25 March 2016

Alastair Moock’s Pastures of Plenty

with special guests

On March 25 a regular cavalcade of eminent Boston based musicians will join Alastair Moock on stage as part of his Pastures of Plenty show. Alastair began these down-home picking parties in 2000 and the list of key players who have participated is pretty darn impressive. An eclectic range of music will be shared in this up close and personal event. A very special part of the show will be when some local Marblehead schoolchildren appear and sing a song that they wrote with Moock.

Concert starts at 8:00 pm

Alastair Moock

When Alastair Moock began his Pastures of Plenty series in Boston in 2000, the idea was to bridge some of the gaps he saw in the local music scene — between the folk and roots rock crowds, between the contemporary and traditional scenes, and between younger and older players. But what it really came down to was just bringing together some of the region’s best songwriters and musicians to swap tunes on a stage. So many years later, the series is still “the hippest hootenanny in town” (The Boston Globe).

The Marblehead contingent of players includes Sean Staples, Eric Royer, 11-year old Fiddln’ Quinn, Paul Kochanski and perhaps more. One never knows who to expect on stage at a Pastures of Plenty show. In addition to being the folkdaddy of the Pastures of Plenty band, Alastair Moock is a full-time musician who has been playing the local coffeehouse and club circuit for twenty years. He’s been nominated as singer-songwriter of the year in the Boston Music Awards and has played the Newport Folk Festival. Moock also writes and performs family music and was nominated for a Grammy Award for his album Singing Our Way Through.

Moock recently was artist-in-residence at Marblehead’s Glover School and will be performing a song that he wrote with the children at this special me&thee show. Some of the students will be part of the show and that’s what makes this kind of event so special. As Betsy Siggins, founder of Folk New England, says of Moock’s collaborative shows: “The heart of a Pastures show, is the sweet echo of the past intertwined with a world weary knowing of today. Magical, rootsy, and wise.”

Woody Guthrie is a hero of Moock’s and he named these shows after one of Woody’s beloved songs, “Pastures of Plenty.” Singer-songwriter Mark Erelli recommends this show by saying “Woody Guthrie once wrote that he wanted to write songs which made people feel that they were bound to win.” Alastair Moock’s Pastures of Plenty is a rollicking celebration of music and community that would make Guthrie proud. Moock’s respect for tradition never gets in the way of his irreverence for the lines between past and present, performer and audience. By the end of the show, everyone is singing and stomping their feet to the music and everyone is a winner” Now is a time in history where we need community more than ever and this show at the me&thee will make audience members leave uplifted and feeling so much better than when they walked through the door.

Photo by Ned Harvey

  • Pastures of Plenty shows [are] jam-happy hootenannies with swashbuckling doses of impromptu adventure and sly reinventions of old folk chestnuts. . . . The hippest hootenanies in town. The Boston Globe
  • A wonderful concert that proves how well folk-popsters can mine the inexhaustibly valuable vein of American songs. . . . The Boston Herald
  • I have had the distinct pleasure of hearing Pastures of Plenty at a concert connected to my latest film project about the Original Carter Family. While this fantastic group of musicians played, I couldn’t help thinking how ol’ A.P. Carter himself would have been so pleased to know that young people like this still understood the essence of great songs, great arrangements and great playing. They are the living embodiment of a very old tradition, but one that still clearly speaks to us in the present day. I love ‘em. Beth Harrington, Director, The Winding Stream: A Musical Journey with the Original Carter Family
  • Moock and his gang of American roots-loving pals honor the tradition and give it a good swift kick into the 21st century. Better yet, the players are so good, they make it look easy so the virtuosity looks like plain old back porch fun. Grab a three-legged stool and plunk yerself down for some great music worth telling the neighbors about. Marilyn Rea Beyer, WUMB-FM
  • The heart of a Pastures show, is the sweet echo of the past intertwined with a world weary knowing of today. Magical, rootsy and wise. ??Betsy Siggins, Executive Director, Club Passim ??
  • Woody Guthrie once wrote that he wanted to write songs which made people feel that they were ‘bound to win.’ Alastair Moock’s Pastures of Plenty is a rollicking celebration of music and community that would make Guthrie proud. Moock’s respect for tradition never gets in the way of his irreverence for the lines between past and present, performer and audience. By the end of the show, everyone is singing and stomping their feet to the music, and everyone is a winner. Mark Erelli, Singer-Songwriter

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