Dark Shadow Recording has released a new single from Stephen & Jana Mougin, the husband-and-wife team who run the label. Both started their careers as musiciansand singers, and Stephen continues to this day as a member of the Sam Bush Band on guitar.
Though that much of their lives are similar, the two come from widely different backgrounds, and came to bluegrass by different routes. Stephen is a native New Englander, growing up in rural Massachusetts, where he played whenever and wherever he could on multiple instruments as a teen. After college he worked as a school music teacher until the Sam Bush gig brought him to Nashville for good in 2006.
Jana, meanwhile, was growing up in Slovakia where she trained as a classical vocalist. Once exposed to bluegrass, she fell hard, and joined the influential Czech/Slovak band Fragment as bassist and singer in 1993. They had a celebrated career across Europe, and in the US, recording eight album during her 12 years with group. She and Stephen married in 2006 and she moved to Nashville as well.
For years the Mougins mostly sang together informally, but recently decided that they should do so as Dark Shadow recording artists, so they signed themselves, and we have been graced with some terrific music as a result.
Their new single is called There’s No Reason To, one written by Rick Lang and Lincoln Meyers. It tells of love and loss, with the ultimate lesson which Jana describes thusly:
“I love the message of this song. ‘It’s better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.’ I hope it inspires a strong commitment to love without fear or apprehension.”
Stephen and Jana sing this charming song as a duet, with support from Stephen on guitar, Kyle Triplett on banjo, Scott Napier on mandolin, Christian Sedelmyer on fiddle, and Byron House on bass.
Give it a listen.
There’s No Reason To is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct or Get It Played.
