Dave's Music #113 Joseph Huber - Moondog
Joseph Huber was my find at the 2022 Great River Folk Fest, such energy, fresh music and great lyrics. While is in Bandcamp to make my first rule for a Release Review but he likes to make only certain songs streamable. He did tell me that when we had a short conversation at the fest, though I want to see him again and ask why? I'm not on Spotify but I bet the songs are Spotify with very little chance to make money on them. I bought a 2018 Moondog release because he had the two record vinyl for a great price, and I'd rather have a vinyl with a download than another cd. Yep to import a cd to my library I have to pull out an old mac book, import it, and then copy it to my iMac; such a pain that's why I love download codes. (Musicians with Soundtrax watch out because the download codes don't work anymore since Adobe Acrobat was discountinued - caught me with two vinyls I bought at Storyhill Fest)
1) Moondog
What a great ballad:
You broke out of your pen, said, "Amen," You can't go home again if it's never been. You just kept playing your song and then You played it even louder even when they said, "When!" You got a tattoo, didn't think it through, Now you're getting gone to go be somebody new, Two less shoulders to bump into Letting loose while truth settles in.
Right this one isn't streamable on Bandcamp, but you can listen as many times as you want on YouTube, now the last time to ask the question, Why?
2) When the Waters Were One
He had me at the line "Are your eyes as bright as I remember them" and the song has a great chorus as shapes the memories.
We graced the fiddle with a dance
And the song that we sung
Served to remind that we're not yet unyoung,
And the music flowed through us like a river runs
For a river knows that the waters are one.
And the song that we sung
Served to remind that we're not yet unyoung,
And the music flowed through us like a river runs
For a river knows that the waters are one.
Here's a great video and I love how he gives you just enough percussion. You know my perspective on drums in a live setting. 50% of them are usually too loud.
3) After You
Good songs are ones when you feel like you could be who he was writing about... we'll I haven't been in this situation exactly; maybe in my dreams because I am the lucky dog.
I first saw you trapped on an old barstool,
And on each shoulder--another drooling fool
Like wild dogs circling some soon-to-be-food
They were after you. They were after you.
Shook my head and I wandered across the room
With some highfalutin idea for saving you.
Just one look in your eye and I was an old dog too
I was after you. I was after you.
And on each shoulder--another drooling fool
Like wild dogs circling some soon-to-be-food
They were after you. They were after you.
Shook my head and I wandered across the room
With some highfalutin idea for saving you.
Just one look in your eye and I was an old dog too
I was after you. I was after you.
Funny I think he plays it faster live:
4) Another Man's Shoes
Yep I put it in my next Shoes playlist, this song has a great banjo giving it almost a civil war ballad feel as you might walk though battlefields.
It'll pull you from the ditches
And the mud on your heels
Will fall as the wind
Lifts you o'er the swaying fields
Where a soul who's lost it’s sight
Of the great and mighty wheel
May somehow, there and then, begin again to feel.
5) And The Night
Joseph slows it down and captures that moon light shining on your partner.
When you drink your wine and you move in close,
And your pale skin in the moonlight glows,
And you smile and you don't even know
When the night falls on you.
And your pale skin in the moonlight glows,
And you smile and you don't even know
When the night falls on you.
6) I Wonder Where you Go
You know they say the best verse should be at the beginning but I associate more with the last verse:
Oh, I wonder who I'll be--
Will I sing my songs and make believe
You were only just a dream to me?
Will I change my tune,
And laugh at all those thoughts of you
That caused such pain?
Will I found I have stood on a rock
That only would sink into space,
Left to go all alone where we all go anyway?
Will I sing my songs and make believe
You were only just a dream to me?
Will I change my tune,
And laugh at all those thoughts of you
That caused such pain?
Will I found I have stood on a rock
That only would sink into space,
Left to go all alone where we all go anyway?
7) Hardwired
What starts with a mournful harp, you know it'll be bluesy and you get a minor key love story.
8) A Northwood Waltz
Joseph described it the best in his Bandcamp post, this has a feel like a David Francey ballad; not only that it checks in at 7:37 or really like true a traditional song.
*** A romp-turned-melancholy run through central and northern Wisconsin in below freezing conditions and a snow-storm are one of the many inspirations for this song. Many thanks to the Coppersmith crew for the addition of the piano to my studio that I used in this track. Dedicated to the crew at Malarkey's in Wausau.***
Somewhere far away, she's crying my name,
In the drum of my ear there's a-ringing.
But the fiddle plays on, and the crowd sings along
Though they know not the words to be singing. Just...
(Lie-lie-lie)
In the drum of my ear there's a-ringing.
But the fiddle plays on, and the crowd sings along
Though they know not the words to be singing. Just...
(Lie-lie-lie)
9) Centerline
Note try not to follow Joseph with a song on his mind.
10) Geronimo!
With a title I wondered he would go with the song, but it turned into a song about a guy struggling through life.
11) Rivers of Smoke
Lyrically Joseph puts so much into all his songs:
Brushstrokes from an unknown master’s hand
Shaping all these sorrows into works of art
As the years grow another ring around a heart,
Because its been so long that we’ve been apart
Shaping all these sorrows into works of art
As the years grow another ring around a heart,
Because its been so long that we’ve been apart
12) Where You Said You Would Be
A somber electric guitar and a guy waiting; leaves you wondering if she's still alive.
13) Found Penny
Definitely needs to be in the next Show Me the Money playlist.
14) The Wild Swans at Coole
You have to appreciate Joseph's tastes for adventure as he takes on a William Butler Yeats prose into a lush scent of an indigenous walk in the wilderness.
15) Pale, Lonesome Rider
Another relationship song, and he's lost another one because his nature it to be alone; funny the premise reminded me of "Heard it in a Love Song"
I'm a pale, lonesome rider
Throwing my face right to the wind.
A better man would settle down beside her.
Who do you think I am?
I'm a pale lonesome rider,
Companion to no 'where' or 'when,'
I guess I'll have to wait until the next life
To begin again.
A nice live cut again for a song you can't embed or listen to on Bandcamp and while Joseph takes a weird approach to this, I so love reading along to the lyrics that he posted on BC... plus it's the gatefold in his vinyl. LOVE IT!
Yes I put the songs for a one click playlist in YouTube.
I hope you enjoyed this deep dive in Joseph's music, all my Reviews are both for you and me as I learn more about the artists when you slow down and listen. Click here to see the past releases. You can find and follow us on Facebook and as always Good Music has NO Expiration Date, so if you are listening to this ten years from now, it still will be awesome music. If this is a first time visit, check out the index of themes for past Reviews and Playlist editions and for the Reviews alone, click here.
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