Mon Hills Records, West Virginia University’s student-run record label, has looked to its Appalachian roots for its first album. The label has released “West Virginia Hills” by the WVU Bluegrass Band.

“West Virginia Hills” album is predominantly a collection of traditional bluegrass songs, including the title song, “West Virginia Hills”, as well as ever-popular “Country Roads”, and the songs that speak to the hearts of the musicians themselves.

Formed in the fall of 2014, the WVU Bluegrass Band is one of WVU’s world music student ensembles. The band performs a mixture of both traditional and contemporary bluegrass styles.

The founder and the director of the band is Τravis Stimeling, an assistant professor of musicology in WVU’s School of Music and an expert in American folk and Appalachian music. It was Stimeling’s vision to revive the traditional ways of performing bluegrass and old–time music through practice and interpretation that led him to form the WVU Bluegrass Band.

The WVU Bluegrass Band is committed to performing traditional Appalachian and bluegrass music and has given numerous performances throughout West Virginia. The band’s goal is to reach all 55 counties in West Virginia by the end of this year, and the musicians are fast becoming great ambassadors of WVU’s College of Creative Arts.

Mon Hills Records signed the WVU Bluegrass Band to a recording contract in the spring of 2015.

“I encouraged the band to bring songs that spoke to them and we whittled that pile down to the listing of the tunes that are on this album,” said Stimeling. “We wanted this particular project to represent the best in bluegrass music and the best WVU musicians. It’s my hope that this album will allow us to be better ambassadors for the University, better ambassadors for the state, and better ambassadors for these musical traditions.”

As a label, Mon Hills Records aims, above all, to be artist-centered and artist-friendly. The staff at Mon Hills Records is dedicated to building meaningful, empowering and long-lasting relationships between its artists, the label, the University, and the communities within the state of West Virginia, throughout the region, and across the nation. It’s also a vital part of WVU’s burgeoning academic offerings in music industry.

The label is a professional component of the the new Master of Arts degree in Music Industry, a completely online program designed for those who wish to learn how to build a career in the music business or for working professionals who want to advance their career.

“The label is the place where the theory meets the practice,” said Darko Velichovski, director of the music industry program. “It is the training field, and the proving ground for those students who intend to make music industry their life and their profession.”

“Working with recording artists, organizing distribution and sales of the recorded products, creating and executing marketing and public relations plans for various label projects, managing the personnel, and all the other related work that the record label has to accomplish, make Mon Hills an invaluable experience for our students,” Velichovski added.

“West Virginia Hills” is available on iTunes, Spotify, and through other major music platforms.

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CONTACT: David Welsh, WVU College of Creative Arts
304-293-3397; David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

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