Nick Moss & the Flip Tops
Gig Seeker Pro

Nick Moss & the Flip Tops

| INDIE

| INDIE
Band Blues Americana

Calendar

This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Live At Chan's Review - Blues Revue"

"... his approach to this music makes him arguably the most exciting young blues player on the scene today ... It's a combination of talents that allows the best bands to transcend their genres, and that's they key to Nick Moss & the Flip Tops' appeal. They play with fire and fury but also with control, constructing a brilliant set that never gets boring." - Blues Revue Magazine


"Live At Chan's Review - Hittin' The Note"

"They're a multi-talented quartet and they blaze through these 11 workouts with dogged intensity ... After four acclaimed studio albums, Live at Chan's is the triumphant clamor of the Flip Tops landing on their first pinnacle."
- Tom Clarke - Hittin' The Note


"Sadie Mae Review - Guitar One"

"If you're uneasy about the future of the blues, you'll find hope in Nick Moss. He maintains the finest in Chicago's straightforward, gutbucket sound while eschewing the all-too-common use of 'special guests' and cliched covers. A contemporary, personal take on a classic sound. Hot Lick: Check out the single-note work on 'I Never Forget'."
-Sean McDevitt - Guitar One Magazine


"Sadie Mae Review - Dirty Linen"

"With all the pseudo rock and soul music that’s being passed off as 'real Chicago blues,' Nick Moss and the Flip Tops’ breathtaking new album Sadie Mae is an oasis for astute fans thirsting for authentic Chicago blues from the '50s and '60s. Moss, a gifted singer-guitarist, learned firsthand how to play real Chicago blues from the likes of Jimmy Rogers and Jimmy Dawkins, and it shows. On Sadie Mae, Moss quotes a plethora of Windy City legends, including Hound Dog Taylor (title track), Muddy Waters ('One-Eyed Jack'), Magic Sam ('The Bishop'), and Earl Hooker ('You Got To Lose') with verve and affection. Added to Moss’ soulful vocals and vintage tonal guitar work is the Flip Tops’ first-rate musicianship for the makings of perhaps the yar’s best Chicago blues album—by anyone’s definition." - Dirty Linen


"Sadie Mae Review - Midwest Record Recap"

"Here’s a youngster that learned at the knee of Jimmy Rodgers and is set for giving you the real blues experience, not some frat boy vision of it. With the kind of roar that powered Muddy Waters out of the south and into the industrial, post war revolution, Moss doesn’t play like an acolyte or a wannabe, he’s got his hand on the grail. Hard charging set that was born of roadhouse sweat and grit. Real blues fans will love this real deal." - Midwest Record Recap


"Count Your Blessings Review - Down Beat"

"On his third album, Moss erupts with glowing guitar phrases that honor his heroes Buddy Guy and Jimmy Dawkins without being mired in the past. His singing has a certain naturalness and crispness, too. As a songriter, the young Chicagoan gives his band the Flip Tops and guests (among them, Muddy Waters' drummer Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith and Texas guitarist Anson Funderburgh) a batch of solid originals to latch on to. He also redefines the possibilities of old material from Leroy Carr's 'Barrelhouse Woman' to Floyd Jones’ 'Ain't Times Hard.' Moss is in it for the long haul. 3 1/2 STARS!" - Down Beat Magazine


Discography

Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Live At Chan's: Combo Platter No. 2 (2009)
Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Play It Til Tomorrow (2007)
Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Live At Chan's (2006)
Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Sadie Mae (2005)
Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Count Your Blessings (2003)
Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Got A New Plan (2001)
Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - First Offense (1998)

Other recordings:
Gerry Hundt - Since Way Back (2007 - BB 1009) (Co-Producer, guest)
Kilborn Alley Blues Band - Tear Chicago Down (2007 - BB 1010) (Producer, guest)
Kilborn Alley Blues Band - Put It In The Alley (2006 - BB1007) (Producer, guest)
Bill Lupkin - Hard Pill To Swallow (2007 - BB 1011) (Producer, guest)
Bill Lupkin & Friends - Where I Come From (2006 - BB1006) (Producer, guest)
Monster Mike Welch - Cryin' Hey! (2005 - Dixie Frog) (guest guitarist)
Easy Bill & the Big Beat - Stay Tuned! (2005) (Producer)
Pauline York Band - Mudy Water (2004) (Guest)
Easy Bill & the Big Beat - Midnight Creep (2003) (Producer, guest)
Big Bill Morganfield - Ramblin' Mind (2001) (bass)
more...

Photos

Bio

Chicago blues. Those two words conjure up the most powerful and evocative images in the entire history of American music. Think smoke-filled taverns on the South or West Side nearly ablaze with tremendous displays of electrified Delta beats from dignitaries named Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, Elmore James, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and so many more. Imagine sidewalk curbs and street corners on busy Maxwell Street where storied performers like Hound Dog Taylor and Robert Nighthawk wailed the blues for spare change.

Chicago blues is now also synonymous with guitarist Nick Moss. Though the golden era of Chicago blues is long past with many of its key players deceased or retired, this young Chicagoan stands tallest in the current generation of blues performers that honor the letter and spirit of the great urban African-American music. No less than Jimmy Rogers saw Nick as a protégé, a torchbearer, and a colleague. Leading Chicago-style guitarist Buddy Guy sanctions his talent: "Nick Moss is one of the local favorites at my club, Legends. I always enjoy the way he plays and works hard to please our audience". Noted Chicago-based music journalist Bill Dahl, never one for gratuitous praise, has raved over Nicks guitar playing, saying he possesses mastery of the classic Chicago sound, while acclaimed blues producer Dick Shurman numbers himself among Nicks ever-growing legion of admirers, calling his Windy City neighbor "an increasingly centered artist who can rightly be called a master".

A musician of consummate skill, Nick fully understands the debt he owes his predecessors and how important it is to carry on tradition in an honorable fashion. "I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel," he says with characteristic modesty, "or trying to bring things into the new millennia. I'm just playing what was handed down to me and do it justice. I have a lot of respect for the guys who taught it to me; I played with Jimmy Dawkins, I played with Willie Smith, I played with Jimmy Rogers and in my heart I love [this music] and I dont feel it has to be changed much."

Passionate blues fans around the country gravitate to Nicks playing in live performance and on recordings because of that stylistic link to the Chicago blues past. But Nick's music also holds enormous appeal for casual fans of blues and even novices. "I'm trying to find that fine line of not compromising the integrity of that classic music, he says, and yet still make it a little fresher-sounding and contemporary-sounding where I can get across to the element of the crowd that isnt hard-core."

To his credit, Nicks no imitator. He has his own distinct voice on the guitar, what all musicians in all genres strive for yet very few achieve. "Ive listened to just about every blues guitar player from the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, especially the Chicago guys, and tried to take in all of it, he offers, but I dont consider myself a note-to-note copier. I absorbed their style and feel and timing. I try to listen and capture the essence of what they were doing."

For Nick Moss, the rise to the top tier of blues musicians out of Chicago had its beginnings right in his boyhood home. "If it wasnt for my brother Joe I wouldnt be playing. I used to watch him play guitar growing up, and still today hes one of my favorite guitarists, a musicians musician, playing blues, jazz, funk, soul, and rock. He pointed me in the right direction." Too young for legal admission into clubs, aspiring teenaged blues man Nick literally sneaked into local blues dens and soaked up the classic ensemble sound played by the venerable elders. "My first influence was Jimmy Dawkins because he gave me my first real gig playing bass for him. I just happened to be at a blues jam when I found out he needed a bass player. I really didnt know who the guy was. I found out how heavy he was after I started playing with him and doing research." How heavy? Dawkins was one of the true stars of electric blues in the 70s, an acclaimed star in Europe but always criminally undervalued in the States.

Nicks schooling began in earnest when he hooked up with the Muddy Waters-styled Legendary Blues Band that featured Muddy Waters Blues Band alumnus Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on drums. "That was one of my favorite bands," he recalls. "I still love Willie. He is like my second father. He basically taught me two things: 1) to take pride in myself right now, and 2) the timing and feel of blues, how its suppose to be." The next deep-blues learning period for Nick, who'd switched over from bass to guitar, was in the employ of Jimmy Rogers for three years in the mid-90s. From this major figure in the story of blues he learned all about the special ensemble sound of authentic Chicago blues, coming to understand the importance of listening closely to and reacting to his fellow players on the bandstand. "Listen to early Muddy Waters stuff with Jimmy and Otis Spann and Little Walter," says Nick of the origina