Listen to Jonell Mosser just once in concert and you’ll be an instant believer. She sings with all-out passion and heart. No frills. No games. Just a soulful intensity that makes you realize you’re in the presence of the real thing, not some manufactured, corporate-approved diva of the sort littering the landscape these days.

 By STEVE MORSE, former staff writer at the Boston Globe for nearly 30
years, who has also written for Billboard and served on the nominating
committee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Jonell is as honest as they come, both in her personal life and in her music. Her voice is stunning in its raw power, scope, and ability to take you places where you’ve never been. In addition to her four official album releases, she will be releasing a new album this year.  

Jonell's Music Journey Past

Jonell started singing at a young age, rising to do jazz standards in piano bars in her childhood home of Louisville. Her dad, a retired Air Force Master Sargent, had died of a heart attack when she was 3, so she was brought up by her mother, Joy, who loved jazz. “I listened to all the big band stuff,” Jonell recalls. “I loved Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday. She bought me 45s and albums from the time I was 5 or 6. Later on, my brother had great records by Jethro Tull, Al Green and Dobie Gray.” And what about Janis Joplin, to whom she has been compared? “I didn’t like her at first. Janis seemed unattainable. And on the other side, Aretha Franklin seemed unattainable. So I was drawn more to men’s voices, like when I heard Otis Redding for the first time. And James Taylor, of course. I adored him and Jackson Browne and Dan Fogelberg. And then I found Lowell George and Little Feat.” She also loved Texas singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt {whom she first met in Bowling Green around 1978 or ’79} and her debut album was a 1996 compilation of Townes covers called “Around Townes.”

Her second album was “So Like Joy” in 2000, a smart, sophisticated batch of songs that Jonell wrote with John Hall (of Orleans fame) and Johanna Hall. They have been major believers in her. The disc included the high-arcing ballad “Do You Love Me” and the stylish title track, about letting go of regret. It is a connoisseur’s record. Next up was “Enough Rope,” a 2001 album that Allmusic.com proclaimed had “enough class, muscle and tough grace to stand out from the pack.” Then a lull followed as Jonell turned to raising her sons, before her “powerful “Trust Yourself” CD came out. The title track was a Dylan song given new heft by Jonell, while other stand outs were three co-writes with the Halls, and a sax-laced soul version of Harlan Howard’s “The Chokin’ Kind.” And perhaps the most intriguing project she’s been involved with in the last few years or so is being one of the Freedom Singers, who perform under the auspices of the First Amendment Center headed by former USA Today editor Ken Paulson. They feature songs that were once banned or censored, such as George M. Cohan’s “You’re a Grand Old Rag” (later changed to “Grand Old Flag”) and the controversial Billie Holiday tune, “Strange Fruit. ”It adds up to a highly unique career with no end in sight. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in this business, but I feel successful as a human being,” says Jonell. I play and sing every day” “I’ve gotten to sing with Mavis Staples. I’ve gotten to sing with Levon Helm, and with Sam Moore, Bruce Cockburn, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. I’ve gotten to meet and play music with so many great people, most of whom I feel I can call my friends” “That means everything to me” Now it could be Jonell’s moment to grab the spotlight. “I feel a tidal wave coming,” she says hopefully. “I just don’t want to get buried by it. I want to ride it.

A good-timing, honky-tonkin’, band-leading, song-writing, love-song-singing, blues-harp-blowing, tradition-nurturing, genre-busting, crowd-carrying, full-hearted flag bearer for all that’s true about music. That’s Heidi Newfield. And on her new solo album The Barfly Sessions — recorded without heed to music business convention — she’s finally captured her full range. “No one was telling me what to do,” Newfield says. “No one put me in a box. Anyone asking me, what is the new music like? Ummmmm, it’s like me!”

After recording three albums while fronting Trick Pony, charting eight singles and branching out for her first solo project with the platinum-certified smash “Johnny & June,” Newfield knows her way around a studio … and a stage. A bold stylist and true entertainer, she greets peers and fans alike with her small frame, big voice, friendly smile and a hug. Sharp and well read, she knows herself and her audience. She could be voted most likely to not give a damn about anything but the music by a stunning collection of collaborators and co-writers: Al Anderson, Randy Houser, Jim Lauderdale, Delbert McClinton, Jon Randall, Mickey Raphael, Rivers Rutherford, Leslie Satcher, Chris Stapleton, Matt King and Kenny Vaughan.  

Newfield co-produced The Barfly Sessions (due out August 28, 2020) with Jim “Moose” Brown who, in addition to being a hit-making songwriter and producer, is known for playing Hammond B3, guitar and as the band leader of Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band. “It’s inspiring to see an artist who’s had the kind of success she’s had be so determined to push new musical boundaries and get outside of her comfort zone,” Brown says. “Heidi and I have been friends for many years and I’ve always been a fan of her music, but I really had no clue as to the depth of her musicianship, songwriting, and general bad-assery until now. She is a deep mix of old school country, Texas twang, blues and straight-up soul, and she absolutely delivers the goods on this record.”

A Northern California native (Healdsburg, specifically), Newfield grew up on a Quarter Horse ranch and chose a music career as a teenager, eventually riding Trick Pony hits including “Pour Me,” “On a Night Like This” and “It’s a Heartache” to awards, acclaim and packed houses. Her solo work and the runaway success of “Johnny & June” brought a fist full of Academy of Country Music nominations and her multi-faceted creativity into sharper relief. With her new album, she’s completed the journey to fully realized artist.

Credited with writing on 12 of the collection’s 14 songs, she brings her musical stamp to all of them, including a standout track she didn’t write. “Blues Is My Business” writer Kevin Bowe explains, “I’ve heard many, many versions … from Etta James to the old bar-band down the street … but no one owns this song like Heidi Newfield. Her combination of big-hearted soul and an even bigger middle finger gave this song exactly what it wanted. Having the legendary Delbert McClinton join Heidi was better than having the cherry on top — more like the spicy BBQ sauce, the perfect combination and flavor.” 

Connecting the amazing diversity of flavor found on The Barfly Sessions is Newfield’s unmistakable harmonica playing and voice. “Strong-ass, powerhouse women vocalists have always been my influences,” she says. “The ability to belt out that emotion is exactly what I was aiming at. Now … let’s bring the music to the people.” 

att King grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, fourth generation in a family of bootleggers, preachers, and splintered women. He worked in a goldsmith shop and an auction company, had his own concession business by thirteen. Hard work is all he's ever known. He came up at the feet of honest to God mountain people singing songs about dying and losing lovers, resentments and redemption.

In 1997, Atlantic Records released Five O'clock Hero. A year later, Hard Country, which USA Today and People Magazine named a critics' favorite for both traditional country albums that year. He played the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman, the Greek in Hollywood, CMA Fest mainstage, House of Blues, the Ottawa Blues Festival. He recorded with Vance Powell, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Alison Krauss, Jay Joyce.

Then he went independent. Rube in 2008, which the New York Post voted one of the year's top ten new artist releases. He kept writing. Kept recording. Raw, Matt King and the Cutters, Apples and Orphans, Midnight Oil and Holy Water. Over 400 published songs and counting. Nashville is still home. The studio is still there.

He's been doing this in empty rooms and full ones most of his life. It never mattered who showed up. The song was going to show up either way.

He comes from people who don't explain themselves. Appalachian and accountable by choice. Every word, every note mattered. Learned it the hard way. He's buried more than he's kept, which means every melody costs something. Not hungry anymore. Inevitable.

Songs written to stay alive. Songs written to put ghosts in the ground. He learned to write from inside the fire. Lived with the bitter bite of silence and built a fire with words and broken hands. Lived in the middle of a deep dark holler and built a ladder from faith he had to borrow until the rungs appeared. Built things nobody asked for. They're still standing.

Still on. Still singing, praying, and witnessing from the mountain when everyone else went home.

He's still writing. He's still here.

If Songwriter/Producer David Malloy wrote a book about his life, it would, no doubt, include the facts that his songs (either written and/or produced) have held the number one spot on the charts approximately 40 times, and in 2022 he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. There would be a chapter on his rich musical legacy that began with his late father Jim Malloy, a renowned engineer and producer. So, it does not seem too far-fetched that as a 15-year-old boy, Malloy knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life when he began writing songs. 

Of course, a chapter would be devoted to the fact that the very first artist he ever produced was Eddie Rabbitt, whom he met through Eddie’s buddy and co-writer, Even Stevens. Malloy started co-writing with both Eddie Rabbitt and Stevens around the time of Eddie’s third album. From that time on, Malloy and Stevens penned over 50 songs together. As Rabbitt’s producer, Malloy is credited with creating the crossover-influenced sound of country music that defined the genre in the 80’s and well into the 90’s. Readers would be enchanted with tales of a rich career producing artists like Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Mindy McCready, Reba McEntire, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, and many others. Additionally, his songs have been recorded and/or covered on albums by Badfinger, Bettye LaVette, Billy Burnette, Dr. Hook, Fleetwood Mac, Gregg Allman Band, Julianne Hough, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tim McGraw, Roy Orbison, and more. 

However, the BIG reveal in the current chapter of such an auto-biographical book would come where Malloy discloses, that “of all the artists I have worked with, there is one artist I have never had the honor or privilege of producing or writing songs for…myself!”This newest chapter in the David Malloy book of life stars the longtime prolific songwriter and hit-making producer—now as the artist. “People have always encouraged me to write a book about my life but that is not something I am interested in,” Malloy shares. “This 43 minute, 3 second album titled Mirror consisting of 14 self-penned songs, is my book. It is a musical anthology and a profound look back at the highs and lows of my life.”

Mirror is a deeply personal collection of songs, capturing the music and the lyrics about some of Malloy’s most life-changing chapters. “The subjects are all life lessons dealing with joy, pain, and loss,”Malloy says of the album he co-produced with artist/musician Paul Childers. “I thought it would be hard to separate myself as an artist from the writer and then from the producer, but it turned out to be easy with Paul’s help. The collaboration was intuitive and magical.”

“I Play Gimme Shelter” the first single off the album, is a song that joyfully reminds the listener of their favorite song they like to play (loud) in the car or when they get home to shake off the day.“I love everything about the Rolling Stones’ song ‘Gimme Shelter.’  It sucks you in from the get-go. Some songs you can’t play loud enough and ‘Gimme Shelter’ and ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ are those songs for me.  I wanted to write about how much I love them by creating my own song, ‘I Play Gimme Shelter.’  Of course, my greatest joy would be for the Stones to hear it. Long live rock and roll!”

“A Brand New Day,” the opening song on the album, is like waking up to the most beautiful day outside when the birds are singing, the sun is shining and the rhythm of the song makes you want to jump behind the wheel and drive! “It’s a song about second chances, making amends, one more time to get it right, letting go!  I love this track and it always puts a smile on my face–the way I want to wake up every morning.” 

The song “Higher Self” is a peek into Malloy’s self-discovery journey. He began practicing Transcendental Meditation several decades ago. 

“Mason’s Wallet”, perhaps the most heartbreaking and emotionally driven song in the collection, is Malloy’s lyrical story that shares the path of grief he walked after losing his only son in 2005 and the unexpected sense of closure that began to happen after Malloy listened to Luke Bryan talking about how tight he was with his siblings before losing his brother first and then his sister. “Luke’s documentary helped me find some closure where I could begin to write about my loss and about my son. The more I worked on the song, the more my feelings came pouring out. I felt Mason was right there with me.”

In “Only For You,” Malloy lets the listener bear witness to “a simple, ordinary, sweet as cherry, let’s get married extraordinary love” that he found with his beautiful and talented wife Kathy Anderson, Nashville’s celebrity rock star interior designer, almost 20 years ago.”

Throughout his career, Malloy has been lauded for his technique of “becoming” the artist he was writing for or producing, similar to an actor. Many agree that this was a key to his success. With the upcoming 2024 release of Mirror, Malloy no longer has to become someone else, but simply let the listeners have a glimpse of the exceptional man he has become. “To connect soul to soul would be the highest achievement I could ever hope for with my listeners.”