Biography

Fifteen 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 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.

His original material has won top honors at many of the folk world's most prestigious song contests, including those at the Falcon Ridge, Sisters, and Great Waters folk festivals. In 2007 he 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.”

In 2000, Alastair founded a new roots music series called Pastures of Plenty which he brought to clubs and festivals throughout New England. The aim of the series was to bridge the gaps between the folk and roots rock crowds, between the contemporary and traditional scenes, and between younger and older players. But what it really came down to was bringing together some of the region's best songwriters and musicians to swap tunes on a stage. Ten years on, the series still regularly fills seats at Boston clubs with shows that The Boston Globe call “the hippest hootenannies in town.”

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. In 2010, he released his first family album, A Cow Says Moock, winning an enthusiastic response from critics and kids alike. It won a NAPPA Gold Award, a Parent's Choice Recommended Award, and was a Boston Children's Music Favorite Album of the Year. After signing with Stephanie Rothschild of KidzLoveMusic, Moock began performing regularly with his Rowdy Roots Band at theaters throughout the Northeast. A new family album is now in the works for 2011 and will feature some of Moock's longtime music collaborators including Lori McKenna, Mark Erelli, Rani Arbo, and many more.

For several years now, Alastair has also offered school assembly programs on the life and times of Woody Guthrie, bringing the show and accompanying songwriting workshops to primary and secondary schools throughout New England and as far away as The American School in Warsaw, Poland. He recently created a new, broader program, Music and Social Change, which teaches kids about the political impact of music from the labor rights movement, through the civil rights and antiwar movements, to the present day. Starting in Fall 2011, that program will be offered exclusively in Massachusetts through the national arts organization Young Audiences, and in the rest of the country and in Europe through Moock's booking agent.

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Awards

• 2010 NAPPA Gold Award
• 2010 Parents' Choice Recommended Award
• A 2010 Boston Children's Music Favorite Album of the Year
• Nominee, 2007 Boston Music Award, Outstanding Singer/Songwriter of the Year
• 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

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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