DANIEL MOORE, COMPOSER OF "SHAMBALA" & "MY MARIA," RELEASES HIS VERSIONS

DANIEL MOORE
THE GIVEAWAY

Daniel Moore has been one of the top songwriters in the music industry for the past three-and-a-half-decades, but has only recorded a small handful of albums of his own. Now on his CD, THE GIVEAWAY, we get to hear his original versions of songs that became hits for Brooks & Dunn, Joe Cocker, Three Dog Night, B.W. Stevenson, Thelma Houston and Bonnie Raitt (as well as some tunes he never passed on to other musicians). The best-known of these are the two chart-topping, million-selling hits for other artists -- "Shambala" (complete with his different pronunciation of this ancient Sanskrit word) and "My Maria."

These songs, recorded throughout the career of Daniel Moore, range from folk and Americana to bluesy roots-rock. Besides writing songs, Moore has served as a backing musician and singer for acts such as Joe Cocker, Kim Carnes, Jimmie Rodgers and T-Bone Burnett, and in 1970 on the legendary Mad Dogs & Englishmen Tour starring Joe Cocker and Leon Russell that was taped for an album and feature film.

The son and grandson of preachers, Daniel went to seminary school for three years before turning to music fulltime, but you will hear occasional spiritual references in his lyrics (the Southern-rock-sounding "Who's Gonna Play The Harp," the alt-country "On Solid Ground" and "Roll The Holy Bones" are only the most obvious examples). He even works in a little gospel-feeling on "Lean Back Hold Steady" and "Sweet Forgiveness." Most of the music has a retro Seventies blues-rock feel to it, which isn't a bad thing for listeners who can't get enough of that classic sound.