Press
August 2, 2010 - New Album Announcement
Rural Rhythm Records is proud to announce the first radio single release, “Time for Me To Be Moving On” from the highly anticipated new album, “STRANGE NEW WORLD” by BLUE MOON RISING. The single was released to radio via the label's "Fresh Cuts & Key Tracks, #8" and is also available now via AIRPLAY DIRECT. "Time for Me To Be Moving On" was written by band leader and acclaimed songwriter, Chris West who describes the song as kicking off with a little Johnny Cash / Del Reeves and will surely please BMR fans once again. Chris also contributes his powerful signature vocals and guitar, along with the exciting new line up of: Brandon Bostic (mandolin, vocals); Tony Mowell (bass and vocals); Owen Piatt (banjo); with special guests, Tim Crouch (fiddle) and Randy Kohrs (Dobro).
“STRANGE NEW WORLD” is Blue Moon Rising’s fifth career album and their first recording on Rural Rhythm Records. The project combines a very eclectic mix of new original material with West contributing 7 of the 13 tracks. Other writers include: Mike Dekle, Kevin Denney, Becky Buller, Jon Weisberger/Jeremy Garrett and Clint Wilson.
The songs on “STRANGE NEW WORLD” certainly showcase Blue Moon Rising’s range, versatility and maturity as it continually shifts between hard-core traditional bluegrass, blues, gospel, country and singer-songwriter influenced music. If one could paint a picture that captures the subjects and themes from songs like the peppy honky-tonk influenced kick-off track, “Time for Me to Be Moving On,” the soulful blues influenced, “He’s All Around Us” and the haunting and beautiful Kevin Denney original, “My Sitting Window” the painting would represent a “STRANGE NEW WORLD” indeed!
With that imagery in mind, Chris West enlisted the help of his artist friend, Jason Jones, who created the album artwork for the band’s previous album, “ONE LONELY SHADOW.” Chris explains, “I asked Jason to create a very artsy vision of a strange new world where things aren't quite right in comparison to the world we live in. I wanted every single image on the CD to tie in directly with a song in some way. I wrote a blues song about temptation and the struggle between good and evil on this project called ‘He's All Around Us’, hence the transparent devil behind the tree on the cover. There's a love song on the CD called ‘Stone by Stone’ for a girl named Jenny where the lovelorn singer says ‘My Jenny belongs in an Ivory Tower.’ So Jason made the tower the centerpiece on the cover. We also married several songs together within the art. I wrote song on the CD called ‘Hard Luck Joe’ about a homeless man who used to have a much better life. If you'll notice the tree on the cover, there's a heart carved in it that says ‘Joe -n- Jenny’ where we've married the songs ‘Hard Luck Joe’ and ‘Stone by Stone.’ When you give the CD a thorough listen, you'll be able to go back and look at this great piece of art and know what every single image is about.
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