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Brooklyn-based alt-country/Americana singer-songwriter Moon Shine (aka Angie Glasscock) manages to tread a fine line on her debut LP, The Land in Between (out Nov. 11), an album that sounds fresh and effusive while reflecting a decided reverence for tradition. It’s a rich and resilient combination of soulful ballads, upbeat Americana and unfettered exuberance, a rare dynamic for an artist who’s taking her first bow. Her tenacity and drive are emboldened by her music’s intimacy, as stirring vocals flow effortlessly between plaintive melodies and truth rings out from the joys of chronicling a storied past with a bittersweet release.
The first few songs Angie wrote leaned country, so it seemed natural that the band should be called “Moon Shine.” Though, there’s more to it than just that: “The Moon is a female symbol,” says Angie. “The name ‘Moon Shine’ refers to women shining.”
The Land In Between was overseen by acclaimed producer and guitarist Teddy Kumpel (Joe Jackson, Feist, Rickie Lee Jones) at Atomic Sound in Brooklyn, and together they assembled an impressive array of veteran A-list session players, including bassist Cat Popper (Jack White, Willie Nelson, Levon Helm), drummer Steve Williams (Sade, David Byrne, Keith Richards), keyboard player Todd Caldwell (Stephen Stills, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt), fiddler Charlie Burnham (Martha Redbone), with Mark Spencer on pedal steel (Son Volt, Lisa Loeb), Michael Blake on tenor saxophone, Bruce Harris on trumpet and the late Don Heffington (Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams), playing drums on “I Tried to Keep on Loving You.”
While those names alone may bring immediate attention, Angie makes her own lasting impressions. Her songs are autobiographical, yet capture sentiments felt by so many people at a time of distancing and distraction—love, loss, longing, and a desire to find comfort and security in a place that can be called their own. These emotional insights are shed from a deeply personal perspective. The soulful title track, with its echoes of classic Stax soul and its nuanced narrative, provides an ideal introduction to real life circumstance:
“I was born in Memphis / But didn’t stay long / My family moved to Los Angeles when I was nearly three / Soon Daddy left Mommy / Went back to Tennessee / Staring out the window /
At the land in between California and Tennessee”
Her songs – save for the excellent cover of Lucinda Williams’ “Right In Time” – resonate with lessons learned in the process of finding a way forward, from the upbeat optimism and exuberance found in “Better a Pearl,” and the easy, country caress of “Songbird of the Mountains,” a song about Angie’s mother, written from the perspective of a potential suitor.
“I Tried to Keep on Loving You,” the first song she ever wrote, is a classic country ballad delivered with a smooth sway and twangy sashay. We are then met with the sheer soul, shimmer and unbridled emotion of “The Promise,” featuring a tender duet with Charlie Burnham. “Exile of Youth” is about Angie’s father, immersed at once in remorse and reflection, and flush with acoustic slide guitar that might just put a hole in your heart…“the size of Texas.”
Born in Memphis and raised between Los Angeles and Nashville, Angie spent her childhood living in two very distinct and distant worlds. “My parents split up, soon after we moved to L.A. for my father to train with the surgeon who created the cochlear implant, Bill House,” she recalls. “ My mother made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere, content in California, so that’s how I ended up going back and forth in order to spend time with both of my parents.”
Angie attributes her first musical influences to her mother, who grew up in the mountains of North Carolina. “Music was always around the house, and my mother loved to sing and dance. She did this funny dance that used to embarrass me, called clogging. It’s a little bit like tap dancing, mostly just moving your feet in rhythmic patterns, while the rest of your body stays relatively still.”
After dropping out of college, it dawned on Angie that she might be an artist. “I was very withdrawn and very much in my own head,” she explains. “If I had a different family life, I think I might have been a songwriter at a younger age. I wanted to express myself, but somehow I just wasn’t ready. I never thought I had the ability, but then once the first song came, I wanted to keep writing. “I’m looking forward to sharing all this music live, for the very first time.”
Angie has been kind enough to deliver the intensely intimate, autobiographical roadmap that is The Land in Between, an intoxicating debut from Moon Shine. It’s no wonder she plans on pivoting on the next batch, leveraging a “less personal, more character-driven” narrative. Digging her heels into the NYC music scene, Angie will be performing her first gig with the band at Pete’s Candy Store on September 17, 2022.