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Bassett native Josh Shilling (third from left) is seen with members of his band, Mountain Heart. The group will sing the national anthem Sunday before the race at Martinsville Speedway. (Contributed photo) |
Friday, October 23, 2009
By ELIZA WINSTON - Bulletin Staff Writer
Bassett native Josh Shilling and the band Mountain Heart will perform an a cappella version of the national anthem before the TUMS Fast Relief 500 race Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Shilling said 50 percent of the performance will be a solo — he will sing, and the band will harmonize behind him.
He might get to watch some of the race, said the 2001 Bassett High School graduate, but he hopes to do so from outside the racetrack so he can beat the traffic. Shilling has to return home to Nashville on Sunday night.
Shilling became Mountain Heart’s lead singer in 2007. He has performed at the speedway several times before as part of the annual July 4 celebrations.
Since he joined Mountain Heart, Shilling has been busy touring around the world and honing the group’s sound.
“In the last year,” he said, “Mountain Heart has come full circle as a band.”
During that time, Shilling said, the group toured frequently. Last September, Mountain Heart toured with iconic southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, which he said was a great experience.
He added that recently he traveled to London for the first time when Mountain Heart performed in a festival there. During the trip, the band toured parts of London and Shilling saw Stonehenge.
He and another band member also played at a private event in the Virgin Islands.
Shilling said the band’s music has been well received, with both bluegrass audiences and others, such as the Lynyrd Skynyrd crowd. He thinks it is working because what the band is doing now is “very honest,” he said. “We’re not trying to be something that we’re not.”
Since he joined Mountain Heart, Shilling said the band has released one album and is working on a second.
In the latest project, the band experimented with crossing over from bluegrass and country music to jam band, country and Americana music, as well as some jazz and blues influences. Shilling said he feels the project will appeal to a wide range of people.
People often assume Mountain Heart band members live together, or at least near each other, Shilling said. They actually live in different locations around the country and typically don’t see each other unless they’re on a bus, a plane or a stage.
When the band is going to play together, he said, the members rehearse on their bus. Other times, he can write music and e-mail it to his fellow band members.
Shilling said the band works up a new show around January or February and performs it about 150 days that year. In December, Shilling said, the band doesn’t tour, but members do meet and rehearse together.
When he’s not touring or rehearsing with Mountain Heart, Shilling is a full-time songwriter in Nashville. He writes songs for himself and Mountain Heart, he said, and he also writes songs to pitch to big-name artists such as Carrie Underwood and Rascal Flatts.
“Working for a music publisher in Nashville is like playing the lottery,” Shilling said. “Every so often, someone records your song, and there’s a lot of money coming in,” he said, but other times can be slow.
Still, he said he enjoys working in Nashville because there, being a songwriter is a business and a full-time job.
“It’s not just someone writing alone in their room,” he said.
However, he said if he could get the same amount of work done in Martinsville as he does in Nashville, he would “move back in a minute.”
“There is something very pure about the Martinsville-Henry County area,” Shilling said. “It’s nice to be able to say you grew up in a great place.”
For more information on Shilling, visit www.joshshilling.com. For information about the race, visit www.martinsvillespeedway.com. |
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