Moody returns to action with "Wanderer"
Open-tuned guitars (inspired by Moody's heroes, Joni Mitchell and Laura Marling), provide the backdrop for pedal steel, vocals and harmonies.
Recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville, the self-penned 10-song album was co-produced by Moody and Dan Knobler (Allison Russell, Lake Street Dive) and mixed by Tucker Martine (Madison Cunningham, First Aid Kit).
The first single, "Seventeen," was released today.
"It's about that tender time, at the edge of adulthood, when there are so many feelings and so few tools to cope with them," Moody said. "I was thinking about that time of my life, having a lot of memories and dreams and remembering that thrill and that pain. Looking for clues in a way. It's exhilarating. It's confusing. It can be so devastating. But it's something we all have to go through in our own way."
It's been over a decade since her last solo release, "These Wlilder Things." She'd always intended to record a follow-up but shifted her focus in 2016, when she and her partner, multi-instrumentalist Sam Howard (Molly Tuttle, Joy Williams) welcomed their son, Woodson.
After the release and subsequent tours supporting The Wailin' Jennys' 2017 album, "Fifteen", Moody was ready to try again; then the pandemic hit.
"The way these things happen is funny, though," she told PopMatters. "Somehow, it feels right to have waited until now. For one thing, a handful of the songs that ended up on the record weren't written until more recently."
Musicians including Howard, who plays upright bass and provides backing vocals, her older brother Richard Moody ("He's played on every record I've ever made"), Jennys' touring member Anthony da Costa, (guitars), Jason Burger (drums), Kai Welch (keyboards); Russ Paul (pedal steel), Adrian Dolan (string arrangements) and duet partner Joey Landreth on "The Spell of the Lilac Bloom."
The track listing is:
1. Already Free
2.Twilight
3.The Spell Of The Lilac Bloom (featuring Joey Landreth)
4.Seventeen
5.Michigan
6.The Way Lovers Move
7.Coyotes
8.North Calling
9.Wanderer
10.Comin' Round The Bend
RUTH MOODY BAND TOUR:
May 21 Annapolis, MD – Ram's Head
May 22 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
May 23 Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
May 25 New York, NY – Joe's Pub
May 26 State College, PA – State Theatre
May 28 Evanston, IL – SPACE
May 29 Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
May 30 Cincinnati, OH – Ludlow Garage
Jul y11-14 Winnipeg, Canada - Winnipeg Folk Festival
More dates will be announced soon.
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