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Ian Moore, Satellite Lounge, October 23, 1998I first saw Ian Moore about two years ago at the now defunct Rockefellers. At that time, I hadn't heard a thing about him. Being new to TX, I didn't know much about the Austin music scene and the legends of artists that have come out of Austin and surrounding areas. Ian Moore was my first introduction to that. His show back then was an all out rock/blues show. I was impressed with his soulful voice (for such a young, white man) and for his using of supplemental musicians, horns, etc. His music had a certain spiritual quality and he had a few songs that had a way of staying with you, like Muddy Jesus ("Jesus crossed the Rio Grande"). So, it had been a long time coming for me to get my second chance at Ian Moore. He played the Satellite Lounge on Friday night, and I was no where near prepared for what I received. Expecting another testosterone induced blues show, I was surprised yet inspired by his new material. Ian Moore took the stage, first sporting a new, shorter hair style than his previously long tresses. Looking more like Rick Springfield than Fabio, he appeared very cute and more youthful. However, his new material displayed a new maturity. Still exhibiting the rich vocals of the past, but now with more depth and feeling, Moore opened with "Paris, TX" a melodic ballad. He proceeded to display his talents with an eclectic mix of mature themes, a variety of instruments (mandolin, sitar, violin), and some accomplished musicianship in bass player and percussionist. He had a very relaxed air about him and was skillful with his conversation with the crowd, making you feel more like you were chatting in someone's living room instead of standing in a crowd of 400 people. He revealed personal observations with "Closer", saying he wrote it about the times he stole his dad's car to drive to Mexico when he was 15 and his dis to his homeopathic girlfriend and hippie friends in "Penny Royal Tea", an almost dance track. There were revelations about life on the road, peppered with his share of breakup songs. My favorite part of the show was when an interesting story was told in relation to the song "Us/Them" ("Shining, you're one of the beautiful people"). It is about an Austin musician that got pretty full of himself with success, broke up with his girlfriend to fool around on the road, and then the girlfriend got to be an even bigger star. The poignant part of the story was when Ian revealed that the musician eventually killed himself when his own fame began to fade. He talked of his being influenced by Ella Fitzgerald and played a jazzy number, and wasn't shy about covering some of his other idols like Jimmy Cliff with "Many Rivers to Cross" and a rousing rendition of Bob Dylan's "You're a Big Girl Now" with opening act Terrie Hendricks. Ian explained that for the past couple of years he had been doing some recording and his former label, Capital, just wasn't in to what he was doing. He has an unreleased CD that he is hopeful will be released someday. He decided to self-release the current CD Ian Moore's Got the Green Grass which contains the majority of the material from this show. This was a brilliant performance in which the artist puts himself out there to his audience and reveals truths about himself, his friends, and life in general that makes one feel better about themselves just by being there. I was so inspired that I hurried down to Cactus Music on Saturday afternoon to catch more of Ian up close and personal. I was treated to several of the songs from the previous night in an acoustic format, with a slightly sleepy eyed Ian giving out more personal introspections on his music. Again for "Us/Them", he referred to the girl who made it big, but told how Hollywood really messed him up with all its superficiality. He joked that he thought about naming the song "Beautiful People", but that he and Marilyn (Manson) had been sitting around in Hollywood one day, Marilyn spit blood on him, and he had to change the name of the song. He also talked about "Airplane", in which he said he got the idea for that song when he had listened to another musician proposition a stripper, how evil the conversation had been, and how he thought the girl must have wanted to just disappear. Ian Moore has taken his obvious talent to another level. Finding a way to relate personally to every member of an audience is a unique gift. It seems like he has found a comfortable place for himself and his music in the crazy music industry. On That Note, I'm outta here...... C |
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