Album Review – Mose Wilson (Self-Titled)
Grabbing from a wide array of country music influences and regional dialects, and splicing them all together seamlessly with some 70’s coolness, Tennessee native Mose Wilson has just dropped this infectious and entertaining self-titled debut album that will slide right into your preferred listening rotation and be stubborn in making its way out.
Along with Moes Wilson’s original songs, a lot of great ingredients went into this record. It was recorded at the Compass Studios in Nashville, which as some know, is the same original location as Tompall Glaser’s “Hillbilly Central” where the country music Outlaw movement emanated from.
Playing on the record is an all-star cast, including Trey Hensley, who lays down some smokin’ hot lead licks and really helps make this record kick, Miles Miller who is Sturgill Simpson’s drummer and bandleader, Casey Driscoll on fiddle, then veterans Dan Dugmore on steel guitar and Dennis Crouch on bass round out what is an instrumental tour de force if nothing else.
It all comes together for one of those albums that immediately reels you in, and includes something for everyone. It has a couple of slow country heartbreakers in “Blue” and “This Time It’s You,” which include a hint of early Eagles in them as well. It has a couple of downright bluegrass songs in “Cornered” and “She Don’t Live Here No More.” It has a couple of chicken pickin’ heaters in “I Don’t Need You” and “Tennessee Rag.” It has blues, and a little bit of rock. What it doesn’t have is a dull moment.
Born in the small town of Cowan, Tennessee about 90 minutes south of Nashville, Mose Wilson was performing at his local Church of Christ by the age of five. By the time he was 18, he was living in Nashville, striking out like so many actual musicians at making music in Music City. So Mose decided to move to the panhandle of Florida, and with his band Hotel Oscar, put in his 10,000 hours playing covers and originals in bars along the coast before making it back to Nashville to give it a second try.
The music of this self-titled record is what draws you in, but don’t overlook the songwriting. Mose and co-producer Matt Coles may allow the pickers to stretch their legs too much be considered a songwriter album, and though some of the songs rely more on regional style such as the Cajun-flavored “Louisiana Two Step,” some songs like “This Time It’s You” show that Mose can’t just pick and sing one, but can write one too.
Mose Wilson proves his adeptness with a host of country and country-adjacent styles on this debut record in a way that deservedly will put him on the independent country map. But the question it leaves unanswered is, what is the Mose Wilson style? What will make him stand out in a overcrowded music landscape?
But to know where music is going, you first have to know where it’s been. And with this self-titled record, Mose Wilson proves he does, and sets a firm foundation for his musical career to grow from.
1 3/4 Guns Up (8/10)
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November 10, 2021 @ 10:21 am
: D Let’s argue.
Easily a 9.5.
This guy can sing, & does some Hot pickin’. Especially on, I Don’t Need You.
NO drum machine.
NO shitty production.
NO reverb that sounds like crap.
Might even be a 9.65.
This is road trip music.
November 10, 2021 @ 2:42 pm
45 seconds in, and I agree!
November 11, 2021 @ 7:08 am
After a couple full passes, I decided I needed to come back and reiterate how great this album is!
Don’t miss this one!
Anyone else get a hint of Luke Bell?
November 10, 2021 @ 12:25 pm
I dig it. Great find. I may have 24 records in my top ten list!
November 10, 2021 @ 7:13 pm
Blue reminds me of Smoke Rings in the Dark era Gary Allan
November 11, 2021 @ 7:02 am
Nice find. I Don’t Need You kinda has a Jerry Reed feel to it. This song would have fit right in on Smokey and the Bandit. Gonna check out the rest of the album. Thanks
November 11, 2021 @ 12:56 pm
Nice record, this. But it plays more like a Spotify playlist rather than a whole piece. Lurching around the genre is fine but it takes a bit more identity than this. Still a fine effort.
November 11, 2021 @ 3:09 pm
Really enjoyed it but Trigger your right, I can tell what his specific sound is. But great music!
November 11, 2021 @ 9:39 pm
First glance, though it was ol’e Waylon on the cover. Hey if sounds as goods as it looks on the cover them I’m all in.
November 12, 2021 @ 10:13 am
” But the question it leaves unanswered is, what is the Mose Wilson style? What will make him stand out in a overcrowded music landscape? ”
a valid question , Trigger, particularly in these times when ”mainstreamers” have little to no consistency of style beyond ” what’s trending ” and ”how do we cash in on THAT ”?
it seems that Mose’ anchor , in terms of style , is undeniably authentic make-no-mistake-about-it COUNTRY and isn’t that enough ? i don’t see this guy being confused with Dierk’s , Urban’s , Dan and Shay’s , Lady A’s , or any mainstreamers’ current incarnations . we forget sometimes that authentic COUNTRY already covered a lot of interesting , honest musical ground BEFORE the powers that be decided it needed help from rap and popsters and machines and tuning .
that said , I like what I’m hearing from Mose , in part because it mines all of that traditional and authentic ground and in part because the guy can write and sing and sell it on talent alone .