Musicians/Engineers/Producers involved with Cracklin Moth (at one time or another) included:
Matt Ammerman: lead vox, lyrics, guitars, live shows, 'Redbird' & 'My Heart Is Leaking'
Steve Baker: guitars, lap steel, vox, live shows, 'Redbird'
Scott Bozack: mixing, 'My Heart Is Leaking'
Glenn Brown: mastering, 'My Heart Is Leaking'
John Collins: cello, 'Redbird'
Greg Duenow: bass guitar, live shows, 'Redbird'
P. Griffin Baron: bass guitar, live shows
John Hasbrouck: bass guitar, live shows, 'My Heart Is Leaking'
Mindy Hester: vox, live show
Jason Jacobs: drums, live show
Chris Jepson: drums, live shows, 'Redbird'
Rocco Labriola: lead guitars, pedal steel, live shows 'My Heart Is Leaking'
Drew Lindsey: keys, vox, live shows, 'My Heart Is Leaking'
Dan Moulder: keys, vox, live shows
Darin Mullins: bass guitar, live show
Adam Ollendorff: lead guitars, pedal steel, live shows, 'Redbird'
Chris Ploeg: engineer/producer, 'Redbird' & 'My Heart Is Leaking
Mark Polydoris: bass guitar, live show
Shawn Rios: drumkit & percussion, vox, live shows, 'My Heart Is Leaking'
Darren Spitzer: acoustic guitar, vox, live shows
Influences
Electric Light Orchestra. Wilco. Beach Boys. Stevie Wonder. Hank Williams. Flaming Lips. Bob Dylan and The Band. M. Ward. George Jones. Doves. George Harrison. Loose Fur. Our friends' bands, etc.
Sounds Like
Download Free MP3 Zip Files of Albums. Right Click and "Save As"
Cracklin Moth performed and recorded from 2002 to late 2007. Founded by songwriter Matt Ammerman, the group had 10 full-time members throughout it's life, eventually evolving from a quartet to a six-piece effort. They released the 'Redbird EP' in 2005 and their second EP, 'My Heart Is Leaking,' in 2007. Onstage, they played mostly to a Chicago home fanbase at Metro, Hideout, Schubas, Beat Kitchen, Subterranean, Double Door, and Martyr's alongside friends in such acts as Office, The Changes, The 1900s, Walter Meego, The Great Perhaps, Tom Schraeder & His Ego, Adam Fitz & The Part-Timers, Freer, and The Bon Savants. Since it's inception, the group was well-received by the media, appearing in local and national print/ internet publications, blog sites, college/public radio, and television. The following is a press release penned by Lizz Kannenberg during the release of 'My Heart Is Leaking':
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Cracklin Moth's Matt Ammerman is a glass-half-full kind
of guy. He fills the Chicago quintet's inspired brand of art-country-turned-pop
rock with the kind of hope found in personal tales that give the rest of us reason
to think things are gonna be alright. Through the coasting valleys of a thousand
emotions and a hundred ways to explain them, he tells the stories of his own life
and weaves the foundation for listeners to discover parts of themselves in the
songs' robust imagery. Pretty pop it is, simple it is not.
A determined collection of Chicago's finest players, Cracklin Moth is the culmination
of six careers worth of work and the apex at which ability meets passion. Like
the smooth stones at the bottom of an unbridled spring creek, the rhythm section
of veteran drummer Shawn Rios and bassist Griffin Baron lend grounding to the
vagabond melodies of pianists/ keyboardists Dan Moulder and Drew Lindsey and pedal steel/ guitar
maestro Rocco Labriola. Together these four create a soft yet firm sonic featherbed
for Ammerman's wistful tales of love found and life lived without regret.
Recorded everywhere including a century-old Michigan barn, My Heart Is
Leaking seems to have absorbed an aged wisdom that lends time and texture
to the complex song craft spanning the five-song EP. As the follow up to 2005's
Redbird EP, Cracklin Moth is building up the perfect alt-country façade
and then expertly demolishing it, rising in its place a castle built of challenging
hooks and a latticework of Electric Light Orchestra and Beach Boys Pet Sounds-like
melodies that somehow still wouldn't be out of place in the rolling Kentucky
hills of Ammerman's youth.
Praise around the band's home base continues to build, with the band earning
the seal of approval from media heavies WXRT radio and the hard-to-please Chicago
Sun-Times' Jim DeRogatis. The next year sees the band recording their upcoming
full-length record, and spots in the audience at their live shows become harder
to snag as the band continues to weave the new material into their sets. It
shouldn..t be long before the rest of America is raising their half-full
beers and taking their places at Cracklin Moth's housewarming party.
Purchase Cracklin Moth music through Apple's iTunes here:
Purchase Cracklin Moth's latest release My Heart is Leaking EP! PayPal
Also available here is the Redbird EP.
Thanks so much for the request. I'm really glad to hear your music. Sounds excellent. The vocal harmonies are superb. Great music. I look forward to listening to all your tunes.
