Moot Davis was born and raised in New Jersey a launching pad for some of high profile careers in music history. Starting out as a stage actor a career which saw him working in the U.S. and Europe. During this period he began writing songs during downtime at rehearsals. These songs, in demo quality, formed his first gig sales CD which now seems lost in the mists of time. It was my first encounter with Davis and I was immediately taken with the songs. Some of the players such as Chris Scruggs, Andy Gibson and Chris Dettloff would be known to readers of Lonesome Highway. The song writing and performances were great even if the overall sound lacked the hand of a producer who could bring it up a notch.
Rosie Flores was a key factor in Moot making to Nashville. She , in turn, introduced him to her then producer Peter Anderson. This resulted in Davis moving to Hollywood, California to work on his Little Dog debut with Anderson. Some of these songs featured in films such as Academy Award-winning CRASH and horror hit THE HILLS HAVE EYES. These early successes have earned him many film and TV placements of his material to date.
His previous, well-received albums include MOOT DAVIS, ALREADY MOVED ON, MAN ABOUT TOWN, GOIN’ IN HOT and his last album HIERARCHY OF CROWS which was released in 2017. We took the opportunity to catch up with Davis on the release of his latest offering SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD (October 2021).
The new album continues the trajectory of the last album with your contrasting of country, rock and other influences. Was that based on the reaction to HIERARCHY OF CROWS or more directly from your own instincts?
I think that it’s the combination of music styles that I like personally to listen to and when putting the album songs together, there were both the “California country” type songs and the more hard rock/experimental type and then a few that fall somewhere in the middle. So, it wasn’t really based on the reaction to the Hierarchy album but more my leaning towards more variety on an album.
Yeah, I kind of feel like I’ve already started that with the past two or three albums. Certainly with songs on this album like, Seven Cities of Gold and Anunnaki War Bride and previous album tracks like Destroyer and Hemophiliac Of Love, I feel like I’ve stepped out from behind the cutout of what traditional country music is.
Like pretty much every musician the last 18 months have been difficult for obvious reasons. How did you work your way through that time?
Well even though touring stopped we were still working full-time on the album. So, I just dug in deeper and luckily, when things got really bad, all the actual recording had been done. Then we went into the mixing phase, which took a while, so thankfully we had the time. Other then that, it was a lot of hanging out at my little farm house in rural New Jersey with my girlfriend, Katie. That and copious amounts of rum and vodka.
Having played a part in the early revival of a more traditional country music down on Lower Broadway do you find the way it has developed since was something you could have foreseen?
I’m not sure I ever gave it much thought, even when I was down there 20 years ago I was still doing 99% original music. I recently started playing Layla’s again, maybe once a month or so and still doing 99% original music. That’s unheard of down there, everyone is doing covers and maybe one original song thrown in. So I just always kept my head down and fought to play my own songs. Because if you think about it, that town was built on songwriting and songwriters.
Equally has the turmoil that has arisen in the United States been a factor at all in your outlook?
Well, I think there’s a pretty visible divide here and the fires seems to be stoked by certain factions. However, I just keep moving along, doing my thing all the while, keeping a distant, skeptical and suspicious eye on all that’s going on.
You have been based in LA and Nashville and currently back on the East Coast. How much does location have a part to play in your pursuits?
I just have to travel more now, we recorded most of the album in Los Angeles and so there were a lot of weekends I had to fly out there. My girlfriend’s a flight attendant so it makes traveling a lot easier for me. I was very grateful to be living where I am currently, during this whole past 18 months. Pretty removed from everything.
Looking back how much does luck, location and timing play a part in forging a career in music?
I think luck plays a part, I think you also have to be prepared as much as you can be. The landscape is so strange now in the music business, I can’t tell what’s luck and what’s not. And I would think timing is probably huge in relationship to success but it’s never been something that I’ve had my finger on. I was very lucky and came along with the right time to work with Pete Anderson, just as he and Dwight were parting ways. And I was lucky in getting all those songs and film and television. Up to 24 at this point. As for location, I think it plays a big part in the beginning. The town I live in now, Sergeantsville, New Jersey was where I originally met Rosie Flores years ago and it was her that told me I should move to Nashville. Once I moved to Nashville and kicked around for a few months, Rosie came in for a beer at Tootsie’s where I was playing and watched our set. After that she invited me to go on the road with her. On the road, I played her some demos of the album I was making and she suggested that once it was finished I send it to Pete Anderson. So I guess to answer your question I think it’s all very important, but also completely unable to be premeditated. I mean, you can visualize things that you want to have happen and you can be as prepared as possible but I believe there’s another force at hand. What that is, I don’t know but at times in my career, I’ve felt it.
You stated out being involved in acting and later had some of your songs used in films. Are the activities of actor and musician still something that you have a joint interest?
Yes, I believe that one feeds the other, and recharges the other. I think being a band leader has a lot of challenges and sometimes to recharge, I like to get involved in some sort of theater work. Not musicals mark you, I can’t stand them. But stage plays, where you show up and just know your stuff and do your thing and all the worrying is left of someone else. All decisions, managing, all that kind of stuff, it’s just nice to take a break from it and still do something creative and be in front of people.
When you consider all things together do you think you have got to the place you wanted to be?
Well, I think artistically, yes. I’m very proud of the songs that I write and the albums that we’re making. However, career-wise, I still see myself as very much the outsider and largely ignored.
Your influences, musically, are pretty wide-ranging and on your site there are mentions of T Rex, Guns & Roses alongside Willie Nelson and Rosie Flores. Are they (and others) still touchstones for your writing?
Absolutely. I really fell in love with classic country music and with no one more so than Hank Williams. But I also grew up with a lot of Bob Dylan, Roxy Music and all that great 60s and 70s rock and roll. I love all the old standards as well and Sinatra and Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong and some more recent versions of that sort of thing by Harry Connick Jr. But where I write from is bookended by classic country and 60s and 70s rock music. I do hope to get an upright piano and learn some chords on there because I think I could come up with some really cool songs, different kinds of songs.
There are essentially a collection of relationship songs on the album from the harsh rockin’ sounds and lyrics of the closing track Annunaki War Bride to the opening Hey Hey to the country overtones of Lassoed And Lost or the more acoustic Turn In The Wind And Burn. Do write from that standpoint or what do you draw influences from?
I think that’s true. I think a lot of them are relationship songs. They don’t all have to be factual, some of them are fantasy songs. Turn In The Wind And Burn talks more about my frustration regarding my career. I think I’d write from things I see, hear, feel and think.
I think your take on Crazy gives it a very different patina with the 12 string guitar so upfront. What was the reason you chose that?
I wanted to get as far away from Patsy Cline’s version and Willie’s version as possible. Try some way to make it my own. The 12 string was just something I had in my head for some reason. I also changed the chord structure two more simpler I-IV-V progression. I think that helped make it feel more in my realm.
You write on your own for the most part but there are some co-writes on the album. Do you have a preference for either?
My buddy Blake Oswald, who co-produced the album and played drums on it, came up with the song California. I added a couple lines here and there but he had most of it together and I just thought it was a great song. Blake is a really cool songwriter and it’s fun to work with other people because you get some songs that are out of the norm for you as a writer. Other times, I’m just stumped and can’t come up with anything for a certain part of the song, like Hey Hey. So I’m playing it over and over trying to come up with something and then my girlfriend Katie, comes up with something that fits perfectly. That’s always fun too!
You sound like you’re having fun making this album. Perhaps because you don’t seem to have any outside considerations or directions on how best fit your music on to radio. Was that the case?
Haha, yeah well we were drunk for most of the recordings for this one. And there really was no consideration about the radio or anything else for that matter. We were just trying to make music that we enjoyed listening to and didn’t make us too sick to our stomach. It was the most fun I’ve had making an album though.
Are you going to start touring behind this album with the band if the opportunity arises form you?
Absolutely, we’ve started playing shows locally and in Nashville again. Just getting the band together and working up our show. So we are definitely planning to tour, given the opportunity.
Any worries about getting out there when we don’t seem to have left the pandemic behind yet?
I personally have no fears about it, that’s just not how I am.
Are there any plans to make it Europe?
Absolutely, however one of the places that we based most of our tours out of was France and they seem to be having troubles of their own. So it may be a while.
What do you listen to these days?
I listen to some podcasts, like: https://sasquatchchronicles.com/category/episodes. We also have a record player here, at the house and we’re usually listening to Harry connick Jr and the album he did for the WHEN HARRY MET SALLY movie, Dylan’s DESIRE, Bryan Ferry BÊTE NOIRE or an album called THE SEA HAWK which is a soundtrack album to Errol Flynn’s swashbuckler movies from the 40’s.
When you find those seven cities of gold will it suffice your ambitions?
No. I don’t think getting what you want is ever enough. When you get to the top of something, I think you start looking for something else to climb or you begin to self destruct.
Interview by Stephen Rapid