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Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Moore finds new world of music

new album folklore:
In concert
Rogue Folk presents: Mae Moore & Band
Where: St James Hall, 3214 W. 10th Ave. When: Friday at 8 p.m. Tickets: $24/$20 members at the venue

Tom Thomsons mandolin inspired her, but that was just a beginning

By John P. McLaughLin
Special to the province

Just over a century ago, when artist Emily Carr was making her first plein-air forays to Ucluelet and further up the coast to Haida Gwaii, capturing on canvas the art of the indigenous people and the lush forests and ocean that inspired them, some 3,000 miles to the east one Tom Thomson was doing much the same thing in Ontarios Algonquin Park. He was the inspiration behind the Group of Seven school of art and would drown in the parks Canoe Lake in 1917 under very mysterious circumstances, but not before producing a dazzling body of work that over the years has embedded itself in the Canadian psyche read Ontarios as self defining. When he wasnt fishing, painting or canoeing, Thomson also played mandolin, presumably at night, presumably by a fireside. Winnipeg-born Mae Moore has seen that rare, triple-stringed mandolin under glass at the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound, Ont. It inspired the opening song from her brand new Folklore album titled, directly enough, Tom Thomsons Mandolin. It evokes beautifully the woods and lakes of Algonquin Park and when we talked, I had to remark that she showed almost superhuman restraint not sticking the word loon in there. She has geese, she has fireflies, no loon. Yes there is, Moore protested when I pointed it out. At the very end I do a loon call and its a total fluke. We were just fooling around and I havent been able to do it since. Moore has lived on Pender Island for the last 11 years now, making music alongside husband and bluesman Lester Quitzau, tending a huge garden and apple orchard and, not incidentally, making art. Its gorgeous stuff. A former Algonquin College student, she specializes in landscapes (. . . I cant live in the city any more . . .) and has included a few in the CD booklet. Alternately, you can purchase a new book of her art that will include

Mae Moore isnt in the music business to make money. She has songs that need to be written and need to get out there.

Submitted Photo

download codes for the album. Dylan, Joni Mitchell and countless others have pursued both music and the fine arts over the years and its interesting to speculate how much one informs the other. Well, they seem to come from the same stream, says Moore. And I would throw gardening in there as well. For me its all about being in the moment, being receptive to

what needs to be done. I feel guided in many ways in all three disciplines. Moore started her music career in the mid 80s and found early success co-writing Heaven In Your Eyes, which was recorded by Loverboy and placed in the Tom Cruise movie Top Gun. She began working with people like Barney Bentall and Spirit of the West, got signed

to Sony and would release five albums through the 90s, starting with Oceanview Motel. The property on Pender is named Oceanview Acres. Folklore is Moores first solo studio album in a long 11 years. She has a working farm and a lot of paintings to show for it but, like so many, shes an indie artist now. Shes set up her own cross-Canada solo tour riding

Via Rail instead of flying and finds that, musically, its a new world now. Its a completely new world, says Moore. Its a lot more work but its a lot more satisfying. Im not in this business solely to make money, Im in it because Im a songwriter and I have songs that need to be written and need to get out there.
jpmac@gmx.net