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Let's, for argument's sake, put Josh Moore near the top of that list. This 22 year-old Houston native has a remarkable credential that, along with several other "wunderkind" in Southeast Texas, is causing music industry insiders to wonder what they're putting in the water down there. Very simply, at 17 he became the youngest producer of a nationally released album in the history of recorded music. Since then, he has been a producer, arranger, songwriter, and/or musician on over thirty albums, many of them for major record labels.

The son of a music minister and a church logistics coordinator, his earliest influences included many of early gospel music's icons, namely Mahalia Jackson. "That music is my conscience," says Moore. "Those records led inevitably to falling in love with a ton of pop music, everything from Motown to what was going on then, which I guess was the late eighties... yikes."

His first instrument was piano which he began playing at age three. His first song was written at four, and a proficiency at guitar, drums, and a whole host of instruments developed by ten. Almost as soon as he started playing, he spent most of his free time developing complex pop sonatas by "ping-ponging cassette tapes between decks in a ghetto blaster" till the hiss was unbearable,: but, according to Moore's old friends and fellow musicians, the results were nothing less than prodigious.

At age twelve, he was asked to come play piano on a session for a local artist. "It was my first paid session gig, you know a big deal, and there was this guy on the other side of the glass that was telling me what to play and apparently making all the money," he laughs. "It took about ten minutes for me to figure out that I wanted to be that guy; the producer. And I wanted to do it sooner than later." By fourteen, most afternoons were spent in various Houston recording studios. "Its a lot like a casino," says Moore. "No windows, no clocks, and a general disconnect from the rest of the world."

As a sophomore at a prestigious Houston private school, he was asked to join and tour with a local, major-label gospel group, Caedmans Call. While on the road, he was tutored by various band members in his home-school, or bus-school classes. "I think P.E. was ultimate Frisbee and the occasional bowling," he chuckles. Once the fall tour ended, he finally got a chance to produce his first full-length album for another local band. "I definitely sucked at it, but all I could think about was getting better," he admits. "Then, sort of by default I ended up producing their [Caedmans Calls] next release. I would finish class at 3:30, go up to the studio, work all night, sleep for an hour in the car and go back to being a junior in high school, pretty exhausted. The band hadnt hired a producer for that project so when it came time to give production credit, they just sort of offered it to me."

Along with arranging and producing, that record saw the beginnings of Moores songwriting. After two more tours, several more independent albums, and graduation from high school, Moore moved to Nashville where he played and recorded with artists such as Jars of Clay, Bethany Dillon, Silers Bald, and many others. He continues to produce national releases for Caedmans Call and just wrapped production on their new project which was recorded in India, Brazil, and Ecuador among other places.

Nashville proved to be less comfortable than Moores Texas roots would allow. He has recently moved back to Houston where he continues to work with many independent and major label artists in multiple genres and markets. Along with numerous awards including ASCAPs Radio Award for 2003, the hype around this self-described 'nerd in a cool persons profession' continues to mount. People magazine recently profiled Moore in a special on young movers and shakers in the music industry. When asked about the probability of a solo project, he just shrugs, "Ive got too many people I wanna work with right now. Check back with me in a year."

-Lucas Gentry

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