MySpace a place for friends

First of all, let us say this. This page is being co-run by Mose Scarlett and his longtime UK sidekick, Jim Condie. We decided it was necessary to bring ourselves up-to-date in the old marketing department. So, although Mose will be reading, and even discussing, the contents of messages and comments, chances are the replies will be taken care of by Jim. If any of you out there in the virtual world have ever tried emailing Mose, you'll understand. This will also explain the unexpectedly comparative brevity of most responses!

Mose Scarlett and Jim Condie have toured together in the UK eight times since 1993, having just completed their 2006 tour in October to great acclaim and many packed houses. They are planning to follow up on the renewed interest with another, longer one next October - if you're a promoter hoping to book them or even a music-lover who'd like to catch them in concert, contact them through either this page or Jim's. If you want an idea of how good Mose and Jim sound together, listen to "I Used To Love You But..." (listed above) which is one of the tracks from Mose's most recent CD, Precious Seconds.

If you want to find out more about Jim, you'll find the link to his own Myspace page below. Drop in, say Hi, make friends. Jim enjoys visiting Canada and there's a long list of Canadian artists he's appeared with, both there and in the UK. His good friends Al Black, formerly of Jackson Delta, and Heidi Fleming, Penny Lang's manager in Montreal, are currently preparing the ground for a return visit sometime in the New Year.

Here are a couple of emails from very satisfied promoters from this year's tour:
"Just a quick e-mail to send both you and Mose my very sincere thanks for a truly memorable performance last night. It really was a fantastic evening, and I am sure gained you both a lot of fans from little ol' Rothbury. I have never heard such enthusiastic feedback from our audience, and you will be welcomed back very warmly. Tell Mose not to make it seven years, though!"
Kevin Roberts, Rothbury Roots, Northumberland, England

"Thanks for giving such a great performance the other night. People were ringing us for days saying what a great time they'd had & when would you be back. "
Mike Lunn, Leck Village Hall, Cumbria, England

So... for those still unfamiliar with Mose's work, here are some words and quotes taken from his record company's website:

"Mose Scarlett is, unarguably, one of a kind. While he draws on a wide range of musical sources from the early 1900's through the 40's, his style defies categorization or comparison - the blend is unique. He bills his music as 'Jazz, Blues, Ragtime and Swing' because, as he says, "those are the four things I've been accused of most often". His self-taught, original technique of fingerpicking, dubbed 'stride guitar' by Canadian music journalists, delivers a syncopated punch and features simultaneous chords, melody and bass line, smoothly executed, without seeming effort.

Over top of the resplendent guitar backing rides a big bass-baritone voice, warm and rich, with enormous emotional range. As the Glasgow Herald recently said, "Mose Scarlett is back, with a voice of Robeson depth, Glencoe cragginess, and kitchen-range warmth...lending the authentic ring of the ancients with his own original stamp, and much spontaneous repartee..."

His eclectic repertoire includes Hollywood classics like 'As Time Goes By', raunchy blues like 'Key to the Highway,' and nearly-forgotten gems like 'The Moon Is a Silver Dollar'. Blind Blake's 'Diddy Wah Diddy' will bump up against Irving Berlin's 'Marie', and be followed by the turn-of-the-century sentimental favourite 'Wait 'Til the Sun Shines Nellie'. Although his pieces are performed only with his voice and acoustic guitar, one might almost believe a big band or parlour orchestra is playing in the background. He at once breathes new life into old songs, and preserves the integrity and emotion of the originals for a new generation of admirers.

Once, when asked who his influences were, Mose replied "I've probably been influenced, one way or another, by everybody whose music I've liked - or disliked". In fact, the Scarlett guitar style was pretty much forged in isolation. "Basically," he says, "I made up my own way of playing before I heard anyone trying to do similar things...but later on, various people helped me to refine it."...people like his friend and mentor the late Lonnie Johnson, who played with Eddie Lang, Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong...like modernist musician Bruce Cockburn, who produced Mose's first album...like Doc and Merle Watson, whom he used to watch with rapt attention from 5 feet away...and like Jesse 'Lonecat' Fuller, one-man-band extraordinaire, the first artist Mose remembers buying a record by. Mose himself, conversely, should be credited with influencing many other musicians over his 33 years in show business, a fact which has not gone unnoticed in several music journals and artistic autobiographies. Juno winner John Bottomley is a former guitar student of Mose's, and many other musical friends, like Canada's irrepressible Big Rude Jake and America's inimitably eccentric Leon Redbone, allow that Mose had a big impact on their performing styles. He is widely respected among his peers, both for his talents and his wide generosity.

A Mose Scarlett performance is much more than mere instrumental and vocal display. Mose's sets, at times, seem like finely executed pieces of theatre (albeit, sometimes, the theatre of the absurd). His patter includes entertaining and topical commentary on the foibles of the world (who else would think of introducing the 'Sheik of Araby' with a dissertation on oil prices?). In Mose's vicinity the unexpected is never far off - no one knows what is going to happen next (particularly his sidemen). He is deeply rooted in musical history - to give but one example, he performs 'Sweet Georgia Brown' with the rarely-heard verse and extra lyrics (though without a basketball). A keen observer of the contemporary scene, he is a trenchant social critic and a droll raconteur with many stories to tell.

Though Mose is a fixture on the Canadian scene, performing throughout the country at festivals, clubs and theatres, he has also toured widely through the United States, as well as in England, Scotland, Germany and Australia.

Besides performing solo or with various accompanists, he also appears in a well-loved trio with Jackie Washington and Ken Whiteley, all three of whom were nominated for a 1993 'Roots and Traditional' Juno award. "