The Mosleys
Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459, USA | Established. Jan 01, 2014 | MAJOR
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It somehow makes sense that The Mosleys marked the year of their new record with a family move, from the only home their children have known, to a different place in a different state. Ordinary Time is an eleven-song journey through the crucibles of ache and joy brought on by family trials and the road. Produced with Phil Madeira and Jimmy Abegg, legendary songwriters and good friends of Stephen and Rachel Mosley, the record came out of a successful crowdfunding campaign (thank you to those of you who gave!) and a continual journey of writing, playing, and parsing out what it would look like to be singer-songwriters.
Not to say that the journey hasn’t been marked by moments of excitement. There was winning both the famed Eddie’s Attic songwriter shootout and the competition at Zac Brown’s Southern Ground. They were the artist of the month on NPR’s Folk Alley. And of course, there was the opening slot for Air Supply at Chastain Park. Yet the new record didn’t necessarily emerge from these places.
For all intents and purposes, Ordinary Time was born in an Airstream trailer, rocketing somewhere through the American West like a satellite still longing for the home ground of the South. Stephen and Rachel renovated the classy silver-bullet-shaped vehicle, hitched it up, and bravely toted their five children on the road, homeschooling all the while. The proximity of seven people in a trailer certainly provides fertile ground for songwriting. Such interpersonal adventures ought to come with warning labels. The album’s lyrics tread unflinchingly over difficulties and thorny patches of regret that ring familiar.
Why Wyoming?
You were stuck inside yourself.
All the miles and landscapes I watched alone.
I can’t tell you how or where to go.
—“High Places”
I could hear you humming
Three doors down from my back porch;
I stood outside,
I walked the baby back and forth.
Your light went out.
I shut the door.
—“Five Long Years”
You can hear the road running by under the wheels. By turns, the sound gleams with the pink granite sparkle of sunny highways or purls with memory while staring at its reflection in the darkened car window.
Settle me down on a piece of this ground,
Let me know it is mine.
Find me a place that will settle my soul;
I will know I am home.
…I will make the best of whatever comes.
—“Settle”
Ever since alt-country tended to be one of the best kinds of country, this sort of music has provided a good, cozy corner in which to sort through the mess of being human. There’s something about the woolen, mid-heavy bend of a lap steel, perhaps. The record never overdoes the sound either. Phil Madeira’s judicious blend of guitars and accordion, with a little old tube organ thrown in for good measure, creates the perfect backdrop for the acoustic tone.
The great comfort of these songs is that, in the midst of overdramatic times, they revel in the beauty of the ordinary. All the little difficulties and glories of normal life are there, painted with the light touch of vignette.
This ring I’ve worn for thirteen years,
The way you know my smile, even when it’s hard to find—
I’m staying up too late.
Hail, Mary, full of grace,
That you’ll make it home again.
—“Eiderdown”
Again, thank you to everyone who participated in the Mosleys’ crowdfunding campaign. If you aren’t getting the downloads already as part of your participation rewards, Ordinary Time is now available on iTunes! - Foundling House
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
The Mosleys have just released their first full length album, Ordinary Time, with Grammy-winning producer Phil Madeira with the help of Jimmy Abegg in August 2017. Ordinary Time was featured as Noise Trade's New and Notable release in September 2017. The Mosleys were honored to be NPR's Folk Alley Artist of the Month, finalists in the Wild Goose Festival Songwriter Competition and winners of Eddie's Attic Songwriter Competition, and featured artists at the Escape to the Lake festival with Under the Radar. They've headlined Eddie's Attic and frequently play there and at other venues in and around Atlanta.
Link to video here: https://vimeo.com/152406985
The Mosleys began on a quiet, dark front porch in 2014, when Rachel and Stephen Mosley stepped out the front door to relax and play some music after putting their five children to bed. With the encouragement of their neighbors, they found themselves playing - and winning - an Open Mic competition at Zac Brown's Southern Ground in Senoia, Georgia. From there, they were invited to record at Southern Ground's Crow's Nest Studio in Atlanta. Their EP, Beneath the Trees and Stars, was written and recorded in a matter of months in 2014.
The Mosleys met in a freshman year high school geography class sometime late last century. Married for fifteen years, they've just recently begun to write and perform their own earthy, soft brand of folk, and to share it beyond their own front porch. Rachel and Stephen have quickly earned opportunities to share the stage with talents such as Liz Longley and Harpeth Rising, opened for Air Supply at Chastain Park, played the Wire & Wood Festival in Atlanta, and have performed for the past two years at the prestigious 30A Singer Songwriter Festival in Seaside, Florida. Their music is heavily influenced by whatever they're reading - Flannery O'Connor, Wendell Berry, and G.K. Chesterton are favorites - as well as by their deep spirituality, favorite artists like Mindy Smith, Stevie Nicks, and Alison Krauss, and most of all, by their five wild and unruly red-headed children.
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