Mt. Joy: 2020

Just three-plus years ago, singer/guitarist Matt Quinn was pursuing a law degree while guitarist Sam Cooper had passed the bar and was already an attorney. The Philly-area pals didn’t plan on both ending up in Los Angeles after college, but that’s what happened, and in their spare time, the duo resumed the songwriting partnership they began at Conestoga High School.

Soon they were joined by Michael Byrnes on bass, Sotiris Eliopoulos on drums and Jackie Miclau on keys and Mt. Joy was born. They unleashed a self-titled debut in 2018 and the band has been touring almost ever since. Now, featuring material borne from their experiences on the road, Mt. Joy has offered up their second album, Rearrange Us, which will be out in June of this year.

The band turned up at FUV's studios on the day of their first of two shows playing Barclays Center in Brooklyn, on a bill with The Lumineers and J.S. Ondara. We were jazzed that they were able to roll up to the Bronx to hang with us first, and outside a couple of live tunes ("Strangers" and "Let Loose"), I spoke with Matt and Sam about the new record, the Grateful Dead, and artfully mixing covers and originals in their live sets.

[Recorded: 2/13/20; Engineer: Jim O'Hara; Producer: Sarah Wardrop]