THROUGH THE FIRE
​SPOTIFY PRE-SAVE...

(pretty please...!??)

Step One...​
​Before this Friday, Sept 8...are you willing to pre-save my new album Through the Fire on Spotify? What "they" say can happen is that this can get the music pushed out to more people—casting a bigger, wider net which, in turn, creates algorithmic momentum beyond what I can stir up by driving town to town as I have for the past 15 years. Shall we see what might come of such a something? Heck, why not...

THANK YOU!!!

I've always been driven to try to make my mark on stage first and foremost...one show at a time, one song at a time, one listener at a time...live and in-person with:

• No diligent, meretricious, vulgar, shallow TikTok strategy (though a label type promised me last year that this was the ONLY way my music career would ever amount to anything)
• No time/budget devoted to doing polished videos (definitely going to be stepping it up in this area)
• Many years between major releases (good news...the next album is already written)

Meanwhile, the industry powers that be—accountants/lawyers/fashionistas/sharks—damn sure have no time for an artist who, as a result of all the above, has a mere 139 monthly listeners on Spotify, FFS.

On the other hand, there are those who truly madly deeply care about me and my music...with all of the above put aside. And that's who matters to me. So much. That's whom I care about more than air.

Y'all know who you are.

And that's why the new album has only been available via Bandcamp and at live shows so far.

All that said...can we please give it a quick, painless, free go with this Spotify / sharing / liking / tagging horse dookie? The album goes live on all such bilking, desperation & vanity-driven mechanisms this Friday...and I'm so looking forward to the world of possibilities that await. Maybe we can help people find something new to like??

Thanks, folks. I love ya.

Kind words for Through the Fire...

THROUGH THE FIRE TOUR 2023...

MY INFLUENCES
(100 songs that made me)

So, after thoroughly dumping on Spotify (above)...I'll try to put the platform to good use here.

I've recently fielded an inordinate number of inquiries as to my "influences". At the top of the list would probably be the painters Vincent van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Giorgio de Chirico, and Lucien Freud; mythologist Joseph Campbell, author Daniel Quinn, the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, my legendary acting teacher Terese Hayden, and my father Burt Mosley.

But that's not what they're asking, of course. So here goes...

I made a playlist of 100 songs that live inside my music-making in one way or another...click that link or the image below to check it out.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Continuing my monthly-ish shout-outs to artists who are inspiring me right about now...

​Viagra Boys​

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There's nothing I don't absolutely love about this video...or this band, for that matter. I had a venue recently turn on the footsy game—on the big screen—right near the end of my show...oh, what I would have given to become this video in that moment.

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​Ryan Necci & The Buffalo Gospel​

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This fella turns a phrase with such poetic directness and soul. And do yourself a favor...go to 2:08 in this video to watch how he can bring it with just himself and a guitar.

stay in touch...

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#feeltheloveyall

​bretmosley.com​

Thorough and/or long-time readers know that down here in the little bitty is where I often do a code-switch to whisper an aside, tip my hand or hat, or otherwise digress & drop some crumbs. So...

To folks in the USA...I've been far too far away for far, far too long and I really wish I hadn't been. I've got some good prospects in the works to rectify that in the foreseeable future. Y'all have humbled and astonished me with the responses I've received from you since the new album came out...considering how long it has been since I've been in a position to tour stateside...or even do live streams that you could tune into. I didn't take for granted the richness of the cultural topsoil upon which I have not stood since 2014...I just blindly, recklessly assumed—until very recently—that it would be much the same wherever else I might go. It is not.

I hit the hardest wall I've ever felt on August 18...and the collision lasted for a full two weeks. I'm still not back to 100%. Turns out, it was: clinical exhaustion + a 7-year version of post-exams collapse (re: finally releasing Through the Fire) + the aforementioned topsoil realization + complete depletion of dopamine + anemia + a side helping of COVID. Symptoms were severe, from head to toe, and relentless. I only took one full day of bed rest, though. Because of your beautiful responses—from New York, Pennsylvania, California, Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Colorado, Arizona, Maryland, and beyond—I was able to forge on and remain vertical, creating an updated press kit, pitching to blogs/magazines/radio/festivals/etc...and writing you some new music.

Love, love, love you.