BY RANYA KHOURY

What happens when a lawyer and a grad student join forces to live out their passion for singing and songwriting? Expect magic, dedication and a whole lot of backbone. Philadelphia natives Matt Quinn (vocalist) and Sam Cooper (guitarist), lead members of Mt. Joy, decided to put their careers on hold, despite the underlying risk, to form a band and follow their dreams. The band started gaining momentum in 2017 after the release of second single “Sheep”—now totaling 7m+ streams. The bold move to focus their efforts got the attention of prevailing bands in the indie-folk scene, such as The Head and the Heart and Whitney, for whom they've opened. With surprises coming from every end of the spectrum, Mt. Joy continued to drop singles off their not-yet-announced debut album while playing festivals that included Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and SXSW.

Now, almost a year later, they continue to sweep fans off their feet with the announcement of their full-length, as well as a tour supporting Neko Case; they kicked off the eastern leg last Thursday (1/11) in Massachusetts. With back-to-back showcases, interviews and appearances at festivals such as Shaky Knees, BottleRock and SXSW the band certainly has embraced their path to success.

After years following their music, I finally had a chance to connect with the members of the Dualtone quintet. “We worked on the album over the course of about a year, with constant experimenting and tweaking. The final product turned out to be a collection of diverse songs,” said Cooper in answering a question about what fans can expect. “We can only hope people enjoy it as much as we loved working on it.”


Their self-titled set will be available everywhere 3/2, and Mt. Joy will play their first post-release show in Los Angeles, where the band currently resides.

Their most recently released track, “Jenny Jenkins,” dropped today; take a listen below. Catch them on tour while you can, with details found here.