Bret Mosely- Light and Blood

Woodstock MusicWorks
Review by Ross Rice

Anyone can play the blues…it’s like whistling or snapping your fingers. Three chords, nothing fancy: in fact, the fancier it is, the less bluesy it gets. It’s not rocket science, it’s the basis of 95% percent of all pop music, and it’s just plain fundamental (in a good way). It’s something we all have, whether you like it or not.

On Light And Blood (the first release from new local label Woodstock MusicWorks), there can be no doubt that Bret Mosely has ‘em. With his open-tuning guitar and his “stompboard,” Mosley puts his limited vocal range to good use, keeping things bare bones and no-frills. Opening song “Well And Good” defines the sound of the CD, but it’s the next song, “Preachin’ Blues,” that sets the table properly with “I’m gonna be a Baptist preacher….so I don’t have to work,” a lyric that would cause a ruckus down South for sure, with music that justifies it with slide, stomp, and blues harp from Jason Novak. Mosely wisely keeps this CD simple, bringing Woodstock guitarist emeritus Chris Zaloom onboard for occasional steelwork, bringing a tasty country-blues twist to “Leavin’ Here” and “Barnfire.”

But, Light and Blood get its best momentum up on the back end, starting with “Deliver Me,” which digs the slide a little deeper (a la Chris Whitley), where he’s “walkin’ on the bones of worry and shame,” and the guitar tries to feed back, but is (barely) held in check. “Step Up,” with guest bass John Luther (and Zaloom again) brings back a goodtime country feel, then Mosley lets his voice get a bit furrier on “Supermartyr,” and we can feel a little Stax soul creeping in. Modern politics get name-checked in “Climbing The Floor,” and the CD closes with an up-tempo frailing version of “Amazing Grace.”

Bret Mosley keeps a good, low-key vibe that make this CD go down easy as a gin-and-tonic in July, but it’s not until this CD gets warmed up that we get the full picture. Mosley has the right idea with his country blues . . . less is more where the music is concerned. But, when Mosley digs in and sings with a little more abandon and feeling, good things happen, and the blues become the Blues.