Mount Marcy is the highest point in New York State, with an elevation of 5,344 feet (1,629 m). It is a popular destination for hikers due to its stature and great views, and the peak can get very crowded in the summer months.^{[citation needed]} Located in Essex County, the mountain is in the heart of the Adirondack High Peaks Region of the High Peaks Wilderness Area.

The mountain is named after former governor William L. Marcy, who authorized the environmental survey that explored the area including its highest peak, known at that time as Tahawus. "Tahawus" is an Indian word that means "cloud splitter;" the local Indians, however, actually had no name for this mountain - the name Tahawus was given to the mountain by white settlers of the area. The first recorded ascent of Mount Marcy was in 1837 by a large party led by Ebenezer Emmons. Today the ascent is easier due to existing trails that require no technical skills, allowing ascent and descent to be made in a day. Vice President (and former governor) Theodore Roosevelt had just finished climbing Mount Marcy when he learned that President William McKinley, who had been shot in Buffalo but had apparently recovered, had taken a sudden turn for the worse and would not survive his wounds.

Frontier Ruckus is an American folk-rock band from Michigan. The project is centered on the lyrically intensive songs of Matthew Milia, and was formed by Milia and banjo player David Winston Jones while living in Metro Detroit. In 2008, the band released its debut full-length record, The Orion Songbook.

Milia and Jones formed the band while attending high school together at Brother Rice in Metro Detroit. They began by playing a mixture of Milia's early compositions and traditional bluegrass songs that Jones had collected. Around this time they also recruited Eli Eisman as a bassist. While Milia attended Michigan State University—where he studied poetry under Diane Wakoski—and Jones attended the University of Michigan, Frontier Ruckus expanded into a six-piece. The new formation included Zachary Nichols playing trumpet, musical saw, and melodica; Ryan Etzcorn playing drums; and Anna Burch singing harmony vocals—all of whom Milia met while in East Lansing.

In the beginning of 2007, shortly after the release of I Am The Water You Are Pumping, Frontier Ruckus began to receive attention in Michigan, with Metro Times considering the band "already one of the very best sounds to come out of Michigan this entire decade," and Real Detroit Weekly stating: "This is the best band you haven't heard and Milia is the most impressive wordsmith I've listened to in a really long time. I'm not sure If I can recall a voice as untreated and honest as Milia's ... ever. His is a voice whose timbre carries as much meaning as the words that come through it."