Joe Moss

Joe Moss - Monster Love - 2003 - 212 Records

The older brother to Nick Moss -- who already had some well-received albums under his belt when this was released in late 2003 -- Chicago guitarist Joe Moss sizzles on his debut. A veteran of Buddy Scott's band as well as a sideman to Magic Slim, Billy Branch, and other Windy City luminaries, the older Moss sounds confident and mature on his first album as a leader. Although there is plenty of straight-ahead blues, Moss aims for a more R&B-laced approach, helped immensely by the addition of organ (no less than three musicians fill the keyboard slot) on most tracks and horns to a few others. He also possesses a low-key but potent voice, similar to Jimmie Vaughan, and delivers these songs with enthusiasm and a tough determination. The organ is an integral part of the sound, and songs like "Ain't Got No Money," with its extended solo, succeed in large part due to the Jimmy Smith jazz/funk feel of the keyboards. Moss' guitar style is clean, sharp, and free of extraneous effects. Reminiscent of Mike Bloomfield, his leads are biting yet fluid and easily adapt to jazz, funk, blues, and even the Delta style he displays on the album's unaccompanied closing "Train Tracks." Moss brings a Booker T. & the MG's feel to the Memphis-styled groove of "Lost My World" and "Mad, Mad, Mad," and seems as comfortable with that as with the traditional Elmore James shuffle of B.B. King's "Please Love Me," one of the album's two covers. His lean playing dispenses with the rock-oriented histrionics that clutter much new blues, especially from white artists. He capitalizes on this style as his lines punctuate the verses of the soul and subtle funk that remain at the heart of his approach. It makes this long-awaited debut a perfect introduction to one of the finest of the new-generation Chicago bluesmen. Joe Moss has learned from his predecessors, even as he creatively takes the basics of blues and shifts them into a more soulful stew that is just as moving. © Hal Horowitz © 2011 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/monster-love-r663265/review

When Joe was a kid in Chicago, a friend played him a Led Zeppelin album, and when Joe heard Joe Robert Plant singing "I Can't Quit You Baby", he told his friend he'd heard the song before, and that it was an Otis Rush tune. When Joe learned guitar and started playing his own music, he naturally played blues R&B, soul, rock and funk in the style of artists he'd listened to as a kid, people like B.B. King, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Albert King. Joe said. "I grew up with my mother listening to and all kinds of stuff. My dad was into Jimmy Reed and my uncle turned me on to rock 'n' roll". Joe Moss first made his name in the Chicago blues scene in the late 1980s with Buddy Scott, whose band was a regular on the city's west side. He then became a popular session guitarist. Ward Meeker, of Vintage Guitar magazine said, "He's a real good Chicago blues guy, true to the form. He's pretty well known in that realm." Joe formed his own band in the mid-1990s, and was a regular player at Buddy Guy's Legends, and the House of Blues venues. Joe said his band plays three or four straight-ahead blues songs per set, then does its own material. Joe says, "I play blues, but blues isn't necessarily a format like a lot of people think it is," he said. "The way I look at it is Hank Williams was playing blues, even though he was a country artist. You can listen to Mozart and hear blues, as far as I'm concerned. I don't really concern myself with what it is exactly. You can just hear where it's coming from." "Blues is all over the place," he said. "You have elements of it in just about everything. Every guitar player you've ever heard, you were hearing blues. You literally can't pick up the guitar and play a lick without quoting someone like B.B. King, Otis Rush, T-Bone Walker …" The band's style crosses the boundaries of traditional genres, but Joe reckons said that's unavoidable. To him, blues is rock is country is blues. Joe said that "There seems to be two different mindsets in blues. One is to present a case for music that was played in the past, and stay strict to those forms. The other, which I like to introduce to people, is trying to create something new out of the influences that are already existing, but add a little of yourself to those influences. That's the category I fall in. We're not trying to be a copy of the past, even though we show all those influences". "Monster Love" will demonstrate exactly what Joe is saying. Speaking about the future of the blues, Joe has said that "he hopes there's a place in there for guys like him". Try and listen to the band's great "Drive Time - Live at Chans" album, and listen to Joe Moss' "Maricela's Smile" album. The Joe Moss Band's s/t album can be found @ JOMOS/S-T [All tracks @ 256 Kbps: File size = 115 Mb]

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Monster Love - Moss 3:13
2 Love My Baby - Hooker, Moss, Parker, Phillips 4:52
3 Mad, Mad, Mad - Moss 5:00
4 Have You Ever Loved a Woman - Myles 6:10
5 Oh Sandra '03 - Moss 4:35
6 Need Your Love - Moss, Nielsen, Petersson 5:34
7 Please Love Me - Bihari, King, Taub 4:29
8 Lost My World - Moss 4:59
9 Life Is Funny - Moss 4:02
10 So Scared - Moss 4:28
11 King Swing - Moss 2:50
12 Ain't Got No Money - Miller, Moss 5:32
13 Train Tracks - Moss 4:55

MUSICIANS

Joe Moss - Guitar, Vocals
John Sefner - Bass on Tracks 1,2,3,4,6,8,9,12
Todd Fackler - Bass on Tracks 5,7,10,11,13
Bill LeClaire - Keyboards on Tracks 5,7,10,11
Eric Michaels - Organ on Tracks 1,6,9,12
Dave Christiansen - Organ on Tracks 2,3,4,8
Ricky King - Drums on Tracks 1,6,9,12
Kenny Smith - Drums on Tracks 2,3,4,5,7,8,10,11,13
Dez Desormeaux - Horns on Tracks 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,9,10,11,12

BIO

Few up and coming young blues performers walk the walk to the degree of Chicago-based guitarist/bandleader JOE MOSS. One of the hardest-working performers on the Windy City circuit, Moss routinely works up to 28 gigs a month. His sound, a winning mix of blues and R&B flavors paired with original songwriting vision, can be heard blasting out of Chicago venues like Buddy Guy's Legends and House of Blues on a regular basis. His stinging guitar and accomplished vocal style have won him fans citywide. His debut CD "The Joe Moss Band" (212 Records) gives ample proof to the rest of the world of what Midwest blues fans have known for some time: JOE MOSS is for real. A guitarist since the age of 15, Moss was given his passport into the blues world by Buddy Scott, who noticed Moss at a jam session at Rosa's Blues Lounge on Chicago's west side. Soon, Moss was playing seven nights a week as a member of Buddy's Rib Tip band. In 1992, Joe toured Spain with Buddy and also recorded "Bad Ave." with him as well. The record was released on Polygram's Verve Gitane Blues label. Moss' guitar skills quickly became notorious on the local scene and made him an in-demand sideman. He played countless gigs with nearly every bluesman and -woman in the city. Some of his past employers include Zora Young, Charles Wilson, Lil' Smokey Smothers, Syl Johnson, Big Time Sarah, Barkin' Bill Smith, Lefty Dizz, Magic Slim, A.C. Reed, Billy Branch, and Little Mack Simmons. Not merely a local hotshot, Joe has backed these artists in places like Canada, Turkey, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, France, and Germany as well as in Chicago. Not content to remain on the side, Joe felt the pull to be his own man and lead his own band. This desire led to the birth of both The Joe Moss Band and the CD of the same name. Moss is finally able to do things his way and express the music he has been writing. Original tunes like "Coldhearted," "Good Lovin' Groove," and "Jealous" are sure to win over fans of blues, blues/rock, and R&B. Not one to be media-shy, either, Joe has been featured in Gig Magazine, Vintage Guitar, Living Blues, the Chicago Tribune, the Kenosha News, and In The Mix Magazine. He has also received airplay on WLUP 97.9 FM, WXRT 93.1 FM, and WCBR 92.7 FM. JOE MOSS is one representative of the future of the blues. Not just an imitator of the music's glorious past, he strives to find his own sound and material within the styles he chooses to play. His band features some of Chicago's finest blues musicians and Joe himself is a consistent and entertaining performer. Blues fans would be wise to check out JOE MOSS and his band as soon as they can. Any worries about this music surviving in the new millennium will surely be put to rest. © 2003-2011 Joe Moss http://www.joemossband.com/bio.html