AT THE LORING-GREENOUGH HOUSE PRESENTS
ALASTAIR MOOCK
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Notlob Parlor Concerts are presented at the historic Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA. 02130. Built in 1760, the venue is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and has been an historic house museum since 1926. Its beautiful period decor and intimate size make it an ideal setting for acoustic music. Run by volunteers, 100% of the donations go towards series expenses and artist compensation.
Notlob’s twenty seventh production of the 2007-2008 season is ALASTAIR MOOCK!
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 sometimes 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. In 2007 he was nominated for a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer/Songwriter of the Year. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town's best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post says “every song is 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.
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 around the U.S. 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 Europe, where he performed at the prestigious Bergen Music Fest in Norway. Since then he has made numerous trips across the pond with appearances in the UK, France, Netherlands, and Scandinavia.
In 2005, Alastair signed with international roots label CoraZong Records, which released Let it Go, Moock's fourth CD. The album 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 list for the year, saying “Moock has become simply one of the top songwriters in the region.”
This spring CoraZong will release Fortune Street, Moock's latest effort. The album, which includes nine new original tunes and one traditional cover, is Moock's most intimate and mature to date. Two of the tracks were recorded solo; the other eight feature the stripped down roots ensemble of David Goodrich, Lou Ulrich, and Mike Piehl (all former members of the seminal Boston rock band Groovasaurus), joined by guests Kris Delmhorst, Michael Dinallo (The Mercy Brothers), and Sean Staples (The Resophonics).
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.
- Nominee, 2007 Boston Music Award, Outstanding Singer/Songwriter of the Year
- Finalist, 2006 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition
- Winner, 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Contest
- Winner, 2004 Great Waters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
- Winner, 2004 Sisters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
- Finalist, 2004 South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
- Honorable Mention, 2004 Telluride Troubadour Competition
- Award Winner, 2004 Great American Song Contest
- Finalist, 2002 USA Songwriting Competition
- 2008 Celtic Connections Festival (Glasgow, UK)
- 2005, 2002, 1999 Boston Folk Festival (Boston, MA)
- 2005 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (Hillsdale, NY)
- 2005 Sisters Folk Festival (Sisters, OR)
- 2005 Susquehanna Folk Festival (Columbia, MD)
- 2003 Bergen Music Fest (Bergen, Norway)
- 2002 Newport Folk Festival (Newport, RI)
- Billy Block's Western Beat (Nashville, TN)
- The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA)
- The Bluebird Café (Nashville, TN)
- Caffe Lena (Saratoga Springs, NY)
- Club Passim (Cambridge, MA)
- The Focal Point (Maplewood, MO)
- The Iron Horse Music Hall (Northampton, MA)
- The Madison Folk Music Society (Madison, WI)
- The Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago, IL)
- The Outpost in the Burbs (Montclair, NJ)
- The Philadelphia Folksong Society (Philadelphia, PA)
- The Ram's Head Tavern (Annapolis, MD)
- Sanctuary Concerts (Chatham, NJ)
- The Towne Crier Café (Pawling, NY)
Selected Openings and Shared Bills
- Ray Bonneville
- Greg Brown
- Peter Case
- Kasey Chambers
- Slaid Cleaves
- Marshall Crenshaw
- Dick Dale
- Guy Davis
- Jonathan Edwards
- Cliff Eberhardt
- Ramblin' Jack Elliott
- Jay Farrar
- Mary Gauthier
- Arlo Guthrie
- Patty Larkin
- Adrian Legg
- Taj Mahal
- David Mallett
- Lynn Miles
- Bill Morrissey
- Peter Mulvey
- Carrie Newcomer
- Ellis Paul
- Kelly Joe Phelps
- Utah Phillips
- Willy Porter
- Garnet Rogers
- Bill Staines
- John Stewart
- Susan Werner
- Brooks Williams
Artist: ALASTAIR MOOCK
Artist’s websites:
http://www.myspace.com/alastairmoock
Date: Saturday, May 17, 2008
Doors: 7:30pm
Concert: 8:00pm
Suggested minimum donation: $12.50 + $1 LG House preservation fee.
Notlob website: http://notlobmusic.googlepages.com
Artist information: http://www.myspace.com/notlobparlorconcerts
Reservations: As seating is limited to 40, reservations are recommended. Email notlobmusic@gmail.com Reservations expire 15 minutes before concert time, when unclaimed seats will be released to walk-ins.
Venue & accessibility: Loring-Greenough House, 12 South Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130, the large yellow house at the intersection of Centre and South Streets, across the street from the Civil War monument. Handicap accessible; call 617-524-3158 for more information. Please do not call the venue for any other reason.
Directions: http://www.lghouse.org/information.htm
Parking: The Loring-Greenough House lot holds 12 cars, gates are closed when full. Parking is also available on the street and in the public lots located behind Blanchard’s liquors, one block away and the Mellon bank, two blocks away.
MBTA: Take #39 bus from either Back Bay Station or Forest Hills Station to the Monument stop, directly in front of the Loring-Greenough House, at the intersections of Centre and South Streets.
Dining: There are several fine restaurants on Centre Street within 2-3 blocks, with on street parking and a large public parking lot behind Blanchard’s. At Centre Street Café – http://www.centrestcafe.com/ - (669A Centre Street, 617-524-9217), show proof of your reservation and get 10% off. More information at http://groups.google.com/group/notlobmusic/web/centre-street-cafe-becomes-a-notlob-restaurant-partner
Coffee, tea, water and pastries are available for a donation.
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