Saturday: 4:45 p.m. Penobscot, 7:30 p.m. Railroad; Sunday: 1:30 p.m. Railroad

The members of Mountain Heart rank among the finest bluegrass musicians in the nation, so it is no surprise that their new band is sensational.

“Take some tasteful innovation and mix it with strong vocals and great musicianship, then top it all off with the kind of soul that once made country music great, and you have the essence of Mountain Heart.” That’s how Robert C. Buckingham of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine describes this group that may deserve the award for most aptly named bluegrass band.

Mountain Heart earned an International Bluegrass Music Association award for Emerging Artist of the Year before the band even released its first recording. In 2001, it won the IBMA Vocal Group of the Year award, a great accomplishment considering that the group’s members are also some of the most talented instrumentalists in bluegrass today. They have performed at many festivals and venues, including MerleFest, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival, and have performed half a dozen times at the Grand Ole Opry in just their first few years together. In 2002, their second recording, a gospel album titled “The Journey,” won the IBMA award for Gospel Recorded Event of the Year and prompted Ricky Skaggs to sign them to his label, Skaggs’ Family Records. In September 2002, their third album, “No Other Way,” was released to critical acclaim.

Adam Steffey, mandolin player for Mountain Heart, won the 2002 IBMA award for Mandolin Player of the Year. A veteran of Alison Krauss & Union Station, Steffey helped found Mountain Heart in 1999. After a brief hiatus in which he was a member of the gospel group The Isaacs and with the Dixie Chicks in their 2001 Country Music Awards performance, Steffey has returned to Mountain Heart with his considerable talents.

Guitarist Steve Gulley already had won praises for his vocal talents as an entertainer at Kentucky’s Renfro Valley before he joined Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, a move that brought him well-deserved national recognition. A native Tennessean, Gulley has performed harmony vocals on the widely praised Keith Whitley album “Sad Songs & Waltzes,” a forthcoming release by Ronnie Bowman, and Linda Lay’s release “Linda’s Mercantile Store” (Cracker Barrel). In 2001, he was nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year by the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America.

Banjo player Barry Abernathy is a former member of one of the hottest bluegrass bands of the ’90s, IIIrd Tyme Out. Abernathy began his career performing with the bluegrass gospel group Silver Creek. He went on to become a featured member of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and recorded five albums with that supergroup. In 1997, Abernathy was named Banjo Player of the Year by the SPBMA.

Fiddler Jim Van Cleve, though young, already has impressive credentials. A veteran of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, he is a former member of Ric-o-chet as well as Lou Reid & Carolina, and has recorded with Rambler’s Choice and Scott Vestal & Friends on Bluegrass 2001. This Floridian’s mixture of technical superiority, bluegrass fundamentals and uninhibited creativity has earned him respect from fellow musicians and bluegrass fans.

North Carolinian Jason Moore adds his bass playing mastery to the ensemble’s lineup of stellar instrumentalists. First earning national recognition as a band member with IBMA Emerging Artist James King, Moore has become a first-call recording musician. His credits include the IBMA award-winning “Knee Deep in Bluegrass” as well as Michael Cleveland’s forthcoming solo album.