Half a Century of R. Stevie Moore :: The Godfather of Home-Recording
From transcendental tape traditions, to esoteric experiments, melodic manipulations through metaphysical mediation, to trailblazing trickery in the analog world, Nashville, Tennessee-based multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and “godfather of home-recording”, R. Stevie Moore, may not be your first guess, or topic of interest when it comes to the lore of Music City. But for those of us, myself included, from the Middle Tennessee area, he’s a liberating legend to say the least. As prolific as a never-ending night of Nubian notes from Miles Davis performing live at the Fillmore in 1970, Moore’s catalogue of cosmic creations transcends the lysergical landscape of his peers by miles, and several years before the late great Daniel Johnston began his revolutionary reign on the medium. Having more of a direct relation to a mad scientist than a punk rocker, the veteran musician’s trepidatious take on the human psyche, and its endless creativity, inspired an entire generation to record those melodic moments in the comfort of their home, while simultaneously pursuing the spiritual success of a recording artist, if you could manage to tap into the business of the brain at any cost. With the background of the Bible Belt cutting off prehistoric pathways to the brain, causing fatal hemorrhaging throughout the body, it’s sincerely hard to imagine a figure like R. Stevie Moore stomped around the city with his experimental energy in the midst of legends like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, and Jimmy Buffett, to name a few, writing, and recording their early country classics throughout the 1970s. I suppose you could picture him raising harmonious hell somewhere in LA, or the no wave scene in New York City, but his southern roots are just as important as his liberating legacy as an artist, and we are forever inspired by his iconic intensity here in the Volunteer state.
Moore is the son of the late Bob Moore, a prolific session musician, orchestra leader, and double bassist of the highly influential Nashville A-Team who took on the world during the 1950s and 1960s. Having recorded with the likes of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Roger Miller, in particular on the historical hit “King of the Road”, and several others, it is without a doubt that the Moore family came from radical royalty regarding the sheer talent of musicianship, and God-given gifts in the arts. By the late 1960s, Moore would begin his introduction into the art of recording, and now, over half a century later, the legend has effortlessly established a body of work that he says is in the ballpark of 400-plus albums and over 4,000 recorded songs. Featuring titles like “Phonography”, “Next”, “What's The Point?!!”, “Verve” and “Teenage Spectacular”, to name a few, would take twice as long to embrace every single effort made by Moore as it did for him to create these complicated creatures. As a good sport, you should accept this as a cultural challenge. Ready, set, go! Within the cosmic channels of his catalogue, contaminated with pure poetic power and creative chaos, listeners can expect to find every genre and subject of sound under the sonic sun. From prog rock to lo-fi fever dreams, straight rock to new wave, and minimalist mania, Moore’s life has been documented as if he’s been the guest and host on his very own harmonious history channel. Where talent clashes with atmospheric athleticism across the southern skies, this “one man band” has wasted no time traveling the world with his mortal compass.
Photo: Mimi Gibson
