Mt. Joy Embraces Its Position On The Rise In Rock

Matt Quinn, frontman for the Americana rock band Mt. Joy, calls it a “flash memory.” He was just 10 years old when he ran up to his mother carrying a toy guitar. Even at a young age, the instrument was one of his prized possessions. Quinn played a song he’d written on it for her. She complimented him. He grinned. 

But Quinn remembers another time much more vividly. He can recall that same toy guitar snapped in half, neck broken on the sofa. Some with weaker constitutions might have let that be the end of their careers, but not Quinn. He persevered. And now Mt. Joy is one of the rising — and most adaptable — groups in rock. 

“I don’t know who sat on it and snapped it in half,” Quinn says with a laugh. “I can picture it now. It’s probably why we write a lot of sad songs now.”