The newly-reformed Mountain Heart has announced a change to their lineup.
Founding member Jim VanCleve won’t be participating with the group, who has a new opportunity he is pursuing.
Stepping in will be Molly Cherryholmes, the southpaw fiddler from the Cherryholmes family band, who will both saw on the strings and add her unique vocal style to Mountain Heart. Molly had bounced around a bit since Cherryholmes dissolved in 2011, trying her hand at electronic dance music, classical, and modern rock.
In the intervening years, Molly has become quite a dynamic performer, much different from how we might remember her with the family band. Surely bluegrass fans will welcome her back into the fold with open arms.
Here is the official announcement from Mountain Heart:
We’re excited and honored to announce to you that Molly Cherryholmes, five-time Grammy nominee and former member of the award-winning band Cherryholmes, is the newest member of Mountain Heart. Molly’s musical talent has always been undeniable, and we are all thrilled to bring her on board as a full-time member.
We’d also like to say a big thank you to our longtime friend and fiddler, Jim VanCleve, who has recently stepped down to pursue new musical opportunities.
We cannot wait for our friends and fans to hear the new Mountain Heart lineup, and we encourage you to stay tuned as we unveil national touring news as well as new details for our forthcoming release. For now, please help us welcome Molly to the Mountain Heart family!
Molly joins Josh Shilling on guitar, keyboards, and lead vocals; Seth Taylor on guitar; Aaron Ramsey on mandolin, banjo and bass; and Jeff Partin on bass and reso-guitar. They are working together on a new album which is expected to be supported by a major tour early next year.
You can follow their schedule online to see where they’ll be performing their rock and blues-inflected string band music.
