Saturday, October 20, 2007
Josh Shilling is living a soulful dream
Photo by Aleah Dillon, courtesy of Josh Shilling
Josh Shilling, in his first show with bluegrass band Mountain Heart, sings on the Grand Ole Opry Stage.
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About Josh Shilling
- Age: 24
- Birthplace: Martinsville
- Home: Lives near Nashville, with Aleah Dillon, his girlfriend of more than three years.
- Family: Parents Billy and Kathy of Martinsville, brother Will
- Resume includes: The Kings, Cimarron , Billy “Crash” Craddock, the Embers, Fuzzy Logic, Balancing Act. Sideman, with the Funky Loophole, for Tower of Power Horns, Mic Gillette, Bill Champlin, Jane Powell. Did fill-in work for Key West
- On the Net: http://joshshilling.com, www.mountainheart.com
It was a musician’s dream. Josh Shilling was living it.
Onstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Playing his first show with his new band, bluegrass act Mountain Heart. Strumming guitar as he sang one of his own songs. A wild ovation sparking a callback for more music — a rare feat at the Opry.
All this for a musician who is better known, around these parts at least, as a fiery keyboard player and versatile, soulful singer.
“The place just erupted,” recalled Shilling, a Martinsville native who until recently lived in Roanoke County’s Cave Spring neighborhood. “They were going nuts. “There was no better way to kick it off, I guess.”
Soon, everyone can hear what set off that Opry crowd nine months ago. Mountain Heart’s new live compact disc, “Road That Never Ends,” comes out Tuesday. It features four songs written or co-written by Shilling, including the title song. His new writing partner, Mountain Heart fiddle player Jim Van Cleve, says he is thrilled with the results and can’t wait to see how his band can expand its style and audience with the multi-talented Shilling.
“We’re just now starting to see the possibilities, really. … I’m not ready to rule anything out. I think we can touch turf that’s never been touched before,” Van Cleve said. “He’s got everything that we want to put into the mix with Mountain Heart.”
Versatility impresses
For 24-year-old Shilling, the road that never ends started around Roanoke.
Shilling was already a veteran of the region’s music, nightspot and recording scene by the time he graduated from Bassett High School. Every male in his family plays guitar. His maternal grandfather, Leon Woodward, and uncle, Kim Woodward, were well-known nightclub pickers.
Shilling would learn to play guitar, too, but was first drawn to the keyboards he heard on the Southern rock and blues music he grew up with. By age 6, he was sitting at the piano, teaching himself songs from the radio.
“I just had a natural ability to sit down and pick out the notes and the key,” he said.
Uncle Kim got him his first nightclub gig. Shilling remembers being 12 or 13 at the time. The gigs kept coming.
Later, he was doing demo recording work at the old Doobie Shea studio in Franklin County when he met sound engineer Scotty Bolen.
Bolen, of Vinton, was also traveling as Mountain Heart’s sound man. He was impressed with the young musician, and played some of his material for the band. Mountain Heart became Josh Shilling fans.
“We started listening to it, and it was just incredible, just really, really versatile,“ Van Cleve said. “He could sound like Michael McDonald in one song, and then sound like a country ballad singer in the next song, then a rocker again. … Real good tone quality, and just a real mature sound.”
A few years back, band members were working on a project at Doobie Shea when they heard that Shilling was performing live. He was at Club Paradox (now 202 Market), playing with one of the funkiest bands that Roanoke rarely heard — Bernard Hairston on bass, Steve Finch on guitar, Kelly Gravely on drums — aka the Funky Loophole, aka the Edge, aka the Groove.
“Here’s a bluegrass band that’s recording a bluegrass album in Boone s Mill, and they’re standing in downtown Roanoke … listening to a funk band,” Shilling said. “And I’m standing there singing Al Green songs and Stevie Wonder material, and they just apparently were floored.”
In the space of a day, band members had heard, met and befriended Shilling.
A career highlight
Fast forward to February. Singer and co-founder Steve Gulley had recently left Mountain Heart after an eight-year run. So Mountain Heart called Shilling, who was on the road with beach music band the Embers. Three days after joining the band, he was onstage at the Opry.
“It’s just a very special moment, and it’s definitely something that’s going to be up there in the highlights of my career,” Shilling said. “Pretty amazing.” Since then, Van Cleve has watched the band’s audience grow and get louder. He attributes that to Shilling’s presence. Mountain Heart had already established a reputation for jammy tendencies, and now it can add some serious soul and blues elements to its repertoire.
“I’m not going to say that we’re blindly chasing after whatever is commercial, but it’s kind of hard not to see the writing on the wall when more and more people are showing up” for concerts, Van Cleve said. “We play what we play because we love it. But we have a product right now that is unique and different. The whole world seems starved for something different right now.”
It’s certainly different for Shilling, who could always play guitar, but had never fronted a band away from his keyboards. There will be a place for piano in Mountain Heart, but Shilling wants to spend his time away from the band continuing to expand his jazz, blues and funk chops on his primary instrument. And he promises a Mountain Heart show in Roanoke soon — a reunion for him and the many players he’s worked with around here. These days he lives in Hendersonville, Tenn., and only gets home for holidays.
“Just have a big time there in the hometown, with all the friends and players,” he said. “Just share the music, make a big deal out of it and have a good time.”
