Recorded live at The Crossroads - Huntsville, AL with Michael Kilpatrick on drums. Engineered and produced by Michael Kilpatrick.

Preachin' Blues-Live-Huntsville, AL

...from Charge with Jerry Joseph & Steve Drizos

Stare At The Sun

...from "Charge" with Jerry Joseph & Steve Drizos.

What You Feel

Promo clips from the new Bret Mosley album "X-ING"...

Genre-dodger Bret Mosley follows up his critically-acclaimed debut Light & Blood with a soulful, funky, bluesy roots offering…something like Motown meets O Brother, Where Art Thou? X-ING showcases his power & intensity as an interpreter of song as well as the penchant for emotional and spiritual depth found in his own folk-meets-funk/roots Americana-meets-soul compositions.

In the age of mp3 single track downloads, X-ING was put together with particular attention given to album flow. Produced between tours 2011-2013 in Charleston, SC at Awendaw Green and Plowground Productions, the effort features four re-imagined covers and two originals.

The songs are stripped down to Mosley's "one-man power duo" instrumentation: dobro, stompboard and vocals. Known for his unlikely "uncovers” such as Bowie's "Modern Love" and Prince's "I Would Die 4 U", Mosley also weighs in with strong originals “Lawrence, KS” (recorded unplugged with one mic in one take) and “Hope” - a spirited, sanguine ode born of gratitude toward fans, friends and family.

Buy "X-ING" on iTunes

X - ING album preview

egg shaker, arm rest, cardboard box and overtone singing (killing time on I-65 north) at In The Car

Recorded live on the air at WAMC 90.3 FM in Albany, New York for National Public Radio.

Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen cover)

back porch with ringo

"…as if Van Morrison had come from a sharecroppers’ farm." - AMERICANA UK

"...breaks out roots and Americana with a pop singer-songwriter flair." - TIMEOUT, NEW YORK

"…extraordinary sense of rhythm and a razor-sharp tongue." - POPMATTERS

"...he has a Milky Way with words." - BRONWEN EXTER

BRET MOSLEY smiles off to the side, “I first picked up my father’s Stella Harmony guitar when I was six. A few years later—a good while before turntables became musical instruments—I turned a Chet Atkins record by hand to learn Yakety Axe note-by-note. I still have the guitar, even though some dear soul at UPS drove a forklift through it several years ago…the culmination to an extremely uphill stint in L.A. It was that experience, though, that helped wring out my first song, Lord, Girl…I still need to record that one.”

Rarely could an artist be said to transcend, yet include, the most raw and real elements of hill country blues, roots rock, folk, soul and rap. Nevertheless—with bone-deep authenticity—that’s exactly what Bret Mosley does, wrestling deftly with longing, belonging, and world-weariness...on the way home to hope & grace.

Mosley’s critically-acclaimed debut album Light & Blood was released in December 2007 on Woodstock MusicWorks, and hailed as “a heart-felt masterpiece” by NeuFutur Magazine. The album’s thirteen tracks were recorded over a two-day span in March 2007 by Pete Caigan (Bad Brains, Tony Levin) at Flymax Studio in Woodstock, NY. The record was mixed by Grammy-nominated engineer Roman Klun (Sarah McLachlan, Joan Osborne, Spin Doctors). Every track was performed live with no overdubs or punch-ins. The result is at once lean and lush...a smoldering confessional work...soulful Americana laced with a driving groove. 

Mosley toured tirelessly across the U.S.—200+ dates per year—following the album’s release and enthusiastic reception. With signature idiosyncratic intensity, his unreservedly original, deeply authentic sound has garnered an audience ranging from cowhands to bankers, from rastas to cops. 

And a few thousand self-distributed copies later, an Australian reissue of Light & Blood dropped in November 2015.

“My music career is the culmination of a fairly common path,” he jokes, “before making that first record, I did the usual things: ranch hand, linebacker, fur trapper, ballet dancer, stockbroker, actor, computer programmer, Pilates instructor & art handler…in that order. But, I’ve been touring for the past 10 years, and most of the time it somehow seems like the only thing I’ve ever done…gratefully.”

Just after the release of Light & Blood, the venerated, archetypal musician’s musician Jerry Joseph attended a downtown NYC show of Bret’s. That changed the whole game for Mosley.

“Jerry has invited me to tour and record with him off and on ever since. He opened up the entire U.S. to me as a touring artist.” In 2008, Bret released the EP Charge with Jerry Joseph and drummer Steve Drizos on Joseph’s Cosmo Sex School label.

He has opened for George Porter, Jr., Trombone Shorty, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, the Subdudes, Patterson Hood, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Jackie Greene, Good Enough For Good Times, Junior Brown, Donavon Frankenreiter, Jackie Greene, Big Brother & The Holding Company, Kaki King, Kelly Joe Phelps, et al—comparisons have included Chris Whitley, John Butler, Xavier Rudd, Richie Havens, Van Morrison, Ben Harper and Taj Mahal. 

Living in Melbourne now, Bret is building touring momentum in Australia—having shared the stage with Ian Moss, Tex Perkins, The Pierce Brothers, Kallidad, Hussy Hicks, et al. Mosley is currently self-producing multiple solo projects from sessions in New York, Mississippi, and Australia.


"…roots folk rock at its best...quietly stunning in its seemingly simple beauty..."  - ACED MAGAZINE

"...in the desert somewhere between Son House and Leonard Cohen." - WAMC 90.3FM

"...combines every facet of Americana music to form rogue stories in song." - STEAMBOAT TODAY

Bret Mosley

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