Moonshine brings fun back to Southern grassroots

Moonshine Still, Middle Georgia’s greatest live band, is not content with being just another local jam band.

Not since the Allman Brothers has a southern grassroots band been this fun to watch.

Moonshine Still, formed in 1996, is a band known for their incredible live shows. Playing its own music as well as covers of everyone from David Bowie to the Talking Heads, the band mixes complexity with grassroots.

Droves of cult followers who line up outside bars and theaters throughout the Southeast to hear these “Maconites” prove, though not seen on MTV or Billboard charts, their band is a success.

And they want more.

With new bands like Kings of Leon placing southern rock back into the international arena, Moonshine Still is seeking its own, bigger slice of the sweet potato pie.

The band’s new album, “Revolution,” is an innovative blend of grassroots rock and soul. Produced by Robert Hammon, who won a Grammy for Outkast’s “Speaker Boxxx/Love Below,” this is by far Moonshine’s most polished album.

Singer and guitarist Scott Baston’s vocals are strong and clear, a refreshing departure from the cliche twang of other bands within the genre.

On a track entitled “Stackin’ Stones,” the gospel soul of black church singing showcases the band’s range of influences. Then the guitars kick in, a weapon the band uses as impressively as ever.

Both “Test Baboon #1″ and “Test Baboon Reprise” are slow piano songs about the innocence of childhood versus adult realities. The bluesy piano combined with Baston’s voice are reminiscent of early Billy Joel.

The “Revolution” tour will bring Moonshine to Milledgeville’s Capital City on April 15. As far as downtown Milledgeville is concerned, it will no doubt be the show to see this Spring.

According to Robinson, drummer of Moonshine for eight years, said recording “Revolution” was much different from the sessions of past albums.

“We worked with a real producer this time. Before, we were producing ourselves,” he said. “A lot of times there’s politics in the band, and you have to get your point across and get everyone to agree. With someone spearheading like this, it took a lot of pressure off us.”

Robinson said touring is quite an experience, one with many “ups and downs.”

“Like everything else, there’s extremes in both directions,” he said. “It gets rough when you’re broken down on the side of the Interstate for 18 hours or stranded in Texas for a couple of days. The toughest part is being away from my family.”

Though Moonshine Still played a few shows in California last year, the band prefers to tour the South for now.

“We’re focusing on the Southeast because the distance is so great out there,” said Robinson. “If you’re here in Macon, a 500 mile radius puts you in 20 markets.”

Robinson said now is the time for the grassroots genre to enter the mainstream, and that Moonshine would love to be the band to take it there.

“I think it’s time for jams,” he said. “Everything else has been mainstream, and it’s burned out. We are in the jam scene, but our music is a lot more than that. We’ve made it a point to touch on all genres, trying to cross the gap. It’d be great [to be in the mainstream] as long as our mechanism is in place for us to handle that” Like many bands who have been together as long as Moonshine, they consider themselves a family.

“They’re closer than any friends I’ve had, and we’ve shared everything,” said Robinson. “I’ve been playing with Scott Baston for eight years now. We’ve clocked it at over 1,000 gigs.”

Robinson said he is looking forward to playing Milledgeville, the town he calls a second home.

“I always get excited about playing Milledgeville,” he said. “We know everybody there. I like the whole small town thing.”

When asked about his favorite part of playing in a rock n’ roll band, Robinson smiled, indicating that “this” was his favorite.

“I love meeting new people, and having good conversations with total strangers.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 15 2005. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry