MAY 2005
MOUNTAIN SOUL
METRO PULSE
This band doesn't know if it's oldgrass, new-grass or
inbetweengrass. They're just really good 'grass.
They've added twang to rock songs, drawn from a
library of bluegrass classics, and assembled a score
of rousing originals. The father-son act of Shawn and
Daniel Kimbro (on guitar and bass, respectively) once
included Shawn's now ex-wife Amanda, but a grieving
period at his Sterchi Loft homestead, a wonderful new
marriage and some heartening first gigs inspired him
to pick up his guitar and the pieces of Mountain Soul.
With DJ Morrison on lead guitar and mandolin and
David Lovett on banjo, Mountain soul boasts a robust
and technically perfect lineup.
TROTLINE
TROTLINE
Mountain Soul
METRO PULSE
Knoxville, TN
Feb 21, 2002, Volume 12 #8
Local bluegrass quintet Mountain Soul lives up to its name and its
regional
heritage with this self-produced CD. Kicking off with a blazing run
through
"Train 45" featuring the lightning banjo picking of Sonny Smith, the
album covers a lot of ground: traditionals ("Katy Daly," "I
Know You Rider"), more recent classics (Townes Van Zandt's
"White Freightliner Blues"), and a healthy dose of originals
written by singer/guitarist Shawn Kimbro and mandolinist
DJ Morrison. The band, rounded out by Amanda Kimbro on vocals and
Daniel
Kimbro on bass and guitar, is as tight as the genre's conventions
dictate
but heartfelt and adventurous enough to transcend them. The major shift
since their first release, Clinch River Valley, is the addition of
national
banjo champion Smith, who doubles on fiddle and provides virtuosity
when
called upon but tasteful restraint the rest of the time.
Shawn Kimbro is a fine songwriter whose themes and melodies draw as
much on folk singer-songwriter traditions as bluegrass. The
title track is a nice piece of narration, the lament of a farmer who
lost
his land to the TVA and now makes his living fishing on the lake that
drowned
his former home. There's an easy warmth to Shawn and Amanda's
harmonies, and Amanda's lead vocal turns (particularly
the wistful "Train to Boulder") are highlights. Throw
in some gospel ("Rainbow Sign"), a jaunty "Foggy Mountain Special" and
Morrison's
sprightly lament "Far Away From Home," and you have a well-rounded
collection
of contemporary roots music. It's a pleasure to hear such
a skillful group of musicians making their own way through East
Tennessee's
rich musical and narrative traditions.
Greeneville Sun, 5-21-2002, Tom Yancey, Staff
Writer
-- The opening weekend for the newly reffuurbished Capitol Theatre
continued
Saturday and Sunday, with two very different events, both of them
audience pleasers. On Saturday night, the "Smoky Mountain Jamboree"
took to the stage, the first of
what backers hope will become a monthly country
music event. Saturday night's "Smoky Mountain Jamboree" was a
sell-out,
and the audience left happy, many making plans to return.
Saturday night had something for everyone, especially everyone who
liked to laugh, with Campbell's comedy, the country and bluegrass
stylings of "Mountain
Soul," the legendary "old time" two-finger banjo picking of Will Keys,
and
singer Jimmy Tipton, who joined with Mountain Soul for several numbers,
and
a smiling and talented troupe of cloggers.....
Mountain Soul, a mostly family ensemble mostly from Morristown, needed
no help getting into the spirit of the evening. Led by Shawn Kimbro,
who has so much talent it's embarrassing, plays the guitar, fiddle and
sings. The band includes Amanda, their UT-student son Dan
on bass, David
Lovett on banjo and D.J. Morrison, who once lived in Greeneville,
on mandolin.
Near the end of the evening, emcee Campbell said he had "never heard a
more pure and beautiful voice" than that of Amanda Kimbro; by
then much of the audience already held the same opinion, judging
from the applause.
Knoxville News-Sentinel
Jan 27, 2002
Local musicians offer a wealth of good sound
By Wayne Bledsoe, News-Sentinel entertainment writer
These days my trepidation is because many releases by local artists
deserve
a very close listen. Most are pretty good, and some have something
particularly
special to offer. Knoxville is lucky to have a few nationally known
artists who are producing some of the best music in their genres.....
For bluegrass with an old-time feel, check out the new release from
Morristown
'grass group Mountain Soul. "Trotline" (Trailzzone) contains the sort
of bluegrass a lot of us grew up with - plenty of banjo, mandolin
and good mountain vocal harmonies.....
Trotline rocks! - Tony Lawson, Station Manager, WDVX, Knoxville, TN
Mountain Soul
Trotline
Trailzone Records
by Reid Mitchell
The last time I saw Shawn and Amanda Kimbro, they ate up all my fried
chicken,
drank up all my likker, and demanded to be driven to the French
Quarter. They
haven't been heard from since.
They left behind their CD though.
They can't have it back.
Mountain Soul is the kind of group that bluegrass fans call folk and
folk music lovers call bluegrass. They get stronger every CD. Trotline
is notable in particular for Amanda's singing, Shawn's songwriting, and
Sonny Smith's banjo and fiddle. But it wouldn't do to neglect Daniel
Kimbro's lead guitar and bass playing or D. J. Morrison's mandolin and
tunesmithing. Mountain
Soul ain't no two or three person enterprise.
Trotline begins and ends with train songs, Sonny's arrangements of two
traditional numbers, "Train 45" and "Wheel Hoss." Without preachifying
about
it, these tunes reflect the moment when the kind of Appalachian music
Mountain
Soul plays was crystalalized: the moment when the train -- the radio
not
far behind -- brought in new influences and started taking the music
out
to go around the world. Another instrumental, D. J.'s "Mother's Rose,"
is
a beautiful waltz, featuring Sonny's fiddle -- an old heartbreaking
thing
that calls up memories of that life behind the life you actually
remember,
Americana at its purest. The country standard "Ruby" gives Amanda a
chance
to show off her lungs.
Still, Trotline reaches its peak with two Shawn Kimbro originals:
"Trotline" and "Train to Boulder." Amanda takes the vocal on "Train to
Border," a song that should become a classic. Listen to it now, before
Nashville resells
it to you. Remember when you first realized that a heart, broken and
rejoined, just might be stronger than a heart that had never been
broken at all:
There's a chill in the mountain air
The first real hint of fall
A crescent moon lights the western sky
I pull your sweater close against my skin
And stare away into the night
Are you still carrying the world on your shoulders
Is the fire that once burned you growing colder
I hum the songs we were singing over and over
On this midnight train to Boulder
Now, I happen to know that Shawn is a powerful Nanci Griffith fan and
"Trotline" has some of the feel and sound -- the feel's more important
-- of early
Nanci, 'round 'bout Poet in My Window times. While a trotline is used
for
fishing, it isn't a troutline; Amanda made sure to correct me on that
right
away. It's a hooked line you trot along in a boat. Shawn and Amanda
supported
themselves running a trotline when they were just married and the man
who
taught them the craft had earned his living that way most of his life,
farming
catfish in the waters above the farm where he was raised, which the TVA
had turned into a lake. It's the song of a man without complaint still
bound
to testify. It's a song about loss and about dignity. Like on many an
old-timey
tune, Sonny's fiddle weeps where the man singing keeps his mourning
inside:
You know a factory job ain't much compared
To living off the land
All I ever knew was outside work
Getting by with just my hands
So I built this old flat-bottomed boat
In the spring of '49
And I learned to make my living
Taking fish off this old trotline
Wintertime the lake goes down
And I see Daddy's farm
But all's that left are cornerstones and a silo
What's once was my inheritance
Is now just mud and slime
So I must make my living
Taking fish off this trotline
What "Trotline" makes clear -- and what Americana should be about, what
all music can be about -- is nothing is truly lost while the living
remember.
So if Shawn and Amanda come by offering to trade CDs for fried chicken,
make the deal.
Those of you who prefer to pay in cash, go here.
www.mountainsoul.cjb.net
Contact Reid Mitchell at: reid@rockzilla.net
CLINCH RIVER VALLEY
November 30, 2000 * Vol. 10, No. 48
MetroPulse - Knoxville's Entertainment Zine
Mountain Soul
Clinch River Valley
As much as this looks like bluegrass, it's not, really. It's the
flashy,
explosive instrumental displays that separate bluegrass from plain
old-fashioned
mountain music, and there's nothing flashy about Mountain Soul's Clinch
River
Valley. Instead, the Morristown band relies on good songs*most of them
originals*and
subdued, heartfelt performances to tell simple, poignant stories. More
like
the Carter Family than the Monroe brothers.
That's not to say that the band doesn't play well. Shawn and Daniel
Kimbro
play flat-pick guitar with emotion and skill, but always in service of
the
songs themselves*tales of coal mining, flash floods, mountains, cowboys
(on
Nanci Griffith's "Night Rider's Lament"), and biscuit-eatin'. Kyle
Smith
and Curt Seals on banjo and D.J. Morrison on mandolin and slide guitar
add
subtle flavoring, and Amanda Kimbro's strong vocals (and occasional
yodeling)
are an invaluable asset.
There is a fast-paced instrumental near the end, a traditional song
called
"East Tennessee Blues," that sounds more like bluegrass than anything
else
on Clinch River Valley. But that's followed by a brief, beautiful a
cappella
gospel song sung by Amanda Kimbro that pulls it
all back in again and preserves the tone of the disc. Again, good
stuff.
Celeste Chuecer *WSTT Radio* Rockford, Georgia
1/14/01 - Review
Clinch River Valley is not the kind of CD that immediately blows you
away,
it's the kind that sneaks up on you, the kind that shows up in your
dreams.
Haunting songs that quietly slip into your memories like early morning
fog
into the hollows of East Tennessee.
Reid Mitchell, Novelist, Historian * New Orleans, LA
11/04/2000 - Internet Review
"I think as a writer, Shawn does a magnificient job recreating and
EXTENDING
the mountain ballad tradition in a way that means more to me personally
than the pyrotechnics of many bluegrass bands. Which is not
to say there aren't moments of instrumental virtuosity, but the songs
aren't
just frameworks for hot solos. It's an oddly joyous and melancholy
album,
suited for both contemplation and dancing."
Sarah Allen * WBIR TV 10 * Knoxville, TN
10/06/200) - On Air Comments
"An amazing band .... and so talented, it's hard to believe they're all
in the same family."
Bruce Miller, Philosopher, Cyber-Cynic * Okland, CA
10/10/2000 - Internet Review
I thought I would follow up my previous post on the Mountain Soul live
performance I attended with one on their new CD itself. It's
called "Clinch River Valley." Shawn wrote six of the 11 songs, with
Curt Seals
(also a Nancinet/Moonpie participant) scripting the music
for "Holston River Blues." Daniel Kimbro wrote the instrumental
"Traveler." Also included are the
Gillian Welch/David Rawlings tune "Miner's Refrain," Michael Burton's
"Night Rider's Lament" (covered by Nanci Griffith on "Other Voices,
Too") and two traditional tunes.
The opening cut, "Clinch River Valley," is a pretty, bittersweet tune
sung from the viewpoint of an elderly and ailing narrator with
an impossible "going home again" vision of a fondly remembered
childhood. The Clinch River runs down through East Tennessee, so
it's
a familiar sight in that area.
"Bethlehem Coal" takes its inspiration from the industry that has long
provided jobs and scarred the mountainsides in the Appalachians.
This is a lament along the lines of Steve Earle's "The Mountain," with
Shawn
providing Woody Guthrie-esque lyrics like, "Cause someone
before me/Has purchased my soul/To spend all my days/Digging
Bethlehem coal."
"Hot Springs" is my own favorite on the album. It's a sweetly
nostalgic tune (based in part on an actual Kimbro family story) about a
romance between a local girl and a World War I German prisoner in the
North Carolina resort town of Hot Springs.
"Holston River Blues" is the catchiest song on the album, based on a
disastrous
flash flood in East Tennessee in 1923. (I believe that's the right
year!) A sad and weirdly ironic element of the tragedy
reflected in the song is that the local churches rang their bells in an
effort to warn the local inhabitants. But since
it was Sunday morning, many people took it as an early summons to
church
services and headed out for church rather than preparing to flee.
(Curt
Seals provides sold banjo accompaniment on this cut.)
"Traveler" is a short, lively tune by Daniel Kimbro inspired by a story
about Robert E. Lee's horse.
"Night Rider's Lament" is one I always called "the Austrian song" on
Nanci
Griffith's album because of the yodeling. Amanda does a good
interpretation of the song's wry mood.
"How Many Biscuits" is a traditional number, and this version is fun
and fast-paced.
"Miner's Refrain" is a second coal-mining song, rendered faithfully to
Gillian Welch's somber tone: "down in a deep dark hole." I think
it's a pretty bold move for anyone to record a Gillian Welch song, but
Mountain Soul's version does it justice.
"Short Mountain Woman" recalls the sound and especially the lyrics of
Jimmie
Rodgers. "Cause that Short Mountain woman/She made a varmint out
of me." Is that a half-Yankee spelling? I always thought it
was
"varmit." :)
The traditional "East Tennessee Blues" is another traditional song that
gives the band a good chance to show off their picking prowess.
The album closes with "Drifting Away," which provides a nice but sad
bookend to the opening cut: "Bright stars fill the sky o'r the
river of Jordan/I'm drifting away, I'm drifting away."
The band has made four cuts (Clinch River Valley, Bethlehem Coal, Hot
Springs, and Traveler) available to hear in MP3 format on their Website
at:
http://www.geocities.com/~trailzzone/soul.html
and also at www.mp3.com
The first site has purchase information on the CD, as well.
I think most folks who like bluegrass-oriented music will enjoy this
one.
Shawn told me that the folk crowd tends to call them bluegrass, and the
bluegrass hardcores call
them folk.
Either way, it's good stuff.
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