After two decades pursuing my personal vision of a so-called “Music Career” ©™, which pursuit involved stints in bands on both coasts, notably as the bassist/vocalist for touring “jam band” Tibbetts Street from Athens, GA, I released my debut CD on 09/08/07. September 8th was chosen because it is the birthday of Jimmie Rodgers, a significant inspiration for me. Jimmie’s early recordings were done live with only his guitar and vocal, which is what I wanted to do. Townes Van Zandt’s “Live at the Old Quarter” also influenced my decision to keep it simple.

It was an unusual choice, since almost all of my compositions are written with arrangements involving overlapping contrapuntal and/or harmonizing parts. But I wanted to stress the intrinsic qualities of the songs themselves — which is to say the lyrics, melodies, and chord qualities — over production or musical skill. I did end up overdubbing an extra vocal or second instrument on a couple of numbers where I felt utterly compelled by the piece. But all 15 songs were initially recorded using only a single guitar and voice, and most of them remained that way through mastering.

Speaking of compulsion, I was soon to discover that the “Music Industry” ©™, compels artists – yes, even independent artists – to specify a genre for their work, and I wasn’t sure where my music was supposed to fit, since the way I write is essentially to distill a bit of everything I’ve ever heard from jazz to country to blues to funk to soul to rock to folk to reggae. For the release, I selected the “Modern Folk” genre, not because I think this is a Modern Folk record (I’m not even sure what Modern Folk really is???), but because the record is acoustic and, I suppose, fairly organic, and because I’m definitely just one of the regular folk. But in press releases I referred to my sound as “Dirt Road Rock,” which seemed appropriate for a variety of reasons, including the facts that I lived in a country house at the end of dirt road and had recorded the album in a 100-year-old barbershop across the street from the courthouse of a very quaint southern town. For the rest, I present below my favorite review from the period.

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Hailing from Georgia, Charles Ashley Moore claims to have created his own genre of music which he calls 'Dirt Road Rock', although I'm not sure where the rock comes into it or indeed where this dirt road is supposed to be. On opening the package in front of me and sliding the CD out of its slip-cover this Bluesbunny is pleasantly surprised to find a CD label which looks like a good old fashioned Vinyl LP, complete with faux grooves - a nice touch, and a sign that the artist actually cares about what he's doing!

The first thing that grabs at the ol' Bunny ears is Charles' voice, all at once it's rough and whiskey soaked and yet has indefinable sweet qualities that are accentuated by the clear and well balanced tone of the acoustic guitar. No slouch at the guitar either, Charles even manages to drop solos into a handful of the tunes; no mean feat when there are no other instruments on the track.

The songs themselves would be great chill out music for a relaxing summer afternoon, with the breathy harmonica and a laid-back descending chord sequence of "Blind Me" reminding me of lying back on a boat floating down that lazy river. "Live Your Dream" has a great lyrical chorus matching perfectly the bouncing rhythm of the finger picked guitar. "Freedom Is a God Given Right" embraces Charles' soulful side with a beautiful call and response between the multitracked vocals in the chorus. The downside to the CD is its lack of variety. As well presented as the music is, and not forgetting Charles' amazing sandpaper and chocolate voice, the one voice/one guitar formula wears thin over the course of the album. Although the songs are memorable and well written enough in themselves, the lack of peaks and troughs makes the CD, as a whole, a bit repetitive.

Those objections aside, this CD is one of the better albums to be placed in my CD player. You should check it out if you like your acoustic music chilled out and on a jazz/soul trip.

~ Bluesbunny from Montgomery - The Bluesbunny (Oct 2, 2007)

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