With his sophomore record, Farewell Mountain, Ben Shannon was not quite ready to say farewell to his pre-occupation with a polished mainstream sound although his song choices indicate a move toward his folk roots. Farewell Mountain as an album title refers to mountaintop removal and the economy of resource extraction that defines the region he calls home, Appalachia. Also, the title serves as a literal goodbye or farewell to mountains of worry, debt, and physical entanglements. Finally, Farewell Mountain is an imagined place of sanctuary, comfort, and meditative remove from the heights of existential confusion woven into the fabric of our modern world. Each song is has a lyrical reference to the album title and works in proximity to these multiple meanings. As an artifact, Farewell Mountain is representative of Ben's evolving studio sound which has been in large part produced by Dave Hidek, chief engineer at Treelady Studios. The team of studio musicians who hired out and or lent themselves to this effort are also an enormous part of the reason this album sounds as brilliant as it does. Not only do Ben's songs interlink with the album title, but the album title links in with his previous album Move On and with his multiple forthcoming albums.