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Josh Shilling takes on Nashville as album climbs the charts
Henry County native Josh Shilling ( in front with guitar) is the lead singer for Mountain Heart, which released its first album, "Road That Never Ends: The Live Album" nationally three weeks ago.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
By HOLLY KOZELSKY - Bulletin Accent Editor
A Henry County native is the lead singer on a nationally released album that has been on the BillBoard Magazine Top Ten Sales List for two weeks running.
Josh Shilling, who joined the band Mountain Heart almost a year ago, also plays piano and guitar on “Road That Never Ends.” The record is going to break into the Top 5 when the next BillBoard Magazine is released, an e-mail from the band predicted Friday.
Shilling, 24,first met the members of Mountain Heart about three or four years ago when he was working in Doobie Shea studio in Boones Mill area, he said. Scotty Bolen, who was recording demos at the studio, also is the audio engineer for Mountain Heart. He recorded Shilling’s singing and introduced his sound to the band, Shilling said.
In December, the band asked him to be the lead singer. He joined them in January.
Shilling said, “They’re rooted in bluegrass, but they’ve always been very aggressive and edgy in pushing the boundaries between (that and) rock and roll,” adding that Mountain Heart’s interest in him probably came from a desire to “hire a more commercial, rock-type singer to front this band.”
“My style of singing is very aggressive, very soulful, rock, (with a) jazz and blues influence,” he said. “In Roanoke, I played the soulful, all the big R& B bands. Then with the Embers, beach music; then Cimmaron, a deadhead country style;” and even “30s swing music” when he played piano for Rania’s in Martinsville as a teenager. “I adapt to what the situation requires me to do.”
Shilling wrote four of the tracks on the album. “‘Who’s the Fool Now’ is something I like that I put my heart and soul into. I had a standing ovation at the Opry to it. That song has opened more doors and ended up meaning more to me than the others,” he said. That Jan. 3 performance at the Opry was his first with the band; in fact, he had only been with them for two days, even though he had known them for years.
He describes the new album as having “influences of jazz, bluegrass and country.” He likens “Who’s The Fool Now” to Vince Gill’s style. Conversely, his piano version of the Alman Brothers’ “Whipping Post” has a “very rock and roll” sound, he said.
The live album was recorded at The Ark in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “This record is ... about as live as you can possibly make one. It allows listeners to really feel and hear and picture in their minds a rowdy crowd, full of energy,” he said.
Mountain Heart songs have been heard on local radio; “every acoustic, Americana and bluegrass station is playing the CD,” he said.
Since he was small, Shilling knew he’d be a musician. From the time he was 5 or 6, “I remember being able to naturally be able to hear something and pick it out on the piano,” he recalled. It was only as an adult looking back on his quick learning does he realize it was unusual, he said.
Growing up, he “did all the talent show stuff throughout elementary and middle school. In high school I was involved with whatever little thing the high school put on. I started doing weddings on Sundays and playing clubs when I was 12.”
The son of Billy and Kathy Shilling, he is a 2001 graduate of Bassett High School. He finished high school a year early by accumulating enough credits to graduate as a junior. “When I graduated ... instantly I was getting all these contacts ... to play full time. I kind of knew that was what I wanted to do,” he said.
He stayed in the area until he was 21, when he moved to Roanoke. He performed in Martinsville at Celebration 2006, the Independence Day celebration at Martinsville Speedway, as the opening act for Blake Shelton.
Shilling spent last year touring with the Embers, playing piano and singing lead, and living in Raleigh, N.C.
Now, he’s a committed Nashville resident; he bought a house there recently.
“This is where all of it happens. I love living here,” he said.
Even the daily routine in Nashville reflects that “it’s a music town,” he said. For example, banks and other businesses acknowledge and respect being a musician as a suitable job that would qualify someone for credit. “You tell them I’m a song writer or a singer, and they don’t look at you like you’re completely stupid,” he said. “In this town, it’s completely normal to be an artist.”
There’s also a lot going on: “There’s something to do seven nights a week — it’s music 24/7,” he said.
Shilling isn’t the only one from here who has found his way to Nashville, either. “You’d be surprised how many of the people involved in our business come from our area. I hang out with about 20 people on a weekly basis, and several of them are from that little area up there,” he commented.
Shilling and Mountain Heart played in Dade City, Fla., Friday and Bloomingdale, Ga., Saturday. They are scheduled to perform in Kent, Ohio, today.
For more information, visit www.joshshilling.com and www.mountainheart.com.
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