If you’re a fan of country music, then you’re no doubt aware of one of the hottest new bands on the scene: Gloriana. Critics have raved about this four-member group of young artists, with Billboard calling them "a sonic delight" and People predicting they are "destined for glory."
Destined for glory, eh? Well, then, the band certainly is well named.
Gloriana burst on to the scene in a big way last year after opening Taylor Swift’s 2009 tour. Their self-titled debut premiered at #3 on Billboard's Top 200 and at #2 on the Billboard Country Album Chart. And on the cusp of the band’s Top 10 debut single “Wild At Heart,” fans voted them “Nationwide On Your Side Award” at the 2009 CMT Awards and they also won “Breakthrough Artist of the Year” at the American Music Awards last November.
(Gloriana: Cheyenne Kimball, Mike Gossin, Rachel Reinert, Tom Gossin)
I had the pleasure of meeting the talented four-some – brothers Tom and Mike Gossin, Rachel Reinert and Cheyenne Kimball – when they attended NRDC’s Music Saves Mountains campaign launch event in Nashville last November. After learning at that event about mountaintop removal in Appalachia and the desecration of America's oldest mountains and those who make their home there, the band members unanimously said "sign us up" for the campaign to end the world's worst coal mining.
“I'm from North Carolina, not far from Appalachia, and I never even knew this was happening," says Mike. "Mountains that were 400 million years in the making should be treasured, not plundered.”
“It seems clear that mountaintop removal would never be allowed in the Rockies, the Smokies, the Blue Ridge or other mountain ranges in America," Cheyenne says. "It’s unforgivable if we don’t take action to stop it from leveling Appalachia, especially when there are less destructive ways to mine coal.”
“As a Tennessean, mountains are so inspiring to me," adds Rachel. "We're happy to lend our voices to the campaign to save the Appalachian Mountains.”
“Music connects us all, it moves us and it can change a person,” says Mike. “The kind of music we sing was born in the mountains of Appalachia, so we definitely want to do what we can as a band to help the cause.”