Published in Bennington Banner on June 26, 2014
Original article: http://www.benningtonbanner.com/localnews/ci_26020337/amelia-meath-sylvan-esso-benningtons-own-pop-star

Four years after her graduation from Bennington College, where she even stayed over the summers to work at the library, Amelia Meath might just be Bennington’s first pop star.

Meath’s music career started in the living room of her house on Main Street in North Bennington, where she heard future bandmate Molly Erin Sarle singing her original tune “Dog Song.” Meath and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig learned the song, and soon the trio became Mountain Man. Quickly attracting attention on the internet with their tranquil, unvarnished songs and layered vocal harmonies, Mountain Man released their debut album “Made the Harbor” in the summer of 2010, earning the band critical acclaim and the chance to perform at the Newport Folk Festival, tour with Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi and temporarily join Leslie Fiest’s band as backing singers.

Now, …

I’ve been living in Bennington for five months now, and in some ways this post has been in the pipeline since my first week here back in September. When I took over the Arts desk here at the Banner, one of the first things I did was scour social networks, music blogs and other corners of the internet for any mention of my interesting new little town. I liked what I found.

As it turns out, a handful of my favorite young musicians started out at Bennington College, including Alex Bleeker of Real Estate (and his own cool projects) and the amazing women of Mountain Man.

I’ll get back to Bleeker soon I’m sure, for now I really want to talk about Mountain Man.
I heard Mountain Man for the first time at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival. Actually, I wasn’t technically at …