Daniel Martin Moore – In The Cool Of The Day

Kentuckian Daniel Martin Moore is a singer-songwriter caught out of his time. Signed to Sup Pop, home of Tad Doyle lest we forget, yet inhabiting a world of Appalachian folk, he’s a kid with a world-weary outlook. There’s an old spirit lurking in a young man’s body, a voice from a time long-since lost.

In The Cool Of The Day is Moore’s third record, and is a move away from the politicised mountain fables of Dear Companion. An album of traditional American folk music (think Alan Lomax), Moore set out to make an album of gospel songs and spirituals like the ones he heard growing up in Kentucky. Essentially, he’s very much succeeded in doing just that. A mix of self-penned songs and reworked covers of traditional standards made famous by Elvis Presley and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, among others, the key to the record is the love that Moore has for these tunes – with such care and devotion comes an enjoyable listen.

What’s also vital in listening to this record, other than the recognisable songs, is the sound created by the players backing up Moore, who include My Morning Jacket’s Jim James (or Yim Yames in his folky solo guise) on banjo. Every instrument is right up there in the mix, giving an immediate sound redolent of Sun Studios recordings. It’s worth also mentioning Moore’s adaptable voice, which ranges from a flat Bill Callahan delivery to the scale-climbing croon that Will Oldham eventually began to use in his later career.

As we’re in the world of gospel songs mentions of the almighty are always just around the corner, however these are also simply just love songs sung and played with reverence and love for the source materials. So, what of those songs? The record opens with three excellent renditions; ‘All Ye Tenderhearted’ begins with Moore’s unaccompanied voice, pleading to “lay down your lonesome burden”, taking the traditional song away from its original tale of child death to something more comforting. ‘Dark Road’ picks up the pace, being a bluegrass standard, cautioning us to stay in the light, and ‘O My Soul’, the first self-penned track and one of the highlights, is a gorgeous swell of organ, carrying the Percy Shelley-cribbing song upwards and away.

Moore significantly mis-steps with ‘In The Garden’, an uncomfortable mix of bluegrass and jaunty ragtime jazz, and also ‘Closer Walk With Thee’ and ‘Up Above My Head’ which stay too faithful to the source material, but the lovely harmonies of ‘Softly and Tenderly’ – the most explicitly religious song here – with backing from Portland-based singer Haley Bonar, and the gorgeous piano ballad title track get Moore back on the right path. The record ends with two new compositions, ‘Lay Down Your Lonesome Burden’ being an instrumental which points back to the album opener, and we end on ‘Set Things Aright’, which benefits again from the vocals of Bonar. The song pleads for a “good night to set things aright”; some lilting violin and mandolin interplay help lead us gently off into the night.

In The Cool Of The Day could be something of a fork in the road for Daniel Martin Moore to ponder. Does he want to continue to be known as an interpreter of trad songs, or does he want his own voice to be heard above the whispers of the past? Judging by the quality of his own songs on the record, and the ability he clearly has musically, I think it’s time for Moore to look to the future in the ways that an artist like Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam does – you can have your influences, sure, but don’t be afraid to forge ahead with something new.