The Misty Mountain String Band (MMSB) could only come out of Kentucky. Four musicians meet at seminary, put together a pick up group for an old-time camp revival, and end up recording two albums, playing with an orchestra, and being featured on ‘The Best of Bluegrass’ not even two years later. Where else could that happen but the Bluegrass State?

Neal Green (fiddle), Derek Harris (bass), Paul Martin (mandolin/banjo), and Brian Vickers (guitar) formed MMSB initially for a one-time gig in August of 2012. The group has since evolved into a professional band that’s as at home playing with the Louisville Philharmonia Orchestra as they are appearing alongside Americana favorites like Nora Jane Struthers and Town Mountain.

Drawing influence from old-time music, country, Americana, bluegrass, and songs of labor and protest, MMSB doesn’t stray far from their upbringings in Kentucky and West Virginia. For example, when Derek sings John Prine’s “Paradise,” he tells stories of visiting the World’s Largest Shovel on field trips as a child near his home in Muhlenberg County. MMSB is not composing cheap parodies of the music of a by-gone era, however. As it was noted in a write up from LEO Weekly, “The marriage of Prohibition-era old-time music and 21st-century technological upgrades might have peaked.” Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.