Published on Sep 30, 1999
While it’s hard to find pure folk music in this day and age, it
is very easy to find forms of folk that have taken on
characteristics of other genres. When I first heard David Wilcox
some years ago, I was blown away – but Wilcox is more of a folk-A/C
blend, not pure folk. Loudon Wainwright III may be the closest
thing we have to a pure folk artist that I can think of off the top
of my head.
Dave Moore reminds me a lot of Wilcox, only there’s less of an
adult-contemporary vein and more of a country feel to his music.
His latest album,
Breaking Down To 3, shows off an artist who seems to pull
his punches when it comes to delivering a killer album. He gives us
just enough to prove that he’s well on his way to becoming a
legend, but doesn’t seem to go past that level enough.
Sounds like a bash against Moore? Believe me, it’s not. Moore’s
down-home delivery and songwriting show that he’s got his finger on
the pulse of this genre, and he knows how to work his songs into
something wonderful. The album’s opening track, “Mr. Music,” starts
to lead the listener down this path, but stops short of taking them
on the full journey. He saves that magic for tracks like “Big
Drafty House,” “Let’s Take Our Time And Do It Right” and “Magic
Dust”. If you find yourself going back to these tracks a lot,
you’re not alone.
What makes some of Moore’s music so magical is that he paints a
picture with words that allows you to see in your mind the scene
he’s singing about. When he describes the setting in “Big Drafty
House,” you can almost see Moore walking through its rooms as he
sings about his memories of them. (In a way, I wish that he had
gone into even more detail than he did; I like having a vivid
picture in my mind.)
The problem is that Moore doesn’t always take this road on
Breaking Down To 3. Often, the music he creates is passable,
but not awe-inspiring. And when you release an album that’s only
about 36 minutes long, you would like to make sure you keep your
audience captivated. Unfortunately, he lost me on tracks like
“Midnight” and “Big Fool For You” – not that they’re bad numbers,
but that they just don’t have any magic.
“Down To The River,” the disc’s closer, plays the cruelest trick
of them all. Moore once again captures your attention and uses the
words as oils to allow you to paint the action in your mind. Just
when you really get into the track and are ready for the next
musical canvas, the disc ends. I’ll give him this: he saved the
best for last.
Breaking Down To 3 is not pure folk, and it’s far from pure
country, but it does create an interesting (if not a bit spotty)
texture that listeners will find moments of pleasure in. What Moore
needs to do now is to create an album that will eliminate the
moments of distraction, and create a disc that will allow the
listener to paint a virtual Louvré in their heads.