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Hometown: Staunton, Va.
Album:_ Folk Singer_
For Fans Of: Tom Waits, Todd Snider, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
The sharp, introspective lyrics of Nathan Moore draw an instant connection to the great folk singers of the past, and it’s no surprise the singer-songwriter says also feels a deep kinship with the more traditional poets he admired growing up. “I am a word man, no doubt about it,” he says. “When I am writing a song it starts with me picking up and strumming my guitar, but that is just the background, the canvas which I then can paint my words on.”
On Moore’s new album, appropriately titled Folk Singer (out now), those words weld a mighty power. Recorded after the split up of his original band, ThaMuseMeant, and in between stints with his side-project Surprise Me Mr. Davis (with The Slip and Marco Benevento), the LP captures Moore at his most personal. The songs gather up the lessons he learned and the stories he discovered during his time alone on the road, when he played night after night and became what he calls “a slave to the moment.” Folk Singer is a stripped down affair, featuring just Moore, his guitar, and his words. “The whole identity of the solo folk-singer thing is a lot more immediate than it has ever been before,” he says, “so the idea of making a record that was representative of what you would see when you see me live was perfect.”
For Moore, participating in that history of hallowed wordsmiths that came before him is important. “When I read Rimbaud or Bukowski, or listen to Woody Guthrie or Hank Williams, I see them all in this long continuum of art and craft that has been going on since we first came up with language,” he says. “I have always felt an intense relationship and lineage to that history.”
Like the folk-singers and writers he admires, Moore sings about the human experience. And whether he’s offering up a screed against America’s current economic situation or a simple love song, Moore delivers his message through a storyteller’s eyes. It’s an inescapable tendency, he explains—one that defines who he is. “Being a songwriter is not something you do for a few minutes a day. It is the way you see the world constantly,” he says. “My eyes and ears are noticing the way people say something. It is the process through which I see the world and process the world. Even when I sleep, it is just the way I dream.”
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Thank you for writing about Nathan Moore. He's truly one of the great songwriters out there right now. Totally underground. I saw his other band Surprise Me Mr. Davis this weekend at Mercury Lounge in NYC. It was the kind of performance that stays with you for days.
Nathan is an incredible songwriter and has unique insight into the human condition. Thanks for this article!
I am thankful for Nathan Moore and for this article! I haven't even seen Nathan perfomr solo yet, just with ThaMusemeant and Surprise Me Mr. Davis, but this CD of his is so good, and when I see him perform I am always pretty impressed. May 2010 bring more great things from Nathan Moore. He works for me, you know?
This article is right on. I've seen Nathan perform and it's a great show. And "sharp, introspective lyrics" is exactly right. Thanks!
Nathan Moore is, are you ready for this, for my money, the best songwriter I've heard. I know. This is a bold and broad statement but a statement I make unhesitatingly. Nathan's work is astoundingly good and beautifully layered. Buy his records and come to understand one of the greats. We're so lucky to have him. .
It's great to see Nathan getting the attention he deserves after honing his craft in countless bars, clubs, and festival side stages. He makes me laugh, think, dance, but mostly, like the song says, he can make me smile.
What a beautiful album. Ive been a fan of Nathan's since ThaMuseMeant. His music has made some hard times easier. That is what a good "folk singer" truly does, allows us to express in beautiful music and lyrics what we ourselves sometimes do not find words for.
Hyperbole is abound when discussing Nathan Moore. New Bob Dylan, songwriter of his generation...
They are all justified. He is that good!
I HATE when people say this as a vague explanation of why something is good, but you simply have to see him live. He has a way of capturing the mood in a room and either screwing with it a little bit, or cementing it, and either way you end up with special memories. I've seen him at four or five festivals this summer with different kinds of crowds and expectations and every single time he captured everyone within earshot.
In a world where music has come to mean so little, Nathan Moore gives you reason to believe that some things are still worthwhile.
I remember the first time I ever saw Nathan perform 2 years ago. After growing up in a world filled with tasteless music, I remember sitting there that night thinking to myself, "Ah, so this is what real music sounds like." It was a profound moment in my life that I have Nathan to thank for. Every performance of his I've seen since that night gives me even more chills than the last.
Thanks Paste for featuring one of my favorite musicians, it's so great to see him getting the recognition he so richly deserves! I've been fortunate to see Nathan perform solo and in ThaMuseMeant and Surprise Me Mr. Davis many times over the years (thanks High Sierra Music Festival!) and to my ears (mind, soul, heart, etc.) he just keeps getting better and better.
Time to put Folk Singer on again...