Alastair Moock and Friends Family Show

Twenty years into his performing career, Alastair Moock has managed to carve out a unique niche for himself: He is a songwriter committed to celebrating the roots of American music while knocking down the walls between different audiences, genres and musical traditions. Today, his audiences range from adults to preschoolers, and he plays everything from theaters to nightclubs to schoolrooms. Like his boyhood hero, Woody Guthrie, Moock believes in the power of music to reach all people — young and old, far and wide.

Moock started performing in 1995, moving from his home outside New York City to the folk haven of Boston, Massachusetts. After working his way up through the local coffeehouse and club circuit, he began touring the U.S. and Europe, eventually graduating to renowned events like the Newport Folk Festival and Norway’s Bergen Music Fest. In 2007 Moock was nominated for a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year. The Boston Globe called him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post declared “every song a gem.”

Over the years, Moock had occasionally performed for kids on the side, but it wasn’t until his twin daughters were born in 2006 that he was inspired to make his first foray into family music. In 2010, he joined the roster of Young Audiences of Massachusetts to bring his program “Music and Social Change”to schools throughout the state. That same year, he released his first family music album, A Cow Says Moock. Both that album and the next, These Are My Friends, were met with critical acclaim.

But it was Moock’s third family album, Singing Our Way Through: Songs for the World’s Bravest Kids, that became nearest and dearest to his heart. In 2012, one of Alastair’s daughters was diagnosed with leukemia (she’s doing great today). The Singing Our Way Through project began when they started writing songs together in the hospital. Over the next several months, Moock continued to write and collect songs that reflected his family’s experiences, and the end result was an album for kids “with (and without) cancer.” It was featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Katie’s Take” with Katie Couric and Good Morning America, and received gold medals from Parents’ Choice and The National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) as well as a 2013 Grammy Nomination for Best Children’s Album. With the help of a fantastic fundraising campaign, over 3,500 copies of the album have so far been distributed to families through hospitals and cancer organizations around the country.

In June 2015, Moock once again proved his unique ability to write material for families that’s both meaningful and fun. His new release, All Kinds of You and Me, reflects on gender, ethnicity, and identity today, as well as the evolving concept of family in America. Featuring folk and kindie stars Rani Arbo, Jennifer Kimball (The Story), Samirah Evans, Debbie Lan, Mark Erelli, and producer Anand Nayak, the album again won gold medals from both Parents’ Choice and NAPPA and was voted the #2 Album of the Year by the Fids & Kamily Industry Critics’ Poll. Parents’ Choice called it “everything children’s music can and should be.”

http://moockmusic.com/

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