With members hailing from Tennessee, Alabama and California, the formation of Nashville bluegrass-based folk/Americana sextet Bearheart has been a semi-turbulent flight for a couple of years now. Dashed hopes of getting off the ground, waiting on the right bandmates and striving to get their name out have all been part of this band’s journey; this band’s perseverance, though, has finally paid off with the release of their self-titled debut EP, a dream since 2007 but unrealized until September of last year.

Bearheart’s 5 tracks are all worthwhile for those who enjoy the idea of, say, The Avett Brothers and Wood Brothers meeting Langhorne Slim’s clunkiness and (for the local-artist fan) The Hardin Draw’s darkness. This EP takes off with the cheerful “Before I Die,” lyrically motivated by an itch for forward motion in light of life’s uncertainty, while musically, the vocals are the Avetts all the way and, stylistically, something the Wood Brothers and Langhorne Slim would do goofing around. The following, “Off My Mind,” flies in that same airspace.

“Before I Die” is presumably Bearheart’s current single (they posted a video for the song on YouTube), but “Under Heaven, By the Sea” has brought the band the most attention as of late. It was recently borrowed and performed in a ballet by Chattanooga’s Terpsichord dance company in mid-March while the band was back here competing in Nashville independent station Lightning 100’s Music City Mayhem contest as well as being singled out by American Songwriter’s “Daily Discovery,” topping off a big month. “Under Heaven . . . ” and the symphonic “Living Out My Dream” provide down-tempo contrast, with dark lyrics to match.

The icing on the cake, though, is the head-bobbing “Drink It Off,” co-written by McMillen and lead vocalist/guitarist Matt Leonhardt. It’s the only duet about alcoholism you’ll probably ever need.

Bearheart can be found on reverbnation.com/bearheartband and bearheart.bandcamp.com.