News/Thoughts

Mountain Natives

Folks are inspired into a life of music by many things; often it’s a family history of music or peer exposure in high school or college. For Phillip Pappas, college was about Physics. Although he had started playing guitar when he was 15, life was to be about pursuing a Physics job. But something wasn’t right, and he realized that it wasn’t for the right reasons. “People would come into work, and they didn’t seem very happy until they were talking about their vacation,” he told us. “I realized that I didn’t want to be that guy.”

With faith a strong part of his life, Phillip began to pray about where he should be headed with is life. “Deep down, I knew the answer all along,” Phillip said, “but I never felt worthy to pursue what my heart truly desired.” So the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX native stepped out in faith and began pursuing his passion of music.

All was going right, finally, so he though. He met a girl named Lauren, the woman of his dreams, and they realized they wanted to do music together. Lauren, from a musical background herself, grew up with a dad who “had an affection for white stratacasters.” His life and the future seemed on track. Then at 27, a scare with malignant skin cancer changed his perspective again.

Fortunately for Phillip, they caught it in time, and he’s cancer free. After the recovery, “I realized that we should be doing music together, and enjoying life together,” he said; And they did. Now the two travel and play music together as the indie folk duo, Mountain Natives. Their debut album, Essential, is filled with songs born from a place of gratitude and hope. “Mountains of adversity can be thrown in the sea,” is their motto. “We’re natives to obstacles, and we’re native to trouble. But we believe that even if you have burdens on your shoulders, you can absolutely overcome it,” Phillip said.

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