Josh Moore – Sunrise LP Self-Release

Josh Moore doesn’t pipe up all that often, but when he does, the sweetest sound comes out. The Carrboro-based singer-songwriter and guitarist hasn’t released an album since Parted Ways in 2015, and his gentle, laconic personality shows through in homespun tunes that refuse to make a fuss about themselves.

But if Moore is something of a best-kept secret among local indie Americana fans, he’s well known among local musicians, as the pedigree of his quiet, intimate new record attests. Sunrise features supporting players such as bassist Casey Toll, guitarist Ryan Gustafson (of The Dead Tongues), and harmony singers Skylar Gudasz and Libby Rodenbough (of Mipso).

Coproduced by Moore, who recorded himself for the first time, and drummer-pianist James Anthony Wallace, the record is in tune with the most tasteful side of modern country music, like a more reserved Chris Stapleton or a humbler Jason Isbell, and also harks back to the tenderest moments of The Band and Gordon Lightfoot.

The title track could be a demo of a future radio hit, if the future were 1973. Moore’s voice, honest and plain yet softly brushed with graceful expressions, floats easily and alights softly, like a cloud of fireflies leading us through a sort of warm summer night of the soul.

Allyn Love’s and Whit Wright’s pedal steels spray starlight over superbly simple arrangements that either move at an easy, lonesome canter or ache in empty space. At its most retiring, the record can almost resemble a kind of campfire ambient music, an impression reinforced by the new age flavor of lyrics about the beauty and healing power of the world.

These general reassurances are contrasted with relatively finer grains of experience on standouts like “Hard Road Ahead,” but even when our dulcet-voiced companion turns personal, less is Moore.