Music on the Mountain is a summertime concert series set in the beautiful Kings Gap, a heavily wooded state park with a mansion, an education center and a stunning view over the Cumberland Valley. This year, I was pleased to make the acquaintance of Fig for a Kiss, a Lehigh Valley-based band that preceded my own on stage. After hearing them perform, I couldn't leave without a copy of their CD, Wherever You Go.

The CD comes with nothing in the way of liner notes, so don't expect to learn much about the band within. And, while their website tells you a bit about the band, it doesn't say much about the music.

So let's let the music speak for itself, shall we?

The band is Seth Baliles on vocals, guitar and concertina; Addyson Teal on vocals and fiddle; and Lucas Mitsch on vocals, pipes, whistles, etc. (The website also lists Casey McGinty on vocals and fiddle, but she does not appear on the CD, nor was she at Kings Gap.)

The CD opens with a lively and nicely layered instrumental, "Beare Island," that sets the tone for excellent musicianship. In fact, while I have no complaints about the band's vocal performances, I'll say the instrumentals are their strongest platform. Truly exceptional stuff, as they demonstrate again on "Star of Munster," "The Sound of Sleet" and "Thrush."

That's not to slight the songs, which start on track 2 with "Wherever You Go," followed soon after by the light-hearted, if violent, "Erin Go Bragh." The perennial Silly Wizard favorite, "The Rambling Rover," which leads more lively tunes. More songs follow, including "Kildalton Bridge," "Johnny Be Fine" (which tells the story of a heartbroken girl complaining to her mother about her wayward father who spawned all of the eligible young men in the town ... a story I first heard as a child as a bawdy joke told by Pennsylvania Dutch comedian Professor Schnitzel about a father's tawdry adventures at "The Picnics"), and "Step It Out Mary," the slightly unusual arrangement of which caught my ear at the Kings Gap show.

The album ends with a final song, "Frobisher Bay," and one last tune set, "The Trip to Pakistan." Suffice it to say, I'm glad I met Fig for a Kiss this summer, and you should give them a try.

[ visit Fig for a Kiss online ]