Songs from the Back of the Church - July 10, 2006
My new CD "Songs From the Back of the Church" is now available. Click on "Buy". That will take you to the CD Baby page with my CDs for sale.
Hugh Moffatt: News
"Rose of My Heart" included on new Johnny Cash CD - May 20, 2006
Hugh's "Rose of My Heart" will be on Johnny Cash's new album to be released July 4, 2006.
Here is the text from a recent article in USA TODAY describing the album.
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Johnny Cash's final work yields 2 more albums
Updated 5/1/2006 3:12 AM ET
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
On the day he finished 2002's American IV: The Man Comes Around, an ailing Johnny Cash began recording with longtime producer and friend Rick Rubin. They wrapped up the last of 60 tracks a week before the country giant died at 71 on Sept. 12, 2003.
Now the Man in Black is coming around again on American V: A Hundred Highways, featuring a dozen songs from sessions recorded at Rubin's studio in Los Angeles and Cash's cabin in Nashville.
Their fifth collaboration, due July 4 on American Recordings/Lost Highway Records, holds the final song Cash wrote, The 309, a poignant and amusing train yarn.
It also includes a prayerful version of Larry Gatlin's Help Me, a new take on I'm Free from the Chain Gang Now, Hugh Moffatt's Rose of My Heart, the traditional God's Gonna Cut You Down, Rod McKuen's Love's Been Good to Me and the seemingly incongruous If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot.
"It's an amazingly sad album," Rubin says. "At times, it's hard to get through, but it's really beautiful. It's remarkable to hear an artist of his stature being so vulnerable and open and sounding strong so late in his life. I don't think there's ever been an album like this."
But there might be another one. After ignoring the entire trove initially after Cash died, Rubin recently finished assembling American V and now is compiling tracks for American VI, which could be released within a year.
"I avoided it for a long time, because I didn't want to feel sad and I was concerned from a technical standpoint, because a lot of it was recorded when he wasn't in the best shape," he says. "I was shocked at the volume and quality of the material. Certain songs raised their hands and volunteered for this album. VI is mostly revealed but not completely."
Rubin kept an engineer and guitarist on standby around the clock so Cash could record when his health permitted. Songs were captured in the moment rather than sculpted, Rubin says, and instrumentation was built under the vocal tracks later. When his wife, June Carter, died in May 2003, a sense of urgency seemed to grip Cash.
Rubin recalls, "Once June passed, he had the will to live long enough to record, but that was pretty much all. A day after June passed, he said, 'I need to have something to do every day. Otherwise, there's no reason for me to be here.' "
The result "may be the strongest album we've made together," Rubin says. "It's not leftover scraps. It's the real deal. And it's incredible for his legacy. We live in a youth-oriented culture that throws away the old, yet young people have loved John's later records. And that was a big deal. It touched him. He wasn't doing this for himself."
Here is the text from a recent article in USA TODAY describing the album.
***********************
Johnny Cash's final work yields 2 more albums
Updated 5/1/2006 3:12 AM ET
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
On the day he finished 2002's American IV: The Man Comes Around, an ailing Johnny Cash began recording with longtime producer and friend Rick Rubin. They wrapped up the last of 60 tracks a week before the country giant died at 71 on Sept. 12, 2003.
Now the Man in Black is coming around again on American V: A Hundred Highways, featuring a dozen songs from sessions recorded at Rubin's studio in Los Angeles and Cash's cabin in Nashville.
Their fifth collaboration, due July 4 on American Recordings/Lost Highway Records, holds the final song Cash wrote, The 309, a poignant and amusing train yarn.
It also includes a prayerful version of Larry Gatlin's Help Me, a new take on I'm Free from the Chain Gang Now, Hugh Moffatt's Rose of My Heart, the traditional God's Gonna Cut You Down, Rod McKuen's Love's Been Good to Me and the seemingly incongruous If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot.
"It's an amazingly sad album," Rubin says. "At times, it's hard to get through, but it's really beautiful. It's remarkable to hear an artist of his stature being so vulnerable and open and sounding strong so late in his life. I don't think there's ever been an album like this."
But there might be another one. After ignoring the entire trove initially after Cash died, Rubin recently finished assembling American V and now is compiling tracks for American VI, which could be released within a year.
"I avoided it for a long time, because I didn't want to feel sad and I was concerned from a technical standpoint, because a lot of it was recorded when he wasn't in the best shape," he says. "I was shocked at the volume and quality of the material. Certain songs raised their hands and volunteered for this album. VI is mostly revealed but not completely."
Rubin kept an engineer and guitarist on standby around the clock so Cash could record when his health permitted. Songs were captured in the moment rather than sculpted, Rubin says, and instrumentation was built under the vocal tracks later. When his wife, June Carter, died in May 2003, a sense of urgency seemed to grip Cash.
Rubin recalls, "Once June passed, he had the will to live long enough to record, but that was pretty much all. A day after June passed, he said, 'I need to have something to do every day. Otherwise, there's no reason for me to be here.' "
The result "may be the strongest album we've made together," Rubin says. "It's not leftover scraps. It's the real deal. And it's incredible for his legacy. We live in a youth-oriented culture that throws away the old, yet young people have loved John's later records. And that was a big deal. It touched him. He wasn't doing this for himself."
CD completed - now working on release - January 31, 2006
Producer Paul Smith and I have finished the recording/mixing of "Songs From the Back of the Church". It will still take a while to get it released, but that also is moving forward.
I will let you know.
I will let you know.
Corps Of Discovery - success! - November 27, 2005
The University of Idaho ran the two-act version of the opera "Corps of Discovery, a Musical Journey" by Michael Ching and Hugh Moffatt, for six nights in November at the Hartung Theater in Moscow, Idaho. Audiences loved the show. The numbers grew throughout the run and the closing night on Thursday, Nov. 17, was the largest house.
I want to thank Chris Thompson, musical director; David Lee Painter, stage director, and the staff and students of the Hampton School of Music and the Department of Theatre Arts for bringing the show so vibrantly to life.
It was a great event and proved that the shortened version is accessible to student performers and satisfying to audiences.
- Hugh
I want to thank Chris Thompson, musical director; David Lee Painter, stage director, and the staff and students of the Hampton School of Music and the Department of Theatre Arts for bringing the show so vibrantly to life.
It was a great event and proved that the shortened version is accessible to student performers and satisfying to audiences.
- Hugh
July News - August 13, 2005
It was a busy July. On July 12,13,14 I recorded "Songs From the Back of the Church" in front of a live audience at Palouse River Studio in Palouse, WA, owned and operated by Paul Smith. The recoding went very well and the tracks sound wonderful.
My sister, Katy Moffat, came through town shortly after. She performed in Pullman on July 27 and added a little "sweetening" to the recorded tracks of my project also.
The weekend of July 21-23, I was in Astoria, Oregon, at the Astoria Music Festival. There a group of professional singers, including Metropolitan Opera Star, Cynthia Lawrence, performed selections from CORPS OF DISCOVERY, the opera written by Michael Ching and me about the journey of Lewis and Clark.
I also gave a pre-concert lecture on the writing of the opera. It was successful and very thrilling. (See MUSIC page for the text of this lecture.)
Coming up this fall, the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID, will present the two act version of CORPS OF DISCOVERY, at their Hartung Theatre on Nov. 11-13 and Nov. 15-17.
Also, the Idaho Washington Chorale will perform the opera's closing choral piece, "Land of Freedom", as part of their opening concert series in Moscow and Lewiston in in Northern Idaho on October 21 and 22.
All in all a lot to look forward to!
-Hugh
August 13, 2005
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Archive
The educational version of the opera that Michael Ching and I wrote about the Lewis and Clark expedition (called CORPS OF DISCOVERY), is being performed throughout the spring by faculty members from the Lional Hampton School of Music of the University of Idaho. There is a link to more information about this on my LINKS page.
On Nov. 14, 2004, I performed for the first time a set of songs I call "Songs from the Back of the Church" at the Presbyterian Church here in Pullman, Washington. For a description, see below.
For lyrics of the songs see Music.
All the best,
-- Hugh
March 4, 2005
My sister, Katy Moffat, came through town shortly after. She performed in Pullman on July 27 and added a little "sweetening" to the recorded tracks of my project also.
The weekend of July 21-23, I was in Astoria, Oregon, at the Astoria Music Festival. There a group of professional singers, including Metropolitan Opera Star, Cynthia Lawrence, performed selections from CORPS OF DISCOVERY, the opera written by Michael Ching and me about the journey of Lewis and Clark.
I also gave a pre-concert lecture on the writing of the opera. It was successful and very thrilling. (See MUSIC page for the text of this lecture.)
Coming up this fall, the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID, will present the two act version of CORPS OF DISCOVERY, at their Hartung Theatre on Nov. 11-13 and Nov. 15-17.
Also, the Idaho Washington Chorale will perform the opera's closing choral piece, "Land of Freedom", as part of their opening concert series in Moscow and Lewiston in in Northern Idaho on October 21 and 22.
All in all a lot to look forward to!
-Hugh
August 13, 2005
-------------
Archive
The educational version of the opera that Michael Ching and I wrote about the Lewis and Clark expedition (called CORPS OF DISCOVERY), is being performed throughout the spring by faculty members from the Lional Hampton School of Music of the University of Idaho. There is a link to more information about this on my LINKS page.
On Nov. 14, 2004, I performed for the first time a set of songs I call "Songs from the Back of the Church" at the Presbyterian Church here in Pullman, Washington. For a description, see below.
For lyrics of the songs see Music.
All the best,
-- Hugh
March 4, 2005
Songs From the Back of the Church - November 21, 2004
Songs from the Back of the Church
Preface
I have written and collected these songs over a couple of decades. They represent the point of view of characters from the fringes of Christian society. These people aren’t theologians. In fact, they are rarely in a church at all, unless they are receiving charity. We usually think of them as people we need to teach rather than people we need to learn from, but they have something to say. Just as no one is ever completely right, so, too, is no one ever completely wrong. Each of us has a unique experience. Therefore, each of us knows things that no one else knows and can share that unique knowledge with the rest of us.
These are fictional characters, but I’ve been around a lot of real people like them, and these songs ring true for me. You will have to decide for yourself where their truth lies for you. That’s all that matters. To quote my favorite theologian, “The truth cannot be said so that it is understood and not believed.” So, if any of this rings true for you, it is true.
Hugh Moffatt
Nov. 14, 2004
Preface
I have written and collected these songs over a couple of decades. They represent the point of view of characters from the fringes of Christian society. These people aren’t theologians. In fact, they are rarely in a church at all, unless they are receiving charity. We usually think of them as people we need to teach rather than people we need to learn from, but they have something to say. Just as no one is ever completely right, so, too, is no one ever completely wrong. Each of us has a unique experience. Therefore, each of us knows things that no one else knows and can share that unique knowledge with the rest of us.
These are fictional characters, but I’ve been around a lot of real people like them, and these songs ring true for me. You will have to decide for yourself where their truth lies for you. That’s all that matters. To quote my favorite theologian, “The truth cannot be said so that it is understood and not believed.” So, if any of this rings true for you, it is true.
Hugh Moffatt
Nov. 14, 2004