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Alastair Moock

by Alastair Moock

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    In digipak with artwork by Lori Salmeri and photos by Michael D. Spencer

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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 13 Alastair Moock releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Be a Pain: An Album for Young (and Old) Leaders, Everybody Was a Kid (Live with Ms. Jessica), Alastair Moock, All Kinds of You and Me, Inside a Book, Singing Our Way Through: Songs for the World's Bravest Kids, These Are My Friends, A Cow Says Moock, and 5 more. , and , .

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1.
Dream 03:25
Walk on down the street, follow your own feet Listen to your heartbeat and forget the things you know Breathe on in the air, the evening is your prayer Just let yourself be there – walking down the road Chorus: This world is just a dream floating down a stream The moment is the only thing you need Stop fighting ‘gainst the current, the things that you’ve determined They aren’t and they weren’t and they’re never gonna be Think about the fact that you’re just a little speck A fleck upon an acorn in an ocean’s raging storm In the scheme of time and space you leave no lasting trace The troubles that you face have no gravity or form Chorus The simplicity of Darwin, the flowers in the garden The molecules of carbon and the things you never see Are just below the surface of this agitated circus Stop searching for a purpose when the point is just to be Chorus
2.
Hallelujah 02:37
Hallelujah if I make it up this morning Hallelujah if I leave my bed Hallelujah, Lord, if you hear me call Hallelujah I ain’t dead Hallelujah If I feel the sun shine Hallelujah if it warms my skin Hallelujah If I’m feeling half fine It’s a miracle the shape I’m in Hallelujah for a cup of coffee Hallelujah if I write 2 lines Hallelujah if I ain’t too off-key Hallelujah if them 2 lines rhyme Hallelujah for my toes and fingers Hallelujah for my big ‘ol feet Hallelujah for a time, a rhythm and a roll Lord, help a white man keep the beat Hallelujah, Lord, I’m in my forties Hallelujah, Lord, I’m middle age Hallelujah if I found my car keys And made it up here on this stage Hallelujah for one more evening Hallelujah for another night Hallelujah if my heart’s still beating In the morning, Lord, praise the light
3.
Morning 04:13
Every morning ‘fore the birds are calling And the first light is falling on the lines of her face I embrace her and try not to wake her As I thank the maker for good fortune and fate In that stillness it feels just like Christmas How’d I get to witness all the beauty and grace Of a morning ‘fore the birds are calling And the first light is falling on the lines of her face How’d it happen that this life could happen I ought to be saddened by the world in its state But the vision of her there ‘fore she’s risen Takes the bars from my prison and opens the gate And I wonder ‘fore I fall back a’ slumber How I managed to wander into such a sweet place As a morning ‘fore the birds are calling And the first light is falling on the lines of her face
4.
Off They Go 02:57
Late night Lizard Lounge, miles of music in the round Hold your ground in harmony, sing your songs and set them free Bye bye, off they go, up above and down below Listen to the rhythms run, where do songs go once they’re sung? Open skies of melody, memory, endlessly Everybody sings the blues once the bloom of youth is through Bye bye off they go, up above and down below Listen to the rhythms run, where go blooms once winter comes? Off into the great divide Out upon some ocean wide Tie a note upon a string, hoping for one wondrous thing A song, a sign from off beyond, a hook to hang our lives upon Bye bye off we go, up above and down below Listen to the rhythms run, where go lives once living’s done? Bye bye, off they go, up above and down below Listen to the rhythms run, where do songs go once they’re sung?
5.
I know every line, every bend, every curve Every circle completed, each stone overturned The old sloping hill, the fall and the lift The arc of the oak, the slant and the twist But wasn’t the sky just a little more blue? And what was that scent on the wind blowing through? And didn’t we know more or thought that we knew? Something’s changed   I’ve been through the seasons, the warmth and the rain The pulse of the evening, the storm and the strain The claws of desire, the cloak and the mask You pause for a moment, your future’s the past   But weren’t the curtains a little more open? And whose were the hands that were pulling the rope in? And what was that thing that we all kept on hoping? Something’s changed   Oh the colors may fade But in every lighter shade There’s something’s revealed As the layers are peeled back Disguise is disposed The heart more exposed I’ve studied the grid lines, the charts and the maps Mercurial motions, the grooves in the tracks The height of each mountain, the depth of each sea No matter the measure, the gauge points to me Cuz all of the years and the struggling stretches Have sharpened the senses and softened the edges And after all this time, the only truth left is Something’s changed And maybe the sky was a little more blue then The road takes you places uncharted and new When you look in the mirror you find the one thing that’s true Something’s changed
6.
I hear a tick, I hear a tock Must be your biological clock You're ready, Oh, you're ready You got the itch I wanna scratch I can't resist that's a natural fact I'm ready, I think I'm ready We've had plenty of practice, so how hard can it be? Baby, let's make a family Some say we're in need of a reality check But is there ever a good time so what the heck If you're ready, Oh you're ready Though the money we got ain't going far You can't make a lot with an acoustic guitar But I'm ready, I hope I'm ready 'Cause even fools are born with all the tools they need Oh baby, let's make a family I felt a kick I can't wait I know that's easy for me to say You're ready, you're ready Eight months down, one to go We're gonna add another ring to this big top show And I'm ready, I better be ready So honey cross your fingers and hope it don't look like me Oh baby, let's make a family Baby, you know I've been thinkin’ We can start one out on the drums the other on the bass We’d just need a couple more sets of twins And before too long I'd have me a band for free Oh baby, let's make a fam, let's make a fam Let’s make a family
7.
Big Thoughts 03:34
I remember when my grandmother died I guess I’s about 4 or 5 Wondering, “where did she go?” And “Will I find her somewhere down the road” Kids think big thoughts Bigger than we ever could know How did we get to this place? Where in the world will I go? Libby Cotton was just about eleven Heard that whistle blow, wondered “where’s it headin’?” “Those tracks are gonna take me awful far” She wrote Freight Train on her brother’s old guitar Kids think big thoughts Thoughts so big, they’re pulling at the seams Big as freight trains running down the track Piled high with the biggest kinds of dreams There’s a little kid lying in his bed With a million thoughts running through his head Where will I find my next friend? Where does the universe end? Kids think big thoughts Big as the universe is wide Where did we come from and when? What are we made of and why? Kids think big thoughts Bigger than we ever could know How did we get to this place? Where in the world will I go?
8.
Graveyard 02:47
Down in the old graveyard I guess that’s where I’ll be Someday, I don’t know when But it’s gonna catch up with me You can save your money, save your soul Eventually you got to pay the toll Down in the old graveyard I guess that’s where I’ll be Down in the old graveyard I guess that’s where I’ll go Save my spot, pick my plot And write on my headstone “Husband, father, rest in peace Let this bastard get some sleep” Down in the old graveyard I guess that’s where I’ll go Even Shakespeare had to shake this mortal coil Not even Prince could play his way out of the soil Down in the old graveyard Down about 6 feet deep Dress me in my Sunday best And lay me down to sleep Goodnight Gracie, goodnight moon Goodnight Irene, Lord, make some room Down in the old graveyard Down about 6 feet deep Down in the old graveyard I guess that’s where I’ll be Someday, I don’t know when But it’s gonna catch up with me So ring the bell, grab your coat Blow your horn, that’s all she wrote Down in the old graveyard I guess that’s where I’ll be
9.
Love it or leave it, it’s us against them We’re gonna make it great once again This once was the land of the free and the brave We all had it good here (except for the slaves) When we came here, this country was pure and pristine The skies were all blue and the trees were all green We fought for the rights of the nation we’d build And all here rejoiced (‘cept the natives we killed) Then we built cities and roads and great ports Protected by brave men aloft in great forts And then came the railroads that stretched to the seas We all had it good (unless you were Chinese) Then Abraham Lincoln, the guy with the beard Said “no more” to slavery so that disappeared And that was the end of race problems, we know Black people were equal (except for Jim Crow) The late 1800s were elegant, grand Victorian houses and trust in the land The right to your income and vote you possessed For all of us here (barring those who had breasts) Then Depression and war kinda soured some years But we all pulled together and got back in gear Freedom secured in the home of the champs (Offer not valid in internment camps) The fifties, that’s when things really improved The GI Bill and your mortgage approved Employment was high and the future was bright For everyone, all of us (if you were white) And that’s what we mean by “Be great again” Let’s get ourselves back to where we were then When freedom, prosperity, peace all prevailed (For the Caucasian, Christian, straight, middle-class male) Love it or leave it, it’s us against them We’re gonna make it great once again This once was the home of the brave and the free The world’s greatest nation (if you looked like me)
10.
Dear Dr. King, we’re still working To live your words down here on earth That dream of yours a distant shore We struggle forward, we pull the oar ‘Tween black and white, we’ve made some strides ‘Tween rich and poor, the gap’s more wide The current’s strong, we’re struggling To move along, Dear Dr. King Dear Mrs. Parks, Dear Malcolm too How far’ve we come? We ask of you A president through what you’ve done But voting rights now on the run The drum still beats, the flag still waves But where’s the peace? The living wage? The city streets, the vacant lots The empty hands, how far’ve we got? Dear Dr. King, your dream still lives In the wide eyes of all our kids We ask of them to carry on Past where we’ve been and far beyond The march is slow, the arc is long But it bends towards that ancient song Words echoing, words still to sing We’re free at last, Dear Dr. King
11.
We’re almost there, sign’s on the post Not sure where but we’re getting close It’s been a bumpy ride but we’re alright And we’re almost there We’re almost there, the last patch was rough But the roads looking clear coming up It’s been a bumpy ride but we’re alright And we’re almost there Look at these kids asleep in the back Been through a lot but they’re back on track It’s been a bumpy ride but they’re alright And we’re almost there We’re almost there, we’ll be there soon Look at the stars, that big old moon It’s been a bumpy ride but the sky is wide And we’re almost there You’re looking good, got a healthy glow I know it’s been a hard row to hoe It’s been a bumpy ride but I’m by your side And we’re almost there We’re almost there, sign’s on the post Not sure where but we’re getting close It’s been a bumpy ride but we’re alright And we’re almost there

about

Boston-based singer-songwriter Alastair Moock Moock first made a name for himself on the folk and Americana circuit starting in 1995, touring throughout the U.S. and Europe and playing major venues including the Newport Folk Festival and Norway’s Bergen Music Fest. He won songwriter contests at the Falcon Ridge, Sisters, and Great Waters folk festivals and was nominated for a 2007 Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year.

Still, critical success did not translate into commercial success. When his twin daughters were born in 2006, Moock concluded it was time to move on. As his swan song, he decided to make one more album: a tribute both to his own newborn daughters and to a generation of musical heroes – Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Mississippi John Hurt – who wrote and played, proudly and undiscriminatingly, for both adults and kids.

The album, A Cow Says Moock, became Moock’s most successful project to date. It led to three more family albums which together garnered most of the top awards in American children’s music, including a 2013 GRAMMY Nomination for the album he made with his daughter, Clio, after she was diagnosed with leukemia (she’s now healthy and doing great).

Moock never stopped playing concerts for adults, but he did have a long dry spell where new ‘grownup’ material just didn’t seem to come to him. The spell finally broke last year when he realized he needed “to get past the songs of my 20s and 30s and start writing from the perspective of who I am now: a father, a husband, a guy who’s been through some stuff.”

He brought his new material to his old friend Mark Erelli (Lori McKenna, Josh Ritter) who signed on as producer and brought in some of the top talent in the area, including Marco Giovino on drums (Robert Plant, Buddy Miller) and Marty Ballou on bass (Peter Wolf, John Hammond Jr.). The end result is ten shimmering new originals, plus a cover of an Erelli tune, that evoke a wide breadth of American musical textures: early Nashville, country blues, Western swing, a tinge of gospel. But most of all, the album is infused with the kind of intimate storyteller’s approach at which Moock excels.

The songs on ALASTAIR MOOCK touch on death and love, politics, marriage and family, big universal questions and minute everyday observations. It’s a hard album to pin down, but then Moock has always been a hard songwriter to pin down. “I don’t care who I’m singing to,” he says, “I just want to tell stories.”

credits

released May 26, 2017

Alastair Moock – vocals, acoustic guitar
Mark Erelli – 6 & 12-string acoustic, electric & resonator guitars, lap steel, mandolin, additional percussion, vocals
Marty Ballou – upright & electric bass
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Sam Kassirer – piano, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer, vibes
Charlie Rose – banjo, pedal steel
Deni Hlavinka – vocals
Zachariah Hickman – pump organ (track 10)

Produced by
Mark Erelli

Recorded by
Chris Rival at Middleville Studio, North Reading, MA
(additional recording at home and by Sam Kassirer at Great North Sound Society, Parsonsfield, ME)

Mixed by
Lorne Entress at Harmony St., Pomfret, CT

Mastered by
Ian Kennedy at New Alliance East, Cambridge, MA

Design by
Lori Salmeri

Photography by
Michael D. Spencer

All songs written by Alastair Moock ©2017 Moockshake Music (ASCAP) except “Something’s Changed,” written by Alastair Moock & Dinty Child, Mermine Music (SESAC) and “Let’s Make a Family,” written by Mark Erelli, Hillbilly Pilgrim Music (ASCAP).

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Alastair Moock Boston, Massachusetts

A 2013 Grammy Nominee and two-time Parents' Choice Gold Medal Winner, Alastair Moock makes music for the whole family: kids, parents, even discerning pets. Long one of Boston’s premier folk artists, Alastair turned his attention to family music after the birth of his twin daughters in 2006. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town's best and most adventurous songwriters." ... more

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