In 2007, a band by the name of Mountain Man was playing the Philly and Jersey circuit quite regularly. They entered the Emergenza Battle of the Bands and did quite well. They were dubbed the best band in Philadelphia and performed at Webster Hall in NYC where they took 7th place on the entire East coast in the competition.

After that they made some trips to Nashville where they played music but then they sort of disappeared. All of the members were still involved in music, but separately on their own. Alan has been performing with the Tongue Sculptors, Vince has been playing with Johnny Showcase and the Bailey Hounds, Charlie had gone to grad school, and Matt was touring the country and performing in musicals.

To me, it seemed that these talented individuals had split amicably but would no longer be making music together. That was a bit disappointing as I had enjoyed following them in their early days and really dug their sound. I thought they had real potential to break through as they are all very talented musicians and actually studied their craft intensively.

Luckily as it turns out, it was not the end of the road for Mountain Man. Now, Mountain Man goes by his proper name, William Gruff, and “he” has just released his debut album. The production quality on it is amazing, the songs range from folk-rock, old school rock and roll, maybe a little blues, a jazzy showtune (I think Matt’s tours in musicals may have had an influence), bluegrass, and a song that was styled in tribute to Tom Waits. As of right now the guys are running a “pay what you wish” promotion via Bandcamp.

I encourage you to support them so they can continue to make nice things for us to enjoy. Stream/buy the album below.