Sam Moss – Blues Approved

02-02-2022

In Winston-Salem, N.C., guitarist Sam Moss is a legend. A superior, highly versatile musician whose advocacy for the blues and mastery of the nuances of electric blues-based soloing somewhat paralleled Mike Bloomfield's in Chicago, Moss was an inspiring, charismatic mentor to generations of North Carolina rockers, including Let's Active and The dB's. He was a larger-than-life character whose club appearances astounded local audiences, yet he never released a record in his lifetime. So, producer Chris Stamey was thrilled to discover, in 2020, on the end of an old tape, forgotten masters of "Blues Approved", a spectacular Stax- and Muscle Shoals-influenced solo record, made with Mitch Easter in 1977. This "great lost" record reveals that Moss was also a soulful songwriter and singer. It has now been carefully remixed and produced for release, with a deluxe booklet featuring detailed liner notes and bio, session notes by Easter, and lots of vivid color photos. Peter Holsapple (The dB's) says, "Sam Moss was an inspiration to so many of us; with the release of "Blues Approved", people everywhere will understand why." The late Sam Moss, a bona fide roots music legend in the Winston-Salem area and mentor to folks like Let's Active, The dB's, and Southern Culture on the Skids, finally gets his day in the sun with the posthumous release of his album "Blues Approved". Set to come out January 28th via Schoolkids Records, the long-lost record was discovered in 2020 by producer Chris Stamey on the end of an old reel, never having been put out in Moss' lifetime. The record was assembled from tracks recorded by Moss between 1967 and 1993 and carry a Stax/Muscle Shoals vibe into the room and show Moss to be an outstanding singer and songwriter as well as a happening guitarist. Some of the selections were originally produced by jangle pop mastermind Mitch Easter (R.E.M., Suzanne Vega, Ben Folds Five, Marshall Crenshaw) in 1977, others were done on the cusp of the 90s, and one is a rehearsal tape that dates all the way back to 1967. Taken as a set, "Blues Approved" does a great job capturing the essence and talent of an influential American musician whose work was never properly appreciated. So why did the larger-than-life Moss, an amazing live performer who regularly blew minds on the club circuit, never make a record of his own ? The Kickstarter page that made this new release possible suggests that he may just have been too in-the-moment for that to happen. Plus, Moss had his heyday before there was really any kind of concept of indie rock or a scene to support him in the way we take for granted today. Moss eventually got into the vintage guitar business and spent decades supplying rock stars and other celebrities with the finest instruments in the world. After he passed in 2007, a lot of people had nothing to listen to that would keep his memory alive. That situation changed for the better when project producer Stamey found the master tapes. From the first percolating bars of the opening song "Rooster Blood," Moss deals out guitar chops and cool vocals with the presence of a star and it's easy to imagine the spellbinder he must have been onstage. He sings right to the listeners, making us feel like he's still in the room, and plays guitar the same way. The track is a horn-enhanced boneshaker that overflows with life and soul. Right away, you know this platter is going to be hot. "King Of My Hill" is an exquisite slow blues/soul song that puts down a strong message of empowerment in the guise of a breakup story. Moss turned a phrase as well as he sang and he made this one into the kind of tune that gets inside your mind when you're hitting the bottom and makes you realize that you're not done yet. He also plays some sweet R&B guitar that's smooth and spiritually alive. If the world was fair, this song would be a standard. "Ain't That Peculiar" is a brilliant blast of blue-eyed soul music that could fill any dancefloor in any era. The interplay between Moss and the backup singers is especially tasty, as is the rhythm section of bassist Henry Heidtmann and drummer Jay Johnson. The candid rehearsal recording of Moss as a teen in 1967 doing Buck Owens' "Act Naturally" is crisp, fun, and shows how good Sam was even at that young age. Moss' studio cover of The Monkees' 60s pop masterpiece "Another Pleasant Valley Sunday" is perfectly executed and soars into the sky. Moss was clearly a musician of considerable range and depth and, though it was unfortunate that the tracks on Blues Approved languished for so long, at least we have them now. The record shines a light on a criminally-overlooked American performer who deserved a lot more fame than he found. This is an undiscovered jewel. In Winston-Salem, N.C., guitarist Sam Moss is a legend. A superior, highly versatile musician whose advocacy for the blues and mastery of the nuances of electric blues-based soloing somewhat paralleled Mike Bloomfield's in Chicago, Moss was an inspiring, charismatic mentor to generations of North Carolina rockers, including Let's Active and The dB's. He was a larger-than-life character whose club appearances astounded local audiences, yet he never released a record in his lifetime. So, producer Chris Stamey was thrilled to discover, in 2020, on the end of an old tape, forgotten masters of "Blues Approved", a spectacular Stax- and Muscle Shoals influenced solo record, made with Mitch Easter in 1977. This "great lost" record reveals that Moss was also a soulful songwriter and singer. It has now been carefully remixed and produced for release, with a deluxe booklet featuring detailed liner notes and bio, session notes by Easter, and lots of vivid color photos. Peter Holsapple (The dB's) says, "Sam Moss was an inspiration to so many of us; with the release of Blues Approved, people everywhere will understand why." "Blues Approved" is released on CD and digitally by Schoolkids Records on January 28, 2022, with a vinyl edition to follow in the summer. Moss had made the first of several trips to nearby Chapel Hill to record his own original compositions in early 1977, with old friend Easter on drums (and recording). Mitch recalls: "In my house I had a 'studio,' meaning a Teac 2340 four-track recorder, three or four humble microphones, and for monitoring, the home stereo system. For extra-fancy sessions, I'd rent a Tapco six-channel mixer ... Sam came down with two or three guitars, his Fender Twin. I played drums and Sam played everything else. And it was a really good session! Sam wrote interesting songs that almost always had a blues angle, but he brought in a lot of elements from elsewhere. He was pleased with the results, so we met a couple more times that year and recorded an LP's worth of songs." But the material then sat on the shelf, unreleased, as Moss opened a vintage guitar store, selling internationally to rock stars and other celebrities for several decades. Stamey felt that most of the material seemed fully formed on its own, despite the limited recording options then available, but for a few tracks, the openers "Rooster Blood" and "King of My Hill," and the Stonesy "Vida Blanche", he enlisted the help of the Uptown Horns' leader Crispin Cioe, a veteran of Rolling Stones tours whose Southern-fried additions on sax fit the material like a glove. Later tracks, covers recorded with Henry Heidtmann and Jay Johnson in Winston in the early 90s, especially captivate. A rendition of "Ain't That Peculiar" with Mike "Wezo" Wesolowski's harp and Henry's nimble bass and keys playing; the pair also shine on Michael Bloomfield's "If You See My Baby." The CD closes with three "bonus tracks," also from these later sessions: exciting takes on "Pleasant Valley Sunday" (Monkees), "Can't Get Used to Losing You" (instrumental), and a collector's-fave Rolling Stones song "Who's Driving Your Plane ?" Contemporary technology was used to reassemble the various generations of four-track tapes into first-generation sources, peeling back the layers to put the listener back in the room where it happened. The mono closing track, featuring a teenage Moss in his first band singing Buck Owens's "Act Naturally" in rehearsal, was too cool not to include. The CD has three additional surprises from early-'90s sessions at Turtle Tapes in Winston-Salem: the Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday," an instrumental of Pomus and Shuman's "Can't Get Used to Losing You," and the Stones' "Who's Driving Your Plane ?" Easter : "I had a pretty good memory of this material, but when I actually heard it again, I was delighted that it really is great. Sam was always strangely unconcerned about stardom, but he was a star anyway. When you play the record, you'll see what I mean." On July 30, 2021, the City of Winston-Salem honored Moss with a sidewalk star in the city's Walk of Fame downtown. Original sessions produced by Sam Moss; produced and mixed for Release by Chris Stamey (with input from Gene Holder and Mitch Easter) at Modern Recording (Chapel Hill, N.C.)

1 Rooster Blood (3:43)

2 King of My Hill (4:13)

3 Ain't That Particular (3:44)

4 Vida Blanche (4:43)

5 If You See My Baby (3:12)

6 Trying to Do Better (2:44)

7 To Those Still at Sea (2:54)

8 My Man Mike (3:21)

9 Nightflight Over Berlin (3:23)

10 Pj (3:08)

11 Act Naturally (2:38)

bonus tracks