The great thrust for westward expansion of the United States started within a worldwide demand for the fashion fur in the early 19th century. Trappers, traders and explorers came by boat, horseback, mule and wagon, to the rivers and streams of the Western Mountains and risked their lives to posses the prized pelt of the beaver. Along with the dangers involved was the human experience. Winter of the Heart takes a close look at the predicaments created from a life in the wilderness, and encounters with sober realism, a wide range of feelings; including drunken joy, frozen agony, gleeful abandon, melancholy, romance, the thrill of adventure, and not the least, the arrogant and boastful pride of the American Mountain man.

Historically spanning time from the near outset of the Fur Trade Era in 1820, to just beyond it's decline around 1840, ground is covered from St. Louis to Santa Fe, the Wind River to Fort Vancouver, and from Tennessee to California.

This collection of Mountain Man Ballads is dedicated with special honor and respect for Rick "Two Beards" Fischer, and the cause of "Those who went before.