TRKfest Profiles: Mount Moriah

Photo by Prachi Gauriar, from TRKfest 2009.

As we near the fateful date of this year's bliss-tacular TRKfest, we'll be periodically profiling each band that will be gracing the stage. We'll tell you who they are, why they're special and why we invited them to play.

Artist: Mount Moriah
Hails from: Chapel Hill
Played TRKfest?: Indeed, last year.

Mount Moriah is one of the many collaborations between Heather McEntire and Jenks Miller. The pair became friends while working together at Chapel Hill's legendary (now closed) record store, Schoolkids, and formed Holidays For Quince Records and the vintage pop group Un Deux Trois. Since then, HFQ has become one of the most consistent and exciting labels in the Triangle, Un Deux Trois has gone on temporary hiatus, and Heather has written a handful of gorgeous, patient, ghostly country songs. Jenks offered his old band name, Mount Moriah, for the new project, and it fit well. The first incarnation of the band, featuring Jenks on guitar and vocals, traveled similar swampy territory as the current iteration, and was one of our favorite undiscovered treasures in the local scene, so we're glad that the name has been given new life. With the addition of James Wallace and Jeff Crawford from the Drughorse Collective as a rhythm section, and the spotlight now on Heather's distinctive vocals, the band takes a new, mightier form. Heather and Jenks embody everything that we love about our incredible musical community. They are prolific, dedicated, supportive and have good taste. It is not rare to find these qualities in musicians around here, but to subsume all four so comprehensively is indeed special. Last year, in the bright glaring sun, Mount Moriah played a beautiful set at TRKfest, and we can't wait to have them do it again so we can re-live something new, like an annual family reunion.



MP3 | Mount Moriah - Lament [from the HFQ Compilation Vol. 1 LP]