ken moores
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ken moores

Cocoa, Florida, United States | SELF

Cocoa, Florida, United States | SELF
Band Blues Singer/Songwriter

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"Ken Moores - White Lies and Alibis"

Ken Moores
White Lies And Alibis
Recorded at Dave Munkoff Studios
and Master Bedroom Studios,
Cocoa, Florida 2010
Gentle as an Indian River breeze
with a large tequila chaser, Ken Moores’
latest release will bring out the Southern
Gentleman in anyone. At times
country infused, gospel tinged and
easy listening, Moores’ multiple influences
and multi-instrumentalism have
produced a record with its feet planted
firmly on laid back southern ground.
“Devil’s Game” brings to mind the
genre bending slide guitar of the late
great Lowell George and 1970’s Little
Feat while other tunes like “Woman
is Love” summon the acoustic guitar
stylings of Physical Graffiti era Jimmy
Page and the kind of soulful vocal that
makes Eric Clapton more than just a
guitar player. There’s even hints of the
FM friendly blues of Robert Cray on
“She’s Trouble” and classic southern
California country rock on “She Don’t
Think I Notice”. There’s an obvious
lifetime of experience behind every
tune and a few tracks like “Gettin’
Old” (“Everything aches/everything’s
blurry…) and the title track “Alibis
and Little White Lies” (“I’m out on the
road, wasting my life…) reflect how
long that life has been.
The song choices and flow from
track to track make “White Lies and
Alibis” more of a complete work than
just a collection of twelve songs. It’s
the type of record that gets played from
start to finish and has the feel of an old
familiar sweater on a late autumn Florida
night – now that it’s on, there’s just
no need to take it off.
The overall production is slick
without being sterile and every song
is completely radio ready. All the instruments
are all given room to breathe
and all each component works together
for the sake of the song as opposed to
showy musicianship or, as is often the
downside of blues style music, solos
for solos sake. Moores himself must
have used his entire extensive guitar
collection (pictured on the cover)
on this album. There’s twelve string
acoustic guitars, resonator guitars,
mandolins and big, bad, roadhouse
rockin’ distorted electric guitars. The
attention to detail shows.
The next time you need a soundtrack
for a few afternoon cocktails by
the river just grab “White Lies And
Alibis” and press play. - Brevard Live Music Magazine, Melbourne Florida, June 2011


"Ken Moores - Quality Blues Man"

I shared the link to your web site with one of the festival organizers here. He listened to the CD and thought it was really good. The composition and production, he said, made it really stand out, and that it is an enjoyable listen. He said you absolutely nailed the recording of the accoustic instruments. We'll be contacting you for next year's festival. Steve Mansfield - Granville Ohio Blues Society 2010


Discography

Windjam, 1974
Alberto's Dream, 2000
Random Acts of Memory, 2001
Countrified, 2002
Home Made In Japan, 2003
with Max Bent, The Blues You Have, 2004
White Lies And Alibis, 2010
Gettin' Old - airplay in Canada and the Netherlands

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Bio

Born in Toronto Canada in 1951, Ken was hauled off to a Salvation Army church meeting at the tender age of three weeks where the hand clapping gospel environment put a musical fire in his soul that continues to this day. As time progressed, Ken’s pianist-guitarist mother and multi-instrumentalist grandfather became major influences in his musical development. The young music lover progressed from crawling around under his mother’s piano to several years of piano lessons to playing guitar regularly at church. Ken’s mother organized a ‘string’ band which emulated the Carter family style as well as gospel quartet tunes. ‘Gabby’, as granddad was affectionately known, played accordion, violin, Hawaiian guitar, and piano. He sent Ken his first guitar in the mail from Chicago at the age of eight. Ken took to it immediately but continued to play cornet, euphonium and tuba in Salvation Army and high school bands.


Then rock and roll, called the ‘devil’s music’ by mom and dad, came into his life and changed everything. With his little ear glued to a transistor radio in the back of dad’s Volkswagen beetle he was exposed to Elvis, Little Richard and the Everly Brothers. Listening to, and reading about, his heroes, the Rolling Stones, brought Ken into contact with the blues. During visits to Chicago, Gabby took his grandson to the famous Maxwell Street Market where Ken was exposed to authentic blues and gospel. He carried the passion of this music home with him and became a devout student of the blues. Hearing Paul Butterfield, James Cotton, Muddy Waters and the great Chicago bluesmen led the way to Ken becoming the harmonica player and singer in his first band, the Basement Blues Band, in the late 60s. Ken started scratching out a living on the Ontario bar circuit playing rock standards, blues and occasionally original tunes. The Toronto scene at that time was hopping with the likes of Ronnie Hawkins, Steppenwolf, the Band, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Gordon Lightfoot – all providing a rich and varied musical education for the young minstrel.

Noticing that many musicians paid homage to their roots influences, and also hearing country flavorings in rock in the late 70s (Eagles, Poco, Nitty Gritty, Stones, etc.) Ken explored his own roots by playing mandolin in several bluegrass bands. This influence is still prevalent in Ken’s music today when mandolin flavors are called for in tunes such as ‘Maggie Mae’, Stevie Winwood’s ‘Back in the Highlife’ and ‘Rag Mama Rag’ by the Band – Ken’s ‘homies’ from southern Ontario.

Ken became well know for his raw John Fogerty-style vocals with the CCR tribute band Green River. This band toured extensively throughout North America and the Caribbean for five years. They opened for the Marshall Tucker Band in Norfolk, Virginia where they received a standing ovation and played three encores as the opening act.

Apart from music adventures, Ken’s passion for travel has taken him to 48 countries where he has, of course, absorbed musical influences. He went back to university at the age of 37, gained both bachelor’s and master’s degrees and a teaching certificate and taught English in Japan for 7 years. While in Japan, Ken built a respectable digital studio and became a mentor for local Japanese rock musicians hungry for the ‘real thing’. Ken rekindled his interest in piano –taking lessons from a very cool Japanese honky tonk piano player –and leans toward the Dr. John, Jon Cleary New Orleans style of piano playing.

Somewhere along the line, Ken decided to become a songwriter and has continued to write in many genres and styles. Today Ken resides in Cocoa, Florida where he continues to record in his home studio. He is putting the finishing touches on his soon-to-be-published musical biography called ‘The Devil’s Music”. All his musical influences have coalesced into a multi-faceted and original blend.