Wild Mountain Mystics - Fire & Honey (2025)

Tracklist

01. Fire & Honey
02. If You Can Bluff
03. Love Takes Over the Night
04. Hangin' On a Star
05. What Our Love Can Do
06. Love Is the Law
07. Take My Love Forever
08. Just Lay It Down
09. All You Need Is Love
10. May We All Meet Again

Southern California duo Wild Mountain Mystics, comprising Rick Deering and Lisa Miller, blend folk, blues, gospel and americana; featuring tight harmonies, rich instrumentation and what the blurb describes as “front-porch intimacy”. Since forming in 2013, the Mystics’ story has included years of playing open mic events, street fairs, and songwriter circles, honing their craft as songwriters, performers, and collaborators. Their music is described as “Appalachia meets Woodstock“, and their stated list of influences goes on forever; from The Carter Family, to Maria Callas and Led Zeppelin; Hank Williams, Pink Floyd, The Carpenters, Lynyrd Skynyrd, to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, to mention just a few of them.

“Fire & Honey” represents the duo’s debut full-length release, and it contains ten original songs and one cover version (which you’ll recognise immediately). The ten originals were all penned by Deering and Miller. Although both Deering (vocals, guitars, bass and drums) and Miller (vocals, mandolin and keyboard) are multi-instrumentalists, they are joined by numerous musicians across the record. The album was produced by Ed Tree along with the Mystics pair at Tree’s studio, The Treehouse, in San Gabriel, California. In addition to being a noted producer, Tree is a musician and songwriter, who has been in the music business for more than 40 years; having been a member of The Spencer Davis Group (USA version) in the early 2000s, Tree has also worked with artists such as Al Stewart, Juice Newton, Rita Coolidge and Booker T. Jones.

The album opens with the title track, which kicks off proceedings in bright style with a mandolin introduction before settling into a neat melody; Deering handling much of the lead vocal, with Miller contributing harmonies at times. The lyrics, in common with many of the songs on the record, talk about love: “The road is long, the time is short, And we just cannot see the end, But love don’t let a heart give in“.

‘If You Can Bluff‘ is a standout cut on the record, beginning with a nice introduction featuring interplay between guitar and mandolin. Deering’s guitar playing on this track is delicious. There’s sound life advice on offer, too “Hey, you wanna save the world, You gotta save yourself, You gotta play whatever, Cards you’re dealt, You gotta place your bet, See what you get“. Then to end the song “No matter what your hand, If you can bluff you ain’t lost yet“. You can’t argue with that. ‘Love Takes Over the Night‘ starts with mandolin but soon settles in to to joint harmony vocals, while the anthemic ‘What Our Love Can Do‘ features Miller on lead vocals; this song features a really good guitar solo, while the words include “So let’s engage in some reflection, Decide on our direction, We gotta find a better point of view, We need to give it some attention, Forget about convention, We’re gonna find out, What our love can do”.

Another standout cut, and probably the pick of songs on the record, is ‘Love Is the Law‘, which has a different vibe to it, with more of a 1970s melodic rock sound; it features electric guitars and Miller on electric sitar. Lyrically, we get “What we believe is what we see, What we think is who we’ll be, What we do is what we say, We never need to be unkind, And you can always change your mind, If you find a better way“. While ‘Just Lay It Down‘, featuring Debra Dobkin on percussion, has a definite Latin feel to it.

The sole cover version on the LP is ‘All You Need Is Love‘, a song that needs no introduction. This song was one of the singles released in advance of the album. Although the Mystics have applied their own sound to it, and the sentiment of the lyrics may fit with their take on life, you can’t help feeling that it’s a bit of an awkward fit with the rest of the album. The record reaches its conclusion with ‘May We All Meet Again‘ which come across as a modern take on ‘Auld Lang Syne‘, with lyrics such as “Oh, our tears fall for love of the ones, Who were here and gone too soon, And our prayers rise for those who remain, As our hearts put our tears to a tune. May we all meet again“. The main part of the song finishes, but then, after a short lull, we get around 20 seconds of percussion; it’s not immediately obvious why.

There’s a definite charm to Wild Mountain Mystics, their songs and their playing, typified by a quote from Miller about the way their songs tend to be created; “We don’t try to write songs, they just sort of arrive while we’re playing. One moment you’re noodling, and the next, a song is forming”. As you listen to the album, there’s a sense of warmth, and you get the feeling that the performers are really enjoying their work. The approach and the sound are refreshingly at odds with much of what is produced nowadays.

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