Beth Moore

With the upcoming release of the film (500) Days of Summer, there's no better time to enjoy a few anti-love songs.


Beth Moore plays London Music Club on July 17.

Hear it in the tune So Far So Good from indie artist Beth Moore. She's honest, heartfelt and has lyrics every star-crossed lover can relate to: "And you're so far so gone / And it's so far, so good / And I'll leave you behind / And I'll be just fine."

Moore takes us along for a rocky real-life ride, as she shares songs chock full of revealing lyrics, set to the sound of modern folk. From Niagara Falls, and now parked in Toronto, she's been travelling with a collection of pretty little tunes, and wearing her heart on her guitar.

In March, she released her debut EP, which includes five sweet songs that sound like "the mess of things going through [her] head." The first single, Random Words, has received a bit of airplay; while you can hear a few more sweet tunes at myspace.com/bethmooremusic.

Better yet, head into town tomorrow night and see her perform in the London Music Club's Front Room. Friday night features four times the talent, as Darren Eedens, Ian Foster and Claire Danaher also take the stage.

The show starts at 9 p.m. Cover is $5.
- London Free Press

Folk/adult singer says music is about sharing her story


Beth Moore. Folk/adult contemporary singer Beth Moore will return to S.C.E.N.E. again this Sunday in downtown St. Catharines.
Beth Moore is following a path, and, unlike previous roads she has walked, this is the one she wants to be on.
After taking home both Folk Artist and Artist of the Year at the Niagara Music Awards last week, Port Colborne’s Moore will return to S.C.E.N.E. for her third year.
For the 22-year-old singer/songwriter, music is about sharing her story, and sharing that story is her singular focus.
Moore remembers when she received her first guitar from her parents five years ago.
“From the moment I picked up that guitar I knew everything in my life was leading up to this,” said Moore, who recalls that she had difficulty nailing down cover tunes so she began to write her own.
“Three weeks later I played my first gig,” she said, pointing out that six months after that she was playing to a full house at Port Mansion in Port Dalhousie.
“All I remember is no one left,” she said, adding, “I haven’t looked back since.”
At the time Moore was attending Humber College for advertising.
While she was there Moore knew she was on the wrong path and experienced reoccurring dreams of dying young.
“I don’t want to die hating my life,” she said, noting that she left college to pursue the path of her passion: music. Now Moore is working on her second musical project and draws heavily on her own observations and experiences for her music that she describes as soulful.
“Soulful not as a genre but as the feeling you get from it,” said Moore, explaining that she always attempts to be honest to both herself and the audience in her songs.
“It’s all from my life.”
“A big part of it is honesty and getting a message out. I think sharing our stories changes a lot in the world,” she said. Many of Moore’s songs focus on love in some way; not the typical love songs, but on how love changes the world, people and herself.
“Love now it’s the only way out,” she said, adding that as her career moves forward she is constantly driven to tell her story. Recently Moore had three songs featured in the U.S. documentary A Second Knock at the Door examining friendly-fire incidents in the current Iraq war.
“I think that it is going to make a difference,” she said, adding that she has also recently landed one of her songs in the upcoming 11th season of the Canadian television show Degrassi.
Moore will play the S.C.E.N.E. festival at 5 p.m. at Strega Cafe accompanied by a guitarist and percussionist on hand drums.
“It (S.C.E.N.E.) is just such a great gathering of talent,” said Moore, adding, “iI’s a great representation of Niagara’s talent.” - Niagara This Week

Niagara singer Beth Moore figured it was just another festival she’d be playing. Until she told a friend just what it was: Ottawa on Canada Day.

She quickly realized it wasn’t just another festival.

“He’s like ‘Hold on a second … do you understand how huge that is? Beth, that’s how a lot of people’s careers have started.’”

A quick scan at the rest of the lineup confirmed this was no ordinary show for the Port Colborne-born singer/songwriter. Musicians playing the nation’s capital July 1 draw thousands simply because of the all-day festivities going on in and around Parliament Hill, including Major’s Hill Park where Moore will perform at 6 p.m.

Moore didn’t have to lobby for the gig – organizers found her.

“I don’t have a huge following there,” she says. “They said they Googled ‘Niagara musicians,’ and I came up!”

“It didn’t register, really. It was just another festival in my head. I was just like, ‘Cool, I’m so glad I didn’t have to pay and apply.’”

Shortly after her set, crowds will likely flock across Rideau Canal to see the main concert at Parliament Hill, featuring Simple Plan, Feist, Roch Voisine, Marie-Mai, Neverest, Jully Black, Misstress Barbara and Donny Parentreau.

At Major’s Hill Park, Moore will be joined by up-and-coming artists like Deon Blyan, Bonnie Ste-Croix, Diable aux Corsets, Good Lovelies, Hey Ocean, Jeffrey Piton, Simon Walls and Ash Koley.

For Moore, it will likely be her biggest audience yet in a career which started six years ago. Through word of mouth and constant performing, she has emerged as one of the region’s most highly-touted singers, winning Artist of the Year at last year’s Niagara Music Awards.

Being noticed outside of Niagara is nice, she says, but she won’t celebrate it too long.

“I’m so busy pushing onto the next thing in my career, that I don’t really notice who’s taken notice of what I’ve done,’ she says. “I notice more people come out to the shows, but I’m always pushing forward.”

“I’ve just always found that these doors open … God works it out. I’ve never kicked any door down, they all just opened. The ones I have kicked down have just hit me in the butt.”

After Ottawa, it’s back to work on a new album (expected next summer) and her own personal ‘500 by 15 Mission’: 500 concerts by 2015.

“Anyone can do it!,” she says. “Please, if you think you’re going to play 500 shows in three years, then by all means take the name. It’s like 14 shows a month – good luck!”

john.law@sunmedia.ca - Niagara This Week - John Law

Music with the Moores

Posted By Lynn Peppas

Posted 16 days ago

Port Colborne

I had the chance to hang out with the Moore kids last Friday afternoon, although at 28, 24, and 20, they're only "kids" to somebody my age. We met up at the Hub, in the Guild Hall. What a cool little coffee joint this is. Now the deal with the Moore siblings, Aaron, Brad, and Beth, is that all three are working musicians, raised in Port Colborne.

And although each Moore has taken a very different musical path from jazz, to rock, to folk-rock; every one has also been nominated for a Niagara Music Award, to be determined at the awards ceremony held Tuesday, April 14 at the Niagara Centre for the Arts.

Music runs in the family, obviously, and the 'rents actually met in a travelling gospel group that their father once led. I've posted websites where you can hear samples of each siblings' work at the bottom of this article. Aaron, the eldest in the family, graduated in the jazz program at Mohawk College, and has worked with his own church group in Berlin, where he met his wife. The two now make Canada their home, and are raising a young family. He plays in the jazz band, Groove Associates, that have been nominated for the best jazz group of the year, an award they took home at last year's ceremony.

Middle-child, Brad, has been playing in a punk band for years, but his latest band is quite a turnaround called Citizen, and is still pretty new to the scene. Formed in October 2008, the band performs all-original music that Brad has been writing since last March and they're up for the best original band of the year award.

Baby of the family, Beth, is just 20, and already she's gigging on her own, singing her folk-flavoured rock songs, that has garnered a lot of interest and a nomination for best songwriter of the year.

So were they shocked when each one came home with a nomination for a Niagara Music Award? Beth, the outspoken Moore, said that she wasn't shocked when her brothers' bands were nominated, but she was shocked that she made it in.

"I'm not shocked that Aaron's group was nominated; they're all amazing musicians, and Brad has been working a long time with his band and he's never given up and has always found a new angle to work from. But me?"

She shouldn't really be surprised that she's in there too (just listen to her songs on her website). They describe a supportive family unit that obviously plays a role in each one's success. Their parents, they say, have always been supportive. Brad summed it up best, saying, "(Our parents) were kind of surprised that we all went into music; but they're not surprised that we're good at it."

Let's look at each individual career. Aaron is the one they all look up to, the musical guru of the family.

Aaron is new to Groove Associates, having just recently joined to replace another guitarist. The band performs all instrumental jazz standards, and even though he's new to the group, Aaron is actively working on bringing in a jazz singer to add to the Groove Associate sound, and ultimately, make them a more versatile band. Aaron's focus is the business aspect of a band. He's there to play music that will make money to support his family.

"I think that if we want to take it to the next level, and play more corporate gigs (the band is well-known in the wine industry circuit), this is the way to do it. I want to make (this band) the best from what we've got to work with," Aaron explained.

Aaron has a definite vision for his band, something the Moore's all share, and his personal goal is to make music a full time, professional career. He's the quieter one of the group; "reserved," he describes himself as. He's the careful one who stands back and takes it all in. He's always analyzing, and his strength, beside playing guitar, veers toward music production - a good combination to have.

Brad is again, quite his own person in this family threesome, and his charisma must be deadly during live performance. He's the media-man of the group, taking his Niagara College education in media studies, and putting it to good use to promote all three of their careers. He's the guy who makes things like this interview happen.

He writes the music, and fronts, Citizen; a four-piece rock band, quite different from his punk band days. The band are going into the studio this week to begin recording songs that Brad has written, and then collaborated on with his band. Even though they've been together for a short time, they're gaining momentum and have gigs booked at the Mansion House, and other locales throughout Niagara.

His short term goal is to promote the new CD, and book engagements at music festivals this summer. Long-term goals involve taking the band on the road, to incorporate his desire to travel, while working at promoting his band. "It would be an amazing life experience to travel and do that with a band. We'd be seeing all the things we want to see, and have your (music) growing with you."

He admitted that he's all about the performance aspect of the band, saying that it "keeps me going. I like the show atmosphere, going someplace where you've never been before, and you don't know anybody, and having that pressure to entertain people."

Beth does not have the benefit of having other band members to help her, and often leans on her brothers for just that kind of support. She admitted that Brad had been the one to give her lots of advice when she started writing songs two years ago. "I call it constructive criticism," she says, as she smiles at Brad. "At the time I hated him for it, but now I'm very thankful and if I ever get anywhere, I'll definitely have to thank him for it."

She told me that if there were any category to be nominated for; songwriter would definitely have been her first choice, and believes that her strengths, indeed, lie in her talents as a songwriter. A former Port High student, Beth credits former music teacher, Elaine Carlson, as having influence and encouraged her original song writing and performing ability.

Her songs come from her observations from her own life, and she explained that every song has a "purpose." She describes it as a type of "therapy" for her, and she often works through problems in her life through her music, hoping that her listeners will learn from her mistakes as well as triumphs, in her own life. She's very direct, and this honesty comes through in her lyrics and melodies as well.

"I'm pretty honest," she explained. "I have no shame. I try to be the person I want to be. I'm vocal about mistakes I've made and I think that comes through in my songs. I never force a song; I can never sit down and say, 'I'm going to write a song today.'"

She describes the process as "reaching deep down and figuring out what it is I'm feeling. It's almost like you can grab it once you find it. I find the words and (melody) that suit that feeling best and they make a perfect home together. I can tell when a song is done, it just feels right. It does everything I want it to say and people can take from it what I want them to take."

She's set to release her five-song demo online sometime this week. Her goal too, is to make a living from music. She's certainly not shy to come out and say what her dream is; to win a Grammy award. Brother Brad is quick to kid her, bringing up the fact that she hasn't won a Juno yet. "A Juno is on the way to my Grammy," she kids back.

So what's the Moore family secret to making award-nominating music? I'll leave you with Beth's words, that sum it up best. Because even as the musical talent in this family shines through, there's something else in this equation that definitely makes them as successful as they are; and that's the deep respect and love they share for each other.

"When you have faith in people, and they have faith in you, I don't think anything can stop you. You need that push. Even with me and my brothers, we have faith in each other and when it seems like things are not going anywhere, we know that someone still thinks we can do this, and it makes you push harder. We're okay with letting ourselves down, but we're not okay with letting down the people who believe in us." - InPort News