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Artists:Alastair Moock
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There was a time in America when folk music was relevant, edgy, even dangerous – a tool of personal and political expression, at once raw and beautiful. That spirit lives on in the music of Alastair Moock.
Moock occasionally performs with a band or accompanist, but you’re most likely to find him alone on a stage, sitting in a low chair, stomping a booted foot, picking his beaten guitar, and growling out some of the most beautifully crafted songs you’re ever likely to hear. Those songs have won Moock top honors at many of the country’s most prestigious contests, including those at the Falcon Ridge, Sisters, and Great Waters folk festivals. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post calls “every song a gem.”
Moock’s writing style is often compared to those of John Prine and Woody Guthrie. Like them, he tends to stick to simpler harmonic forms and tight rhyming patterns that emphasize his lyrical dexterity and natural talent for storytelling. His songs have the smooth, clean lines of American classics – a timelessness reinforced by his whiskeyed voice and muscular fingerpicking. But this is not museum music. Moock frequently tackles contemporary subject matters, examining the changing world around him. The songs are observant, heart-wrenching, funny, and defiant – often all at once.
As a performer, Alastair engages audiences with a style of humor and insight that Americana Radio chart-topper Slaid Cleaves describes as “masterful.” Not content to simply serve up a laundry list of tunes, he 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 show. His ability to connect with audiences has earned Moock the opportunity to open for an impressive roster of national acts over the years, including Arlo Guthrie, Taj Mahal, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Greg Brown, Kasey Chambers, Jay Farrar, Patty Larkin, and Marshall Crenshaw.
In late 2004, Moock released Let it Go, his fourth independent album. A blend of neo-traditionalist Americana and stripped-down roots rock, the recording is more raw and electric than his previous work. Songs range in feel from the raucous title track – a free-wheeling blues satirizing, among other things, the Bush administration’s debacle in Iraq – to the percussive and lyrical "Unwanted Guest," an ode to depression, to the hypnotic "Red Ribbon Waltz," an unabashedly romantic duet with folk songbird Kris Delmhorst.
In 2006, Alastair signed with international roots label CoraZong Records, which re-released Let it Go in the U.S. and Europe. The new release includes three additional tracks, including a stunning solo rendition of Woody Guthrie’s “1913 Massacre.” Let it Go charted for fourteen consecutive weeks in the Roots Music Report Folk Chart’s Top 10 and cracked the Americana Music Chart's Top 40 in February, 2006. Worcester Magazine calls it “one of the best roots music records to come out of New England in recent memory” and Daniel Gewertz of The Boston Herald included it in his Top 10 national album list for the year, saying “Moock has become simply one of the top songwriters in the region.”
Moock started performing in 1995, moving from his home outside New York City to the folk haven of Boston, Massachusetts. After honing his skills on Boston’s innumerable open mike stages and working his way up through the local coffeehouse and club circuit, he began touring in 1997. By 2002, he had already traveled extensively throughout the East and Midwest, performing at many of the top listening rooms and outdoor events in the country, including the Newport and Boston Folk Festivals, The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, The Birchmere in Washington D.C., and The Bluebird Café in Nashville. In 2003 he made his first trip to Norway, where he performed at the prestigious Bergen Music Fest. In spring of 2006, he debuted in London, Glasgow, Paris and Amsterdam.
It seems no young musicians want to be labeled “folk” anymore. Everyone’s passing through on their way to somewhere else – alt-rock, alt-pop, alt-country. Alastair Moock plays folk music. Old-school, powerful, intimate folk music. You may be surprised to hear what it sounds like.
External links
| Alastair Moock on MySpace |
| Alastair Moock on Wikipedia |
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This artist lives in Massachusetts. |
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The gender of this artist/group is male. |
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| Song | Album | Length | Played | Overall | You | Tags | Single Request |
| Never Left The Road Behind | A Life I Never Had | 3:37 | 7 |  3 votes |
You have to login to give your opinion about songs. | Country / Electric guitar / Accordion / Band | Lovely Day | Let It Go | 5:24 | 68 | 33 votes |
You have to login to give your opinion about songs. | Love gone right / Solo vocalist / Acoustic guitar / Americana | Own Way To Heaven | Fortune Street | 3:37 | 1 |  3 votes |
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| Total Time | 12:38 |
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Artist name is|Alastair Moock Last played| more than 1 month ago ---------------------------------------- Show name| Songs by Alastair Moock Length| 15 minutes Order by| random Limit| 3 songs ----------------------------------------
Stats
- Spotlighted: Tuesday, November 29th 2005
- Songs on WWR: 32
- Total plays: 329
- Total requests: 228
- Total listens: 8875
- CDBaby referrals: 0
- CDBaby sales:
Other skins for artist pages
| Default / Simple / Classic / Jimbob / For Playing Around With / 12-stringer / Atuu / Mert / Kelli / Rubenerd / Kazookid |
