Jam Cruise veteran Nathan Scott Moore has been keeping “The Spot” sacred on board the MSC Divina now, dazzling fans and passersby with his incredible songwriting abilities. When he’s not jamming away on the open seas, Moore recently started up a new group called the Four Wordsmen Of The Apocalypse, and has been running his own Revolution Radio station with some fun guests along the way. L4LM’s own Rex Thomson caught up with Moore to talk about all of these exciting topics and more!

Read on to hear all the great Moore Stories below!

L4LM:  First of all… You’re running a radio station?  Seriously?  I thought we had all agreed to let computer algorithms pick our music for us…

Nathan Scott Moore:  (Chuckles)  Yeah…I’m going back in time…I think old school radio is the new future.   

L4LM:  Are you worried that naming your station “Revolution Radio” automatically puts you on a lot of government watch lists?

NSM:  I thought about that.  I don’t know…I’ll take listeners from wherever I can get them.  I mean…the people in the CIA need good music in their lives…

L4LM:  You were probably on a list already…”Left Wing Musician: Possible Radical” or something like that…

NSM:  I would hope so…I’d hate to think this was all falling on deaf ears!  (Chuckles)  For the record, whoever gets assigned my case is a pretty lucky person.  I always think, in the middle of the night when I’m sure they’re spying on me…’That was pretty good wasn’t it?”  (Laughs)  Brings a smile to the face of someone out there at the CIA…I guarantee it.  (Chuckles)

L4LM:  Did you listen to a lot of radio growing up?

NSM:  In a way, I didn’t listen to a lot of radio.  It was still pretty old school here in my town…and WCON and C93 DJs were local celebrities…”Omigod, I can’t believe that’s what he looks like!” or whatever.  They were very involved in all the community events when I was growing up.  As I got older and became a touring musician, I fell in love with talk radio.   On the road, it just seemed like it made the miles go by faster.  A good radio station sparks lots of memories of travelling, and the radio getting me to the next place.  That feeling you get when you’re really into a radio show and you’re driving out of reception range is one of the most familiar feelings in the world.  I remember pulling over to the side of the road, just to catch the show ’cause I could tell it was breaking up and i didn’t wanna lose the show.  Then I lived in New Mexico and I had a whole thing with “Late Night with Art Bell: Coast To Coast AM,” I don’t know if you ever listened to that.  Back in the day, leading up to “Y2K” it was all about aliens, the paranormal activities and I used to love that show.  I listened to it every night.  I do have a long love of radio.

L4LM:  I travel a lot, and when I do, I listen to a lot of radio.  People ask me why I don’t just plug in my iPod, but I like the randomness of radio, and the chance for discovery.  So…is running your own radio station as easy as you thought it would be?

NSM:  I learned a lot, I will say that.  I learned a lot since I started the project.  It’s amazing how easy it is these days, that’s for sure. It’s streaming 24/7, and that’s set up in a closet upstairs.   Hang on.  Okay, I’m looking at it right now.  You go in the closet and there’s a microphone and a laptop and a hard drive with all the revolution radio fodder, the music, on it.  Then I’ve got a whole studio in the basement for when we go live, and I can just hit a switch.  I’ve got a friend that’s in real radio, his family owns a few radio stations in Iowa, and he really helped me out in the beginning, told me what software to get and that kinda stuff.  Once you get the real radio software, definitely easier.  It’s pretty awesome how it all works.  I can just tell it “Every night from choose stuff from the Suprise Me Mr. Davis playlist,” “Don’t repeat yourself” and all that kinda stuff.  Creating the bumpers and the station IDs and stuff like that…’This is Mark Fakename and you’re listening to Revolution Radio” and adding in all the Sound effects and such…definitely learned a lot about all that stuff.

L4LM:  I see you’re doing interviews now…not as easy as it looks, is it?

NSM:  No!  (Chuckles)  It’s hard, it’s definitely hard.  I’ve always had a lot of respect for a good interviewer, and I really haven’t met that many in my life.  No pressure!  (Laughs)  I always loved Dick Cavett or Charlie Rose…any of the classics.  I don’t know.  I hear I’m not bad at it.  I have a pretty good head on my shoulders and I’m genuinely curious.  Those two things are pretty big assets. 

L4LM:  The best tip I can give anyone doing this is to actually LISTEN to what people are saying.  That’s a lost art these days.

NSM:  That’s a wonderful thing.  You can spend so much time thinking about what’s coming next, what you’re gonna say next, you don’t really hear what they’re saying, and the whole conversational aspect of it just gets trashed.  That’s great advice.  To me, learning to listen is probably one of the hardest lessons to learn in life, and probably one of the most important.  Whether metaphorically or literally…LISTEN! As a musician playing in bands it took me DECADES to finally learn how to actually listen.  A lotta people don’t know how to listen, don’t think about listening.  It’s so powerful when you finally just listen…and then you’ll finally learn how to play.  I’m sure some people fell upon that waaay more naturally than me… I finally learned later and found out it was waaay harder than I thought.  It sounds so easy…”Ahhh…just listen!”  But that is very important advice…in all areas of life.  Relationships…LISTEN!  Just listen more and more.

L4LM:  It’s a universal suggestion for everyone.  I don’t know if it’s the onslaught of social media or what, but everyone just seems like they’re waiting for their turn to talk, and I think the obsession with social media is exacerbating the problem.

NSM:  Right, right.  I hear ya.  I think a lotta things that social media exacerbates are human nature.  I think a lot of these things have been happening for a long time but they’re waaay more pronounced now, the way this technology is pushing us, that’s for sure.

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L4LM:  So I understand a fresh “Season” is coming up on your Revolution Radio show…

NSM:  I just had the Dead Winter Carpenters in taping for my debut “Fall Season” show.  One of the things I love about it is I’m not really touring anymore, but I have a reason for all these touring bands to come and see me.  Another great reason for me to have this going on.  Elephant Revival, Fruition, the Dead Winter Carpenters…all kinds of bands have been stoppin’ in and playing on the radio show…when they’re in Virginia that is.  When I do get out of the house…all the musicians I see, I tell ’em “If you’re coming to Virginia, leave an extra day open to come be on the radio!”

L4LM:  Your latest album is called Enough About Me, and that’s not really keeping with this new 24/7 fixation on narcissism.  Do you think the world is ever gonna hear Enough About Me again?

NSM:  (Laughs)  I don’t know, they seem pretty content with themselves don’t they?

L4LM: You did most of this new album all by yourself, is that right?

NSM:  Yeah, really, for the most part, my latest album slash ongoing rabbit hole I’ve been descending down…producing and playing all on my own.  I actually made my drumming debut.  I play every instrument on every song, except for a couple times.  Sometimes friends will stop by and I’ll say “Hey!  You should play on this one!”

L4LM:  Smart.  We talked earlier this year with The Shook Twins and they mentioned how much they appreciated you bringing them along on Jam Cruise earlier this year, so it seems like sometimes you get some help.

NSM:  Yeah, that’s mutual.  I appreciate them coming along and helping out. 

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L4LM:  Are any special guests coming along to help you this year?

NSM:  We’re working on it.  I’m trying to figure out how to make it all happen.  I just did a tour we called the “Calvacade”, that went from the High Sierra Music Festival up to the Northwest String Summit, with some of my favorite songwriters… Willie Tea Taylor, Jay Cobb Anderson from Fruition and this young man Taylor Kingman as the Four Wordsmen of the Apocalypse, galloping up and down the West Coast.  I’m working on getting that group on the boat, along with a couple of other songsters, from my home town here.  Jay really wants to come work with us, and record a few songs before we head to the boat.  I’m not sure if I can make it ALL happen, but something is gonna happen…and it’s gonna be awesome.

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L4LM:  So people understand a little of what you do on the boat…tell me a little about “The Spot”. 

NSM:  “The Spot”.  The Spot first started it was me and my friend Bryan Elijah Smith.  I had gotten onto the boat, and I forget how I even got the gig in the first place.  I turned to Bryan and I said “Let’s go do this!”  So we went down and we got on the boat…and…I believe it was the first night we were just like “Let’s go out and play on the deck.”  The first night we sat down in this one spot…I like being outside, where you can smoke, where you don’t have to go anywhere.  We just sorta hunkered down and started playing in this spot.  We really loved it, and people would stop by, and we would sing songs.  So the next night comes along and we were like “Well…should we go down to “The Spot?”  And it was just really between Bryan and I, something we were doing for fun.  I have a bit of busking history, back in fact my original band, ThaMuseMeant started out as a busking act.

L4LM:  Really?

NSM:  Yeah, we played out on the street every day like a day job.  So I had some chops in that regard, and respect for that.  So we just headed on down to the spot on the second night, and it just turned out…musicians started hearing ’bout it, and coming and joining us.  And we just held that spot down every night.  And then it was really good fortune that the next year Surprise Me Mr. Davis, my alter ego rock band got hired to be on the boat.  So I talked to Brad and Andrew and said “Let’s do “The Spot” again this year!  Bryan and I held down this spotevery night last year and you guys should do it with me.  They really stepped up and made it so memorable…so much magic happened that year that it was by the third year they hired me and it was in the contract…”Come hold down “The Spot!”  And now everybody knows that “The Spot” is “the spot.”

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L4LM:  You guys have made it into the “Acoustic Americana Jam Room.”

NSM:  Yeah!  Yeah, it’s like a porch.  I’ve learned a lot growin’ up here in the Shenandoah Valley about what it’s like to sit in one spot and sing songs all night, drinkin’ whiskey, tellin’ jokes and smokin’ cigarettes.  Yeah, I got a lot of trainin’ there.  (Chuckles)  I know how to hold that space, and that’s really what it’s become.  It’s not really a bluegrass pick unless it is, it’s not really anything unless it is…except…if there is something I take seriously…it is sorta a sacred spot for songs.  If you wanna hear a song or share a song…”The Spot” is a great place to do it.

L4LM:  You’re known for especially for your strong song writing.  Do you start off with an emotion you’re trying to evoke, is there a response you’re reaching for… 

NSM:  Y’Know…it’s… I never really started with anything.  I’ve even tried a lot in the past.  I’ve sat down and said ‘I’m gonna write a song about this!”  or “I’m gonna write a song about that.”  That is never really how it works out.  I just will pick up a guitar, or sit down at the piano, and just start playing.  And it’s either there or it’s not.   Song writing is a little like hunting an animal in the wild.  There’s a part of it that is completely out of your control. 

You can go fishin’ all day and not get a bite.  But then there’s this funny feelin’ you get when you go and the fish are biting and you have something to do with it.  You know?  And there are good fishermen and bad fishermen but the good fisherman doesn’t necessarily control the fish…a great fisherman doesn’t go out and say “I’m gonna go out and catch a fourteen inch trout today.”  He hopes he might…it’s good to visualize, that has a power, but at the end of the day he can’t control the fish, But he can know where to be, when to be there, what the right bait is, what kind of line he should have for what he’s expecting to catch…stuff like that.  There are people that are good fishermen, but that doesn’t mean they can control the fish.  

L4LM:  Gotta say…that was a beautiful analogy.

NSM:  You know, that’s the first time used that one…I just thought of that one on the spot!  (Chuckles)

L4LM:  Baller!  (Laughs)  We can not put that in an interview and you can save that for a song if you want…

NSM:  (Laughs)  That’s okay, you can have it.  But yeah, I’m probably gonna use that one again…that did work.     

L4LM:  You mentioned that you just made your drum debut. You mentioned the piano and the guitar…how many instruments do you play?

NSM:  I had a revelation…it was probably about three years ago when my brother gave me a clarinet for my birthday.  And I was like “A clarinet?  What am I gonna do with this thing?”  But I put it together, and started working on it and a couple weeks later I was sorta playing clarinet.   Not great or anything, but I was playing the freaking thing.  And that sorta blew my mind.  I sorta…for the first time, and I was in my forties, I sorta realized that, once you can play music, you can pretty much play every instrument, as long as you make a note out of it, all the knowledge that you spent years acquiring in one realm, it just hops right over, it just transfers over into the new place. 

The hardest thing is getting the notes.  If I had a trumpet here right now I couldn’t play it, until I figured out how to sound the notes.  But once you figure out how to sound the notes, then all the musical knowledge comes pouring out and transfers right over.  I go a step up or a step down…I just sorta…it was like a door was unlocked.  Maybe one…to a room…I never shoulda entered! (Chuckles)  Next thing you know I’ve got a cello down here, I’ve got an accordian, a piano and an organ…ukelele, saxophone, banjo…I’m just actually looking around the room right now…bass guitar.  All these instruments I never really imagined playing.  I was also really fortunate in that I had a fun way to learn all these instruments. In terms of recording and being a songwriter.  I immediately started recording a song and I would just loop it and play the clarinet part fifty times…and just let that solo section loop and loop…and…thirty or forty takes in this lil clarinet part would start poppin’ up, and I’d be like “there it is.”  It was a fun way for me to learn that…to have myself to jam with.  

L4LM:  I’m just always impressed by the variety of physicality of being a multi instrumentalist.  The fingering you need to play piano, the fingering you need to know…that is always impressive to me.

NSM:  I definitely hear that…especially if you don’t speak the language it doesn’t make any sense to know what the hell they’re saying….if…if…gosh… I wouldn’t consider myself ANYTHING special on any of these instruments, but the fact that I can play them, to my own songs at least.  Even the drums.  That was the last one.  Even with the drums I was like “That’s…that’s not gonna…that doesn’t even apply.” There’s not even any notes. It was just the last thing I thought I could possibly do…but I did all the drums on my last album.  Once I got in there, once I got behind it, once I was playing TO THE SONG. 

The songs are teaching me how to play these instruments as much as anything else. Because if I just sit at the drums…I can’t play drums.  But if I’m playing to a song the song is telling me “Yes!  No!  Yes!  Yes!  No!  No!  No!  Yes!”  The song is a…the song has..wants…it needs.  So I learned as much from the songs themselves. I could just do the same thing behind the drums.  Just loop it. Throughout the take I’m finding a pulse, a beat that doesn’t step on the words…that’s getting under the music and lifting it up as opposed to coming above it and pushing it down.  If you listen, and you get under and lift, you’re gonna blow your own mind.

L4LM:  I’m a big believer in being able to do a dozen things crappily, as opposed to one thing mediocrely.

NSM:  Right!  (Laughs) Yeah…that’s my problem too, I mean…I think at the end of the day I’m not even sure I’m playing any of my cards right. I don’t know why I spent so many endless hours getting halfway decent at some thing when there’s a world of amazing people that are talented at it.  (Chuckles)  But I can’t stop!  For the last two weeks I’ve had a life long love of magic.  Sleight of hand. Illusions and stuff.  I’ve been back in that space for the last two weeks…devouring and learning and practicing magic.  And of course, the moment I go look at a Lance Burton or a David Blaine on some YouTube I just go “Omigod!”  Those guys, they’re masters.  I’ll never, in my life be able to reach that, no matter what.  “Why am I even bothering?” But that’s the story of my life.  I feel the same way about poetry, with song writing.  I just opened up the Bob Dylan anthology and I though “Why bother?”  Every time.  “Why bother?”  But then, I close the Bob Dylan Anthology, I cut off the YouTube and I just start to play with the things around me.  (Laughs)     

L4LM: I think everybody has something to say.  And everything you do that you put some of yourself in is art.  There’s always gonna be someone better than you, there’s always gonna be someone worse than you.  To me the main thing is to be better than you were yesterday.

NSM: Right.  Absolutely.  And at the end you can add “There’s always someone who’s gonna be better than you, there’s always someone who’s gonna be worse…but there’s never gonna be another you!”

L4LM:  Hell yeah!

NSM:  That’s more true than we’ll ever be able to completely understand.  Even when I write a song that I feel like I am completely stealing or completely ripping off or not original at all or sounds just like some other song…9 out of 10 times no one will even hear that but me.  ‘Cause see even if I try to sound just like somebody else I could never pull it off.     

L4LM:  You’re very distinctive.  It’s one of the things your fans love about you.

NSM:  There’s never gonna be another you.

L4LM:  Well,  we thank you for your time and look forward to catching you on the airwaves, on the stages and on the high seas…and of course…at “The Spot!”

NSM:  Thank you.  This was fun.

And here’s one last track from Nathan.  The sound might not be perfect, but the tune is awful sweet.  Enjoy!