Track-by-Track: A View Inside Mt. Gribley’s ‘Moss on the Stone’

Indie-folk troubadour Mt. Gribley (the musical moniker of Matt Jarrett) has released his deeply intimate new album Moss on the Stone. A stirring folk chronicle of love, loss, and letting go, the ten-song collection offers a raw, emotionally layered journey through themes of familial sacrifice, anxiety, and quiet resilience – what Jarrett calls “a break-up album, minus the break-up.” Written during a time of personal upheaval and recorded over just five days, the album feels both immediate and weathered – like it’s been sitting in the woods waiting to be found.

While Moss on the Stone touches on themes of heartbreak and emotional distance, its roots are more nuanced. When his wife moved to the UK to pursue a PhD, Jarrett remained in Connecticut, suddenly navigating long-distance partnership, full-time work, and the unexpected role of solo caregiving for his teenage stepchild.

Jarrett comments:

“In a way, I became a single parent overnight – working, paying bills, holding down the fort, and dealing with the emptiness that comes from not having your person around. That’s where this record comes from.”

What emerged is a full-length album shaped by three years of quiet transformation marked by separation, responsibility, and the quiet, often unnoticed resilience it takes to keep moving forward. Moss on the Stone is a weathered collection of songs carved from sleepless nights, distant love, and the stubborn ache of continuing on when your heart would rather not.

Today, Matt (Mt. Gribley) joins us for a Track-by-Track rundown of Moss on the Stone, sharing with us the story behind each song.

Album art for ‘Moss On the Stone’, artwork by Jakub Woziwodzki

1. “Mourning Light”

“This song came quick and fast one morning and just felt like the right song to set the tone of this ‘break-up album, minus the break-up.’ I was performing at a songwriter’s circle a while back, and the artist next to me called my songs ‘upbeat melancholy.’ Not a bad description. It’s sort of an inner dialogue with myself, fighting the negative self-talk that we can all let get in our way. I think it also defines the minimalist sound I was hoping for. At the moment, I’m a solo artist, and I wanted to add enough extra layers sonically to these ten songs to keep things interesting, yet not sounding that different when it’s just me and a guitar in a live setting.”

2. “Parade in the Rain”

“I’m going to stay a little tight-lipped on this one. Without going into too many details, my wife and I met under ‘interesting’ circumstances. We laugh about it now, but in the end, we made it, we persevered, and we’re happy. Musically, I was messing with a Nick Drake cover, got distracted, and this little riff appeared out of nowhere. This happens a lot.”

Mt. Gribley, Courtesy of Artist

3. “Between the Walls”

“This is the one song that diverges from the album thematically. But I feel like it’s a universal subject, especially in today’s divided USA. One family member rejects another family member for purely religious/ideological reasons, and to me, that’s just sad. I remember trying it out at a local open mic, and a kind, older lady pulled me aside and said, ‘I understand everything you just sang.’ That felt good.”

4. “The Wishing Well”

“I’d call this an ‘oh, poor is me’ song. I wrote it pretty quickly during a period of time when nothing seemed to go my way. Those periods of time always seem to pass, and you move on.”

5. “Moss on the Stone”

“This one started the whole album. Personally, whenever I mess around with altered tunings, many times I’ll just be fiddling around, not paying attention, and some cool little riff appears out of nowhere, so I go with it. It’s a pretty simple song about missing someone.”

6. “Saturn’s Return”

“My wife is getting her PhD in Archeoastronomy in England, and we talk on the phone almost every day, so I hear a lot about the sky and stars. These ideas just creep into my lyrics automatically. We’re finally reaching the end of this strange period of time and are simply waiting for things to return to normal. I remember my producer, Eric Lichter, kept mentioning, ‘There’s a Joni Mitchell vibe to this one.’ He’s referring to the guitar, obviously. I can’t sing like Joni.”

7. “Kerosene”

“I believe there are some songs you really shouldn’t try and explain. I know it sounds like a cop-out, and maybe it is. I wrote these words, not really knowing what I was trying to say, but it felt right. So I went with it. I’ve heard stories that Bon Iver wrote songs by repeating gibberish until the right words formed. That wasn’t exactly what I did, but I won’t be surprised if I feel this song means something different in five years. Also, my dad’s name was Wade.”

8. “Firefight”

“I enjoy solitude. Last year, my family gave me the gift of a cabin in the woods in the middle of a Connecticut winter for a few days. I loved it and came home with this song.”

Mt. Gribley Photo

9. “Superglue”

“We made the decision as a team to get my wife over to the UK and get her PhD. This is her dream, just as mine is making this music. This song feels like a breaking point. Or as close to a breaking point as we ever came. I’m very fond of the band Frightened Rabbit and Scott Hutchison, who could somehow express the darkest of emotions, yet sonically hit you in the gut with pure, unbridled hope. That’s what I was trying to do with ‘Superglue.’”

10. “The Long Road”

“I had nine songs ready when I went into the studio for five days, and that felt good. But I felt like I didn’t have a good exit song. A good denouement. It’s been a rough four years living in a long-distance relationship, but we made it, and we’re getting ready for what’s next. But, I also didn’t have the money to go back in and record something else, so I scrolled through my voice memos on my phone, filled with bits and pieces of ideas and came across this little fingerpicked thing and wrote ‘The Long Road.’ I recorded it with a single mic in my garage and left it pretty raw and dirty. After that, the album felt complete.”