and Del deserve Album of the Year from the Grammy organization for this ground breaking blend of roots bluegrass and raw rock and roll. One shining moment from the show that will always stick out in my mind was when Iris DeMent stood on stage with Steve & Del and literally stupefied the audience with her powerful voice. You will play this album for years to come.

Earle actually precedes this musical set with a written eulogy in the liner notes, speaking of the legendary Bill Monroe and Earle's own innate desire to please the master. He has transcended that, I'm fairly certain, with this exquisite set of his own compositions and lyrics.

Bluegrass is simply an art form...exceptional artists possessing extraordinary skill, writing, interpreting, and translating music that appeals because of its basic purity and "down-to-earth" originality. We will listen and recall times gone by because when we hear it, it reminds us of a place and time...a small town celebration...something that we heard as a kid... it reminds us of our grandpa's era...we can almost feel it, smell it, touch it...it's Americana. Once we take a closer look, the scope of bluegrass music today even becomes quite broad, especially over the past couple of decades, past the traditionalist's boundaries that once confined it, into modern times where stellar musicians cling to the roots of the past while forging ahead into uncharted territory. But all too often the past is forgotten. Not this time.

Steve Earle has filled the bill admirably on all accounts. He has successfully bridged the past to the present. Most of his songs sound as if they've been around for quite a long time but they are performed exquisitely and with a refreshing approach. He has captured Americana past with "Texas Eagle", "Leroy's Dustbowl Blues", and the Civil War period melody of "Dixieland", which remarkably, could have been written 130 years ago without anyone's knowing different. There are also love songs such as "Carrie Brown" and "I'm Still In Love With You". There are blue collar anthems like the excellent beat driven "Harlan Man". And, with ballads like "The Mountain" and "Pilgrim" to Steve's credit, he has produced a masterpiece of song and word. He also could not have found a better band to join him in this project. Here's hoping that Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band will continue this union and offer a follow up to "The Mountain"; it can't miss.

Was never a real big "bluegrass" lover,although I do enjoy most all types of music;as long as it's good and well produced. I have been a big Steve Earle fan for more than a decade,and this c.d. The Mountain is not typical of his previous releases,but rates right up there with all the other great releases by Earle. I cannot sit and listen without stompin my feet or playing air guitar or air violin/mandolin/banjo and singing along with every tune of which there is no weak link.The production is superb and the crispness and clenliness of each note is unmatched to any other recording I've heard in a long long time.I highly recommend this c.d. to any music lover as it's a must for their collection.

Personally, I have a deep connection to this album. I gave the cd to my dad to listen to on his way back to San Diego from LA. He called me about an hour after he left and told me that when he dies he wanted "Pilgrim" to be played at his funeral. He died suddenly in May and it was "Pilgrim" that was played at his funeral and reception afterward. The album has several other gems, as well, but this one will always live on in me. I will forever associate it with my dad's spirit. Other than that tune, the rest of the album is also excellent. The dueling banjos, the deft fiddle playing, the hearty mandolin picking all complement Earle's songwriting genius. Here's to Steve...

A DJ on my local college radio station said that no one could be unhappy while listening to "Carrie Brown", and he was right! Combining bluegrass with strong songwriting and dynamic performances, this is one of the best albums of 1999. If you like Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, and such--give this album a try!

Steve Earle has always infused his music with a rockin', outlaw sensibility. That's why you no longer hear him on most so called country music stations that try to pass off generic pop pablum as country songs. His music is always right on the edge, from growling a country anthem about a Viet Nam vet growing marijuana (Copperhead Road) to cutting an album of unapologetic and iconoclastic political folk songs (Jerusalem). But he has never been edgier, or rocked harder than on `The Mountain', where his outlaw vision fused with amazing bluegrass virtuosity.

The virtuosity on `The Mountain' is supplied by The Del McCoury Band. With fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar they wail, sing, cry, and twang a wall of amazing sound as powerful as any ever produced by the greatest Rock & Roll gods. They are the perfect complement to Earle as he re-imagines bluegrass for a new generation.

But the vision is all Earle's, as he here performs fourteen original bluegrass songs. He brings a raucous, hip, bad boy energy to this music. He opens with the hard driving Texas Eagle, then moves on to Yours Forever Blue and Carrie Brown, both dealing with the traditional theme of heart ache for love lost and love desired while making it seem fresh and new. Things slow down a bit on I'm Still In Love With You as Iris DeMent joins Earle for a plaintive duet backed by crying twin fiddles. The Graveyard Shift and Harlan Man are rollicking, good ol' boy tributes to the hard working man, while the title track, The Mountain, is a mournful song of a man's undying love of his home ground though its beauty has been ravaged by industry. Outlaw's Honeymoon brings the mood back up with a playful ditty of a traveling man's courtship. Connemara Breakdown, like the later Paddy On the Beat, is a lively instrumental tune with subtle hints of Irish influence. In Leroy's Dustbowl Blues, Earle gives a nod to the great Woody Guthrie, with an outstanding bluegrass treatment of the hard knocks of an Oakie running into trouble on his way to California. Earle inverts traditional formula in Dixieland (my favorite cut on the album), by creating a Civil War song where the sympathetic Rebel hero is not a Confederate, but an Irish fenian immigrant fighting for the Union and freedom. Long Lonesome Highway is yet another high energy treatment of a traditional theme. Pilgrim ends this exceptional album on a contemplative, spiritual note, as Earle is joined by some outstanding friends, including Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, Peter Rowan, Gillian Welch, Cowboy Jack Clement, and the late, great John Hartford.

`The Mountain' is not just an outstanding bluegrass album - it is one of the finest albums across the spectrum of musical styles and genres. No true music coinsurer should consider their collection complete without it. I give it my very highest of recommendations.

Theo Logos

I was already familiar with bluegrass music when Steve recorded this album, but a lot of people who weren't also bought this album and most were pleasantly surprised at what they heard. To create an authentic bluegrass sound, Steve teamed up with the Del McCoury band, one of the finest bluegrass groups you're ever likely to hear. Steve wrote all the songs, declining the opportunity to include any covers of bluegrass standards. Given all the praise he gives Bill Monroe in the liner notes, it would have added a nice touch to hear him cover one of Bill's songs.

Steve covers a variety of topics on this album, delving into American history to find inspiration for such songs as Dixieland (about the civil war of the 1860's), Leroy's dustbowl blues (set in the 1930's) and Texas eagle (about a train that runs no more). As a contrast to all the songs inspired by history, the title track describes how a mountain is stripped of trees then mined for coal, leaving a trail of environmental devastation - truly a song for the times in which we live. Harlan man is another coalmining song.

There are love songs here too, including I'm still in love with you, a brilliant duet with the under-rated and under-recorded Iris DeMent. Another fine song is Carrie Brown, is about a jealous man who kills her lover and is sentenced to death for his crime. The album closes with the road song, Long lonesome highway blues, followed by the metaphorical road song, Pilgrim, which features a long guest list of harmony singers including Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Marty Stuart among others.

This is one of the most important albums in bluegrass history. Together with Dolly Parton's Grass is blue (also released in 1999), it helped bring bluegrass to a wider audience before the further boost provided by the O brother soundtrack. If you listen to this album, you'll understand why.

Even though the style is a departure from Steve's normal work, Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band mesh perfectly on this groundbreaking album. Clearly Earle is a musical genius. He attended bluegrass camp in order to make this album and it certainly paid off. With tons of landmark songs including a few guests and an entire chorus of artists on the title track, The Mountain may very well be one of Earle's best ever. More than worth the price, this is a must-have for any Earle fan, McCoury fan, or plain lover of Americana music. This is the album that turned me on to bluegrass and Americana. Do not pass this record by. A musical achievement.

A truly great album.

There are four absolute classics here, songs and performances so great that it just gives you chills: "I'm Still In Love With You," "The Mountain," "Dixieland," and "Pilgrim," along with two very good instrumentals and a batch of other fine tunes.

Earle has said this was a work of inspiration, and it is a sustained inspritation at that. Like the best of Springsteen or Tom Waits, THE MOUNTAIN speaks of place and time without being a hokey concept album. The characters come from hard times and, like those on Springsteen's NEBRASKA, they sometimes fall--into dispair, drunkenness, jail.

But unlike NEBRASKA, where some characters seemed to find no way out, Earle's coal minors and irish immigrants see a light on the horizon. They find pride and honor in their hard work, in their civil war soldiering, in their lost loves.

The Del McCoury Band is rock solid, swingin' and singin' with a confidence you only find in a band that has played together for a thousand years. Iris Dement is perfect; her duet with Earle on "I'm Still In Love With You" is achingly sweet. Emmylou Harris appears here and there--I think there is some law that says Emmylou Harris must sing backup on every bluegrass record now--and a whole host of country singers join in the chorus of "Pilgrim."

But this is Steve Earle's record. I had a lot of trouble stomaching some of his earlier records, but THE MOUNTAIN is so good that I'm willing to rethink it all. Nobody could make a record this great unless they have true heart, true soul, and a true love for bluegrass, country, blues--American music in general.

This is, without a doubt, one of my absolute favorite records of the last 20 years.