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By Kelly Dunn
Note: I met Moot at a recording session awhile back and he agreed let me interview him when he had a moment. He is a star in the making. If you get a chance to see one of his shows you will be truly amazed. Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. Moot Davis is the total package. And he does it all with the sensibility and humbelness of all the great Country music stars from the past. As I walk into the hotel I see Moot sitting on a couch in the lobby. He stands out among all the hotel patrons. He looks as though he has just stepped out of a Country music time-machine from the 1950's. He is tall man. He's wearing a cowboy hat, wearing a classic black cowbody shirt trimmed in white on the pockets and sleeves. Moot's embroderied boots have that cool, well-worn, look of having traveled many miles. We see each other and we begin out interview:
Kelly Dunn: Moot, is the air always like this in L.A.?
Moot Davis: Oh yeah, the smog index meter is really high today (laughing)
Kelly Dunn: Where did your musical aspirations begin, cover bands?
Moot Davis: No, not so much cover bands; we had these cars growing up that never had radios in them. So I'd just make up little songs and sing them to myself when I was driving. At some point I noticed that the songs were getting better. So I bought a guitar and began to play. That's basically how it started. I had an old boss of mine show me some guitar chords and that's how it took off. I started putting the lyrics to the chords.
Kelly Dunn: So once you had your songs ready did you go to a record company?
Moot Davis: Actually, I moved to Nashville with the idea of trying to find a record label. While I was there I met Rosie Florez. She heard a demo I was making. Rosie suggested that I send the demo to Pete Anderson. I did and the year to the day that I moved to Nashville I was on a plane to make my first album with Pete Anderson. I moved to L.A. soon afterwards after living in Nashville for 16 months.
Kelly Dunn: What did you do musically while in Nashville .
Moot Davis: I played every Friday and Saturday night. It was a great time, met a lot of people. Then I met a Steel player, Andy Gibson, and asked me to make some demo's with him. Andy produced a few songs and they turned out really well. From there I came up with the other money to record an entire cd. To Andy's chagrin, I bought him out when I hooked up with Pete ( Anderson ).
Kelly Dunn: Wow. So you are in Nashville for 16 months and you connect with Pete Anderson! This happened really fast.
Moot Davis: It happened really fast. It's pretty wild.
Kelly Dunn: I listened to some of your clips yesterday and your music is really good.
Moot Davis: Cool, thanks.
Kelly Dunn: I have to say, I saw Dwight Yoakam's new video, “Intentional Heartache”, and you booth have the same shirt on that you are wearing on your web site.
Moot Davis: Me and Pete were in our hotel room when we first saw the video and we laughed.
Kelly Dunn: We thought that was pretty funny.
Moot Davis: Well, it was just a coincidence.
Kelly Dunn: Tell us something about the tour you are doing.
Moot Davis: It's the first album and we are touring on it constantly. We are getting ready to record the second album too. And we'll be touring on that forever too! (laughs) It never ends.
Kelly Dunn: What do you like about playing all these venues.
Moot Davis: There's a great satisfaction of going out with all these great musicians and playing songs that I wrote. The interaction with the audience really makes all worthwhile.
My songs are all little pieces of my life. To be able to share my music with my fans is very satisfying to me. Although, the schedule is grueling. We do over 250 dates a year. Plus there's a number of shows we do that are not included in that number. It's crazy! We are touring like mad.
Kelly Dunn: Why this many shows each year.
Moot Davis: Well, I think we are trying to prove something to ourselves. I know Pete is and I know that I am showing everybody that we can do it.
Kelly Dunn: Is it safe to say that you and Pete have become good friends?
Moot Davis: You know we spend more time together than we do we our own families and loved ones. It's definitely a marriage so we try to keep it on the better side!
Kelly Dunn: So it's a marriage of sorts.
Moot Davis: Yes, it's definitely a marriage, so we try to keep it on the better side of things.
Kelly Dunn: Who are some of your musical influences while growing up.
Moot Davis: Obviously, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Lefty Frizzell. You know any of that “Goldern-Era” Country music. Those songs are just full of simplicity and honesty that struck a chord in me. When I began writing songs I just followed their lead and hopefully do something as good. Certainly not Pop-Country and not Retro but some kind of hybrid, you know?
Kelly Dunn: To me your songs sound like a continuation of that era. So musically your are not trying to the new Brooks and Dunn or Big and Rich?
Kelly Dunn: Hell no. (laughs)
Kelly Dunn: Actually I heard your songs first. But when I saw your picture I thought you'd be smiling…you look so serious.
Moot Davis: Well Pete likes those serious pictures. It's cool.
Kelly Dunn: When I listened to your songs they have a happy-go-lucky sound. Something I'd like to hear while driving my car.
Moot Davis: Cool.
Kelly Dunn: Are you working on any videos to go with your songs?
Moot Davis: Actually we just did a soundtrack for Sandra Bullock's new movie, “Crash”. The song is titled, “ Whiskey Town ”. So in our video we are using some of the outtakes from that movie for our own video.
Kelly Dunn: So have you seen the movie?
Moot Davis: My brother and me went to the advance screening of it.
Kelly Dunn: What's that like to hear your song in a movie.
Moot Davis: Well, it's pretty cool! The song is right up front and it's a big part of the scene. Most of the song get played. I can't tell you all the feelings I had while I was watching it, just so many emotions. It was very emotional. It's not just a few second clip. Ninety percent of the song is there.
Kelly Dunn: Tell us about your instruments that you play.
Moot Davis: I have three acoustic guitars and I play piano. Two of my guitars we custom made by the Martin Guitar Company. They have my name with a pearl inlay on the neck. It's really sweet.
The one Martin is an HD 28 with a 1935 Sunburst on the body. The other is what they call a, “Negative Guitar”. The body looks like a film negative. So the body is dark and the neck is white and so is the head stock.
The third guitar is from a company called, Legend. They are located up in Canada . They sent this one to me to me. It's based on the pre-war Martin guitars. It has that square headstock and it has beautiful sound. But actually I play all three of the guitars. They each have their own unique sound.
Kelly Dunn: I know you have get ready for your tour so I'll let you go. I want to thank you again for taking the time to do this interview. We wish you all the luck in the world. You are destined for the stars!
Moot Davis: Thanks Kelly, I really appreciate that. Next time you're in town let me know and we'll lay down some studio tracks. Well, tell everyone I said hello. If you see us in a town near you come on out and see us at one of our shows. Take care and God bless!
You can visit Moot Davis at http://www.MootDavis.com
I asked Moot if he'd send to me some pictures of his custom made guitars. Ask and ye shall receive!
Article: © SongwriterPro.com Kelly Dunn- All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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