Search - Blue Mountain :: Tales of a Traveler

Oxford, Mississippi, has always been a literary melting pot, and thanks to these native sons (and daughters), the college town is now being recognized for its music. Blue Mountain's fourth record, coproduced by ex-Georgia Satellite Dan Baird, proves that Cary Hudson and his wife, Laurie Stirratt (twin sister of Wilco's John Stirratt) are the John and Exene of alternative country. They unite an intoxicating narrative and savvy song structure with Hudson's pungent chords, an effusing rocking style with smatterings of Skip James and Hank Williams. Akin to a well-read tour of the Deep South, Blue Mountain take you to Stax's Memphis ("My Wicked, Wicked Ways"), Skynyrd's Jacksonville ("Poppa"), and Robert Johnson's front porch ("Just Passing Through"). And then it's back to Oxford, where Blue Mountain should feel just as at home as novelist Barry Hannah. --Scott Holter