Music and Moore

Theresa Curry / News Virginian
Published: June 20, 2007

That's only part of the story. In the fast-paced tour, also timed to draw attention to his newly-released solo CD, "In His Own Worlds," the Staunton native will be revisiting a number of spots where he played at different points in his long career. He bounces back and forth between the East and West Coasts as often as an airline pilot.

"I did this so much in my 20s that I literally did not have a fixed address," he said.

One of the engagements, the High Sierra Music Festival, has been a favorite destination for 10 years, so much so that Moore considers it somewhat of a family reunion. Both the solo and the ThaMuseMeant CDs are released by Frogville Records, a label Moore founded.

Moore has been a musician literally all his life, or at least since the third grade. That's when he discovered songwriting, followed in a couple of years by proficiency with the guitar. Another couple of years and he was playing both original music and classics at the Wharf Pub, now defunct. As a young man, his interest in delivering alternative, intelligent music took him to points southwest, northwest and back again, with different configurations of musicians at each stage. His decision to bypass college and start right away on the path to his life's work has provided him with an education custom-made for a singer-songwriter, wisdom hard-earned by observing all kinds of people in all kinds of circumstances.

He's always found his way back to the Valley. A few years ago, he was tapped for a solo act at the then-newly built Blackfriars. Of course, at the time, he was actually living in Portland. More recently, he performed as a solo at Staunton Jams, at Kronos Art Gallery and at last month's Art in the Park. He's always willing to show up for something that benefits Staunton, like last week's Montgomery Hall Park Lawn Party, or a recent benefit for the Staunton YMCA. Moore also worked at the "Y" during his recent rest from touring, designing their web site and doing other essential jobs, said his agent, Karen Lawrence.

Unlike many musicians, Moore doesn't have a great deal of pick-up non-music jobs on his resume.

"Until I decided to settle here, I wrote and played music constantly," he said.

His discovery that he has a sense of place - he lives near his brothers in Swoope - was a little surprising after 15 years spent living out of a suitcase, he said.

"This is the first time I really felt I had a home before I left on a tour," he said. "It will be interesting to see how that changes things for me."

He credits the extensive record collection of his dad, a lover of doo-wop, harmony, and early rock and roll, with his own early interest in music. Other influences were the icons of the songwriting business: Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, John Prine and Leonard Cohen. Like all of his heroes at their best, Moore is ironic without being mean; self-deprecating without becoming mired in self-conscious despair. His commentaries incorporate humor with insight, two qualities especially necessary for artists.

One of his long-lived gigs is as a member of ThaMuseMeant, an ensemble group of Virginians who were seeking success on the streets and in the alternative clubs in the Santa Fe of a couple of decades ago. Once Moore added his alternately poetic and comic talents, the group became even tighter, opening for Blue's Traveler, Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, Greg Brown, Leftover Salmon and Rickie Lee Jones. They disbanded temporarily, caught up with each other again, and will tour with Moore after Saturday's kick-off.

Moore was equally comfortable with an indie identity, becoming part of "Surprise Me Mr. Davis," formed with members of The Slip. He even has an alter ego, Percy Boyd, invented to allow Moore to experiment with a different voice.

Part of Saturday's CD kick-off is "Picking on Percy," a good-natured carryover from Moore's Web site where he invites friends and fans to sing and submit one of his original songs. The popularity of this interactive feature surprised both Lawrence and Moore. "We invited people to sing my music and suddenly we had a bunch of mp3s," Moore said. To make it easy, you can read the lyrics and hear the songs at Percy's Web site, http://www.percyboyd.com; or you can hear the real thing live at Baja Bean in Staunton on Saturday at 9 p.m., when Moore sings cuts from "Worlds." After that, yet-to-be-named imposters sing their versions of Moore's songs.

If you miss Moore at the Baja Bean Saturday and can't afford a trip out west to catch him with ThaMuseMeant or in his solo acts, you'll find him while the summer's still young back in Charlottesville, where he'll be at Star Hill Downstairs Cocktail Lounge on July 17; or hear him on July 25 on WMRA in Harrisonburg, when host Tom Graham will capture the details of his promotional trip. Moore will also perform songs from "World" on the radio appearance.

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