Force of Nature was released on Skaggs Family Records on May 11, 2004 (catalog 6989020102). It was Mountain Heart’s second album for the label after No Other Way (2002), and the first to include guitarist Clay Jones, who joined the band in 2003. Ricky Skaggs produced it, and it was recorded at Skaggs Place Recording Studio in Nashville.
The band is Steve Gulley (guitar, lead vocals), Clay Jones (guitar), Barry Abernathy (banjo), Adam Steffey (mandolin), Jim VanCleve (fiddle) and Jason Moore (bass). Rob Ickes plays dobro on the album, Jeff Taylor adds accordion and tin whistle, and Skaggs himself plays additional guitar, clawhammer banjo and a drum sack.
The thirteen tracks mix songs by band members and outside writers with older material. Jim VanCleve wrote the instrumental “#6 Barn Dance” and co-wrote “Another Day” with Jerry Salley; Steve Gulley and Tim Stafford wrote “Snapshots and Souvenirs”; Glenn Pace wrote the other instrumental, “Twister (Devil’s Dance).” The covers include Tony Arata’s “Man in the Mirror” and Lester Flatt’s “The Old Hometown,” and the closing track, “I Want to Live Beyond the Grave,” is credited as traditional. The album reached number 5 on Billboard’s bluegrass albums chart.
Tracklist
- 1 Heart Like A Roadsign, Head Like A Wheel 3:15
- 2 Another Day 3:02
- 3 Life She's Chosen 3:44
- 4 With A Memory Like Mine 4:45
- 5 Soldier's Prayer 3:23
- 6 Born On The Wind 2:39
- 7 #6 Barn Dance Source Recording 4:31
- 8 The Old Hometown alt version 2:57
- 9 Snapshots And Souvenirs 4:06
- 10 Twister(Devil's Dance) 3:07
- 11 Lonesome Fiddle 4:37
- 12 Man In The Mirror 3:58
- 13 I Want To Live Beyond The Grave 3:06
