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Bio


Nathan Moore has logged a lot of miles as "a sad man playing in a jam band, looking for the happy melody, in a minor key", and he's created a thousand brutally honest, astonishingly witty and poetically hopeful songs along the way. When he's not ranting about social injustice, reveling with Mardis Gras abandon or launching a peaceful revolution, Moore is writing about maintaining childlike wonder or finding lasting love. He says he's giving himself advice in his songs, shining the revealing light of music on issues that trouble and delight him the most. And Nathan's questions and pain and glee are our own. We love it that he goes places we dare not, and lives to tell the story.

Moore's songwriting bug started like so many musicians, when he was infected by the rich musical traditions of the 50s and 60s he discovered in his dad's extensive collection of 45s. And while the tale goes on predictably with Nathan penning songs at nine, getting his first guitar at twelve, playing a small repertoire of classics and originals at a local pub in his hometown in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley at sixteen, then forming bands through out high school and college, none of that explains his uncanny ability to become what music critic Dennis Cook calls "the tunesmith's Stephen Hawking sussing out a theory of everything". The source of Moore's talent is an ineffable creative spring that even he can't explain. It just, thankfully, flows freely.

Nathan was already a songwriting savant with the knack for conjuring up musical brilliance from simplicity when he dropped out of college and set out to seek his musical fortunes in Austin, Texas. There he teamed up with gifted musicians Aimee Curl and David Tiller and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to develop what eventually became the popular and innovative anti-folk quartet ThaMuseMeant. Along with his insightful songwriting and charismatic stage presence, Nathan contributed humor and edgy themes to the band's tight ensemble cast. ThaMuseMeant toured full time during the 90's, rubbing elbows with festival circuit headliners such as Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, Greg Brown, Leftover Salmon, and Rickie Lee Jones.

When ThaMuseMeant went on sabbatical in 2000, Moore toured with indie rock darlings, The Slip, writing songs and performing with them between his shifts as their merchandise man. The foursome fashioned the critically acclaimed group Surprise Me Mr. Davis several years later, subsequently recording two albums and playing to wildly appreciative crowds on two tours. Nathan continues to perform occasionally with both ThaMuseMeant and Surprise Me Mr. Davis, always thrilled with how these ground-breaking musicians stretch his perceptions of how his music can be performed.

While Nathan's dazzling ability to capture the struggles of everyman with melodies of haunting complexity places him firmly in the company of the literary greats, it is the mischief he weaves throughout his music that sets him apart. Honesty delivered with a flicker of hope is Moore's ace-in-the-hole as he takes listeners on a sweeping journey of landscapes that are uniquely his own. His latest album "In His Own Worlds" was released in June 2007 by the Santa Fe-based Frogville Records, which Moore co-founded five years ago. The collection showcases Nathan's finely-honed poetic sensibilities and marks the next phase of a career rich in meaning and depth that promises to always astound, entertain, and cut straight to the heart.
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Quotes


"Nathan Moore may very well be one of the finest singer/songwriters of our generation. With songs that are so pure and honest, you can follow his pains and his joys note for note and word for word."

Joe Adler
Glide Magazine


"Moore's songwriting is a combination of his intensity with the unpretentious mastery of language, literary depth, sardonic humor, incisive insight and unflinching honesty."

John Conquest
Third Coast Music


"A songwriter so prolific, so diverse and so polished that you have to wonder if a chance desert expedition didn't turn him into some nuke-test-accelerated, sci-fi songwriting monster."

Jim Musser
Iowa City Press Citizen


"Nathan Moore is possessed by both the drive and the ability to write interesting songs at dizzying speeds and they aren't blow-off tunes either. They somehow draw from the harmonic and rhythmic complexity of jazz, the emotional intensity of the Delta blues, the melodic interest of Nino Rota and the lyrics of an experienced Greenwich Village bohemian."

Jamie Allen
THE Magazine


"As troubadours go, they don't come much truer than Nathan Moore. Nathan has a genuine communion with the lyric and craft of song, and an emotive and experienced voice influenced largely by Dylan, Tom Waits, Bukowski, Leonard Cohen, and years of travel."

JamBase


"Nathan's versatile voice takes us into dark, eerie tunnels, ghoulish and prowling, then into country drawls, expanding notes through the ether of sound and into sweet ecstasy. Standing at the front of the stage, guitar hanging at his side, he sings, "Back in Fifteen Minutes", vulnerably, fully exposed, like he may draw back at any moment and break into that playful Mardi Gras persona, but he doesn't. It's surprising."

Reanna Feinberg
JamBase


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Discography


  • "Live at the Mineshaft Tavern"- ThaMuseMeant- 1995- self released.
  • "Breakfast Epihanies"- ThaMuseMeant- 1997- self released.
  • "Sweet Things"- ThaMuseMeant- 1998- self released then signed to High
  • Sierra Records.
  • "Single Wide"- Nathan Moore- 1999- self released.
  • "Grow Your Own"- ThaMuseMeant- 2000- High sierra Records.
  • "Nudes"- ThaMuseMeant- 2002- Frogville Records
  • "Surprise Me Mr. Davis"- Surprise Me Mr. Davis- 2002- Frogville Records.
  • "Percy Boyd's Lost Tracks" - Nathan Moore - 2002 - self released.
  • "Live at The Blackfriars Playhouse"- Nathan Moore- 2002- Frogville
  • Records.
  • "Sad Songs Make Me Happy"- Nathan Moore- 2002- Frogville Records.
  • "Silver Seed"- ThaMuseMeant- 2003- Frogville Records
  • "Other Wise Blue Skies" - Nathan Moore - 2003 - self released.
  • "Cans n Cants"- Nathan Moore- 2003- Frogville Records
  • "Only in Montreal"- Surprise Me Mr. Davis- 2005 - independent.
  • "Never Settle for Less"- ThaMuseMeant - 2006- Frogville Records
  • "In His Own Worlds"- Nathan Moore-2007-Frogville Records
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TIMELINE


10-12-1970 Nathan Moore was born in Clifton Forge, VA. His parents moved with him to Staunton Va.

12-25-1984 Nathan got his first guitar.

1986 Nathan played his first gig at the Wharf Pub in Staunton Va.

1986-88 Nathan joined with High School friends to form the band "Toast" which later became "Moral Chaos."

1988-1991 Nathan attended Mary Washington College and started "The Sad Eyed Drifters" with guitarist Joe Clayton. This band grew into a band called "Mr. Flood's Party." The demo this band made was the first time Nathan went into a recording studio.

1992 Nathan quit college and got a one way ticket to "the live music capitol of the world," Austin, TX.

1993 Nathan met David Tiller and Aimee Curl who were busking on 6th Street with a group of Virginians calling themselves Buzzard's Breath.

1994 Nathan, David and Aimee moved to Santa Fe, NM and started playing Tuesdays at El Farol as ThaMuseMeant. The trio recorded two full length recordings that appeared only on cassette.

1995 Drummer Jeff Sussmann joined ThaMuseMeant and the band self released it's first C.D., "Live at The Mineshaft Tavern" recorded 6-14-95 in Madrid, NM.

1996 ThaMuseMeant relocated to Austin, TX and began busking religiously until they secured a weekly spot at the infamous Black Cat Lounge. Bobby Sheean, the bass player for Blues Traveler, was alone in a car on a long roadtrip when he found one of ThaMuseMeant's earlier cassettes under the car seat. A few months later, ThaMuseMeant played all of the Texas dates on Blues Traveler's H.O.R.D.E. tour with Dave Mathews, Rickie Lee Jones and others. Nathan held pinkies with Rickie Lee Jones.

1997 Dave Tiller left ThaMuseMeant. ThaMuseMeant recorded the self released "Breakfast Epiphanies" at a studio in Austin, TX. Then, ThaMuseMeant trio moved back to Santa Fe, NM.

1998 Dave Tiller rejoins ThaMuseMeant in Santa Fe.

1999 ThaMuseMeant records the self released album, "Sweet Things," their most potent recording up to then. They bought themselves a Siler Eagle tour bus and began touring relentlessly coast to coast.
In this year, Nathan also recorded his first solo album "Single Wide" with members of Hundred Year Flood, a band he'd befriended in Austin.
Based on word of mouth and "Sweet Things," ThaMuseMeant became the first band to be invited to play the Main Stage at High Sierra Music Festival sight unseen.

Late 1999 High Sierra Records signs ThaMuseMeant, picking up "Sweet Things" and agreeing to fund the next record.

2000 ThaMuseMeant records "Grow Your Own" for High Sierra and continues relentless touring.

Late 2000 ThaMuseMeant disbands and Nathan returns to his hometown in Staunton Va. This begins a string of solo records that Nathan records and releases himself, most notably are "Sad Songs Make me Happy" and "Live at The Blackfriars Playhouse."

2001 Rescued from a bout with cabin fever, Nathan goes on a month long tour with his friends The Slip as their merch man. In the process, he films and edits "A Fly on The Road with the Slip" a movie that was never released but foretold their creative collaboration. On this tour, Nathan joined The Slip a number times to play songs with them that he had written along the way including "To You" and "Mardi Gras."

2002 Nathan and John Treadwell decide to create a record company based out of Santa Fe to release all the recordings that he and friends were making that had no other outlet. They named the label Frogville Records. Nathan then visited The Slip in Boston and proceeded to get snowed in with them in the "biggest blizzard since '78." This lead to massive amounts of playing around with their new home studio gear. By the end of the week they decided to give their experiments to Frogville Records as an anonymous release called only "Surprise Me Mr. Davis."

2003 Nathan went to Santa Fe to help with the construction of the Frogville recording studio and to rally friends and other local talent under the umbrella of the label. By the end of the year, the label will have a library of over 30 albums and a roster of working bands including- Joe West, Hundred Year Flood, Goshen, Blind James and Nathan Moore.

Late 2003 ThaMuseMeant reforms, this time as a string quartet with Dave's wife Enion Pelta on violin and Aimee on upright bass.

2004 ThaMuseMeant, based out of Portland OR, writes many new songs and begins touring again. Also, Nathan and The Slip decide to do a tour calling themselves "Surprise Me Mr. Davis."

Late 2004 ThaMuseMeant records "Silver Seed" at Frogville Studios and it's released on Frogville Records. Engineered by Bill Palmer from Hundred Year Flood, the record's roots gypsy sound recieves good critical acclaim and puts ThaMuseMeant back on the map.

2005 ThaMuseMeant plays alot of prominent festivals including- The String Summit, High Sierra Music Festival, The Joshua Tree Festival. Surprise Me Mr. Davis also did two more tours gaining momentum as a great band in and of itself, receiving rave reviews everywhere they play. In late 2005, Surprise Me recorded "Only in Montreal," yet to be released, at Breakglass Studios in Montreal Quebec. Also, ThaMuseMeant does another session at Frogville.

Early 2006 ThaMuseMeant releases its second Frogville Record, "Never Settle For Less," but takes a hiatus from touring.

2006 Nathan moves back home to Virginiawhere he currently lives with his brothers in the country outside of Staunton.

2007 Nathan records his first solo record at Frogville studios with members of Hundred Year Flood and other Santa Fe talent.

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© Copyright 2007 Frogville Records

Management
Karen Lawrence
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