Biography

Nearly twenty years into his career on the international folk circuit, Alastair Moock has managed to carve out a unique niche for himself: He is an artist committed to celebrating the roots of American music while knocking down the walls between different audiences, genres and musical traditions. Today, his audiences range from adults all the way down to preschoolers, and he plays everything from nightclubs to theaters to schoolrooms. Like his boyhood hero, Woody Guthrie, Moock believes in the power of music to reach all people — young and old, far and wide, for all occasions.

Moock started performing in 1995, moving from his home outside New York City to the folk haven of Boston, Massachusetts. After honing his skills on Boston's open mike stages and working his way up through the local coffeehouse and club circuit, he began touring around the U.S. By 2002, he had traveled extensively throughout the East and Midwest, performing at some of the top listening rooms and outdoor events in the country, including the Newport, Falcon Ridge, and Boston Folk Festivals, The Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, The Birchmere in Washington D.C., and The Bluebird Café in Nashville. In 2003 he made his first trip to Europe, where he performed at the prestigious Bergen Music Fest in Norway. Since then he has made numerous trips across the pond with appearances in Scandinavia, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the UK.

In 2007, on the heels of Fortune Strret, his fifth album and second on CoraZong Records, Moock was nominated for a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer/Songwriter of the Year. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town's best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post says “every song is a gem.”

Throughout his career, Moock had worked with and occasionally performed for kids on the side, but it wasn't until his twin daughters were born in 2006 that he was inspired to make his first foray into family music. Since then, he has turned much of his focus in that direction. In 2010, he joined the roster of Young Audiences of Massachusetts to bring his program Music and Social Change to students throughout the state. He has also recorded two award-winning albums for "kids and their parents" which together have garnered two NAPPA Gold Awards, a Parent’s Choice Silver Award, and inclusion in multiple Best of the Year lists.

But it is Moock’s newest album, Singing Our Way Through: Songs for the World’s Bravest Kids, which is nearest and dearest to his heart. In July of 2012, one of Alastair’s daughter’s was diagnosed with leukemia. The Singing Our Way Through project began when they started writing songs together in the hospital. Over the next several months, Moock continued to write and collect songs that reflected his family’s experiences – the love, the pride, the (surprising amount of) joy, and some of the more difficult parts too.

Moock decided he wanted to record an album for other families traveling similar paths. He was joined by friends and collaborators from the world of Americana music, including blues legend Chris Smither, folk singer Aoife O’Donovan (vocalist for the 2013 Grammy-winning Goat Rodeo Sessions, Best Folk Album), and family music artists Rani Arbo, The Okee Dokee Brothers (2013 Grammy-winners, Best Children’s Album) and Elizabeth Mitchell (2013 Grammy-nominee, Best Children’s Album). The album is due out in August, 2013 and will be widely distributed to pediatric oncology programs around the country. You can read the press release here.

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Awards

• Finalist, 2006 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition
• Winner, 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Contest
• Winner, 2004 Great Waters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
• Winner, 2004 Sisters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
• Finalist, 2004 South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Contest
• Honorable Mention, 2004 Telluride Troubadour Competition
• Award Winner, 2004 Great American Song Contest
• Finalist, 2002 USA Songwriting Competition

For family music awards click here

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Selected Appearances

• 92Y Tribecca (New York, NY)
• Bergen Music Fest (Bergen, Norway)
• Billy Block's Western Beat (Nashville, TN)
• The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA)
• The Bluebird Café (Nashville, TN)
• CBGB's Gallery (New York, NY)
• Celtic Connections Festival (Glasgow, UK)
• Cinéma Jean Vigo (Paris, France)
• Cultureel Podium Roepaen (Ottersum, Netherlands)
• The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (Hillsdale, NY)
• The Guthrie Center (Great Barrington, MA)
• Harbour Arts Centre (Irvine, Scotland)
• The Iron Horse Music Hall (Northampton, MA)
• Madam Felle (Bergen, Norway)
• Music Star (Norderstedt, Germany)
• Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA)
• The Newport Folk Festival (Newport, RI)
• The Old Town School of Folk Music (Chicago, IL)
• The Patronaat (Haarlem, Netherlands)
• PeTiCantus (Hoorn, Netherlands)
• La Pomme d'Eve (Paris, France)
• The Ram's Head Tavern (Annapolis, MD)
• Rick's (Bergen, Norway)
• Sisters Folk Festival (Sisters, OR)
• The Susquehanna Folk Festival (Columbia, MD)
• Toogenblik (Brussels, Belgium)
• Tros Muziek Cafe (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• World Music Cafe (Philadelphia, PA)

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Selected Openings and Shared Bills

• Ray Bonneville
• Greg Brown
• Carlene Carter
• Peter Case
• Kasey Chambers
• Slaid Cleaves
• Marshall Crenshaw
• Guy Davis
• Kris Delmhorst
• Jonathan Edwards
• Cliff Eberhardt
• Ramblin' Jack Elliott
• Jay Farrar
• Arlo Guthrie
• Patty Larkin
• Adrian Legg
• Taj Mahal
• David Mallett
• Lori McKenna
• Lynn Miles
• Bill Morrissey
• Peter Mulvey
• Carrie Newcomer
• Ellis Paul
• Kelly Joe Phelps
• Utah Phillips
• Willy Porter
• Bill Staines
• John Stewart
• Susan Werner
• Brooks Williams