american roots music

Details

Contents

#		Title	Length	Sample
1		Somewhere Elseward Blown	4:12
2		The Bottom Of A River	5:19
3		My Blue-Eyed Jane	3:30
4		Never Left The Road Behind	3:36
5		Smoke And Flowers	4:31
6		Pastures Of Plenty	3:54
7		Paradise	5:37
8		The Word I Said	3:29
9		Put Your Foot In Your Mouth	3:34
10		The Best Thing I'll Ever Know	5:04
11		John Lee	4:33
12		Nothing In This World	6:00
13		A Life I Never Had	3:50

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Description

What shelf does Alastair Moock belong on? Folk? Rock? Blues? Country? The truth is, his music can't easily be pinned to any one genre - and that's just fine with him. It doesn't seem to bother his growing national audience either.

Moock's award-winning songs have been compared to those of John Prine; his whiskeyed voice to those of Steve Forbert and Tom Waits. His recorded material ranges from deeply-grooved blues and twang to lush folk-rock and raw acoustic roots. He has played solo at several of the top listening rooms and outdoor events in the country, including the Newport and Boston Folk Festivals; but he is equally comfortable playing smoky bars with his band or acting as impresario for his traveling roots music revue, Pastures of Plenty.

He has opened for an impressively diverse range of national acts including Greg Brown, Taj Mahal, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Kasey Chambers, Jay Farrar, Marshall Crenshaw, and even surf-rock king Dick Dale - and has managed to win over all of their audiences. Alastair's musical style may be hard to classify, but it's undeniably easy to appreciate. There are two simple reasons: great songs and captivating performances.

A winner in the 2003 Great American Song Contest and finalist in the 2002 USA Songwriting Competition, Moock writes tunes that are wise beyond his years. His lyrics are short on navel-gazing and long on wit, expounding on love lost and found and the struggles and gifts of daily living. The Boston Globe calls Moock "one of the town's best and most adventurous songwriters" and The Washington Post declares "every [song] is a gem."

As a performer, Alastair consistently engages audiences everywhere he goes with a humor and insight that keeps even the most unlikely fans in rapt attention. After witnessing a recent opening set, Americana Radio chart-topper Slaid Cleaves described what he saw in three words: "That was masterful." Not content to simply serve up a laundry list of tunes, Alastair mixes his own songs with spoken word pieces, stories from the road, and even a bit of American history, providing context for the traditional blues and ballads he includes in every performance.

Alastair spent the bulk of his early musical years developing his sound in the folk haven of Boston, Massachusetts. In 1999 he reached a new level of recognition in the region when he began his critically-acclaimed traveling roots music series, Pastures of Plenty, which brings together top area singer-songwriters and roots musicians to jam on traditional American music. The series was called "one of the hippest hootenannies in town" by The Boston Globe, and quickly became one of the region's most popular ongoing revues.

By the time he relocated to Iowa in 2002, Moock had already toured extensively throughout the East and Midwest. In 2003 he began playing Europe, making two successful tours of Norway - the first of which included an appearance at the prestigious Bergen Music Fest, headlined by Neil Young.

He has released two independent albums, Bad Moock Rising (1999) and A Life I Never Had (2002), which have received airplay on over 100 AAA, Americana, and folk-formatted radio stations nationwide. A Life I Never Had includes guest appearances by Mark Erelli, Ellis Paul, Tracy Grammer and the late, great Dave Carter, and was a featured pick in Acoustic Guitar and Performing Songwriter magazines. Recently, Moock's version of Bob Dylan's "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" from Bad Moock Rising was included in BMG Records' European-release tribute to Dylan, May Your Song Always Be Sung, alongside tunes by artists like Rick Danko, Chris Whitley, and Eric Anderson.

Alastair's newest album, Let it Go, is due for release in the summer of 2004. More jagged-edged and electric than his past efforts, the songs range in emotion from the mellow "Red Ribbon Waltz" - a duet with Kris Delmhorst - to the raucous title track. This promises to be Moock's most powerful album yet.

So put Alastair Moock on whatever shelf you like - just make sure you give him a listen. Once you do, you'll be back for more.