Highway 280 released their first recording project entitled "Mountain Wind" In 2003. The project consists of traditional bluegrass music, gospel bluegrass, and several original tunes written by the members. We started recording "Mountain Wind" on Saturday, November 9, 2002. Our engineer/producer was a long-time friend of the group by the name of Gary Francis, from the Nashville Tennessee area. On Friday, the day before we began, Gary brought his recording equipment down from his home and he and Billy (Ol Blue) set it up in a sort-of impromptu recording studio in Billy's son's shop. With a few additions (such as strategically placed sections of carpet, quilts, and blankets), we were ready to go.

Session 1- The first song we tackled was "Bluegrass Time Again," an original song by Billy and Clifford. Anyone who has ever recorded knows that the first song is probably the hardest since everyone involved is adapting to the situation and figuring out the best ways of getting the job done. Having survived the first song, we went on to record the title cut for the project "Mountain Wind," an original song by Billy. Next, we recorded a traditional bluegrass song entitle "Blue Ridge Mountain Home." We ended the day with an instrumental called "Fireball Mail."

Session 2 - This day started with Judy's rendition of a gospel song entitled "Help Me" (Judy gets a lot of requests for this one). After this song, we recorded Paul's version of "Your Love is Like a Flower." The next song on the agenda was an old country song named "Have I told you lately, that I love You" (there's a story behind this one - you'll have to ask Clifford about it). We finished up this day with an original instrumental by Billy entitled "Pickin' Blackberries."

Session 3 - This concluded our work on the "Mountain Wind" recording project. We recorded two final songs during this session. The first song was an original by Gwen entitled "Back to the Country (I will Go)." Since this was a brand new song to the group, we took a little time to do some initial arranging of the tune and made a few decisions about who would play what and where they would play it, and we were ready to start. The last song of this session was an old bluegrass standard called "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains."

Update! - Earlier this year, Highway 280 made a trip to the home of Gary Francis in Nashville Tennessee to make a few last minute changes which included replacing a few songs and adding a few new songs to the project. One song that was added to the project was an old bluegrass love song entitled "I Still Miss Someone."

We hope you give this project a listen and we also hope you will enjoy the tapes and CD's! The tapes and CD's should be available in February or March of 2003. Please check this site periodically for more information on the availability of the project.