Mountain Home Music’s new single for Unspoken Tradition, Rhythm of the Ridge, shows how the calling of home is as universal as any other, no matter where you started or where you end up.
The band calls western North Carolina home, and it’s where the song’s writer Milan Miller grew up as well. He described how this easy-going ballad changed its tone as it was being composed.
“Although it wasn’t my original intention when I began writing Rhythm of the Ridge, the song quickly took on a deeply personal narrative as the lines started falling into place. I left the mountains of North Carolina for Nashville almost thirty years ago, yet home is a melody that follows you long after you leave it — a rhythm in your bones and blood that quietly keeps time.
This isn’t a song about longing or looking back; it leans into a sense of place that steadies you and guides you through new endeavors and experiences.
Fully adept at honoring the traditions of bluegrass while championing material that feels fresh and forward-thinking, Unspoken Tradition has become one of my favorite bands to emerge in the genre over the past decade, and I am beyond thrilled that they’re adding Rhythm of the Ridge to their stellar catalog.”
For Sav Sankaran, Unspoken Tradition’s bass player who sings the lead on this song, the sense of home can be as much a matter of culture as place.
“The first time I heard the demo, I realized this song was as deeply meaningful for me as it was for Milan.
I grew up in an immigrant family and straddling two worlds; the mountains of Appalachia is where I found the inspiration to write my American story. It feels timely to tell a story of grounding ideals and identity in a time where external forces attempt to rend us further away from each other.
Just as the culture of my family’s home is written on their hearts long after they left it, so too is the Rhythm of the Ridge on my own.”
All the members of the band appear on the track. In addition to Sav on bass and lead vocal, we hear Audie McGinnis on guitar, Zane McGinnis on banjo, Ty Gilpin on mandolin, and Tim Gardner on fiddle.
Have a listen.
Rhythm of the Ridge is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
