Boston-based singer-songwriter Alastair Moock Moock first made a name for himself on the folk and Americana circuit starting in 1995, touring throughout the U.S. and Europe and playing major venues including the Newport Folk Festival and Norway’s Bergen Music Fest. He won songwriter contests at the Falcon Ridge, Sisters, and Great Waters folk festivals and was nominated for a 2007 Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year. 

Still, critical success did not translate into commercial success. When his twin daughters were born in 2006, Moock concluded it was time to move on. As his swan song, he decided to make one more album: a tribute both to his own newborn daughters and to a generation of musical heroes – Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Mississippi John Hurt – who wrote and played, proudly and undiscriminatingly, for both adults and kids.

The album, A Cow Says Moock, became Moock’s most successful project to date. It led to three more family albums which together garnered most of the top awards in American children’s music, including a 2013 GRAMMY Nomination for the album he made with his daughter, Clio, after she was diagnosed with leukemia (she’s now healthy and doing great). 

Moock never stopped playing concerts for adults, but he did have a long dry spell where new ‘grownup’ material just didn’t seem to come to him. The spell finally broke last year when he realized he needed “to get past the songs of my 20s and 30s and start writing from the perspective of who I am now: a father, a husband, a guy who’s been through some stuff.” 

He brought his new material to his old friend Mark Erelli (Lori McKenna, Josh Ritter) who signed on as producer and brought in some of the top talent in the area, including Marco Giovino on drums (Robert Plant, Buddy Miller) and Marty Ballou on bass (Peter Wolf, John Hammond Jr.). The end result is ten shimmering new originals, plus a cover of an Erelli tune, that evoke a wide breadth of American musical textures: early Nashville, country blues, Western swing, a tinge of gospel. But most of all, the album is infused with the kind of intimate storyteller’s approach at which Moock excels.

The songs on ALASTAIR MOOCK touch on death and love, politics, marriage and family, big universal questions and minute everyday observations. It’s a hard album to pin down, but then Moock has always been a hard songwriter to pin down. “I don’t care who I’m singing to,” he says, “I just want to tell stories.” 

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Alastair Moock – vocals, acoustic guitar
Mark Erelli – 6 & 12-string acoustic, electric & resonator guitars, lap steel, mandolin, additional percussion, vocals
Marty Ballou – upright & electric bass 
Marco Giovino – drums, percussion
Sam Kassirer – piano, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer, vibes
Charlie Rose – banjo, pedal steel
Deni Hlavinka – vocals
Zachariah Hickman – pump organ (track 10)

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Produced by 
Mark Erelli

Recorded by
Chris Rival at Middleville Studio, North Reading, MA 

Mixed by
Lorne Entress at Harmony St., Pomfret, CT 

Mastered by
Ian Kennedy at New Alliance East, Cambridge, MA

All songs written by Alastair Moock ©2017 Moockshake Music (ASCAP) except “Something’s Changed,” written by Alastair Moock & Dinty Child, Mermine Music (SESAC) and “Let’s Make a Family,” written by Mark Erelli, Hillbilly Pilgrim Music (ASCAP)

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Purchase at: 
https://alastairmoock.bandcamp.com/album/alastair-moock

Alastair Moock

Dream

Boo! From the album "These Are My Friends" 
www.moockmusic.com/store.php

A Scary Song

Written by Alastair Moock and The Lincoln School 3rd and 4th graders
Performed by Alastair Moock and The Lincoln Chorus Club / recording and mandolin by Mark Erelli 

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LINCOLN C​.​A​.​R​.​E​.​S. 

Lincoln was a leader 
We’re Lincoln leaders too 
And we’re lucky to be somewhere 
Where a love of learning’s cool 
Where there’s effort and acceptance 
And respect is everywhere 
Our citizens are safe within these walls 
Cuz Lincoln C.A.R.E.S. 

C because we’re citizens 
Which means that we belong 
Community is what we are 
And that’s what makes us strong 
A is for acceptance 
When you come here, you can be 
Yourself and no one else 
You be you and I’ll be me 

R means we’re respectful 
We’re kind in how we act 
We listen to our teachers 
And our teachers listen back 
E is for the effort 
That we give here every day 
We work hard and we try hard 
Because that’s the Lincoln way 

S because we’re safe 
In how we act and how we feel 
We’re safe because we’re citizens 
It’s all part of the deal 
We welcome you in friendship 
We welcome you in song 
We welcome you to Lincoln 
Come on in and sing along… 

Lincoln was a leader 
We’re Lincoln leaders too 
And we’re lucky to be somewhere 
Where a love of learning’s cool 
Where there’s effort and acceptance 
And respect is everywhere 
Our citizens are safe within these walls 
Cuz Lincoln C.A.R.E.S. 

C.A.R.E.S. GO LINCOLN!

Lincoln School Song

Lincoln C​.​A​.​R​.​E​.​S.

Alastair Moock is a 2013 Grammy Nominee and two-time Parents’ Choice Gold Medal Winner. The New York Times calls him "a Tom Waits for kids" and The Boston Globe declares that, "in the footsteps of [Pete] Seeger and [Woody] Guthrie, Alastair Moock makes real kids music that parents can actually enjoy.” 

Alastair Moock

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