The passage of time (as anyone who has been around a while can confirm)— well, it changes everything. Tonight’s big event becomes a memory. A sudden regret begets a lesson. The morning’s news becomes history.
Since these weekly newsletters were written and scattered across an Alabama landscape a few years ago, the whole business of original live music was transformed by a lethal pandemic— and has somehow survived. The most fragile sect of musicians— the writers and performers of original, small-scale acoustic music— are back out on the road now, like wildflowers returning after a prairie fire. Their persistence speaks to the value of what they do, forging words and melody for The Culture’s Choir. This blog’s episodical retrospect, in a small measure, has become a heartfelt document of that artform's shining moments.
The story of The Moonlight is one of hopeful expectations, and its proprietor’s faith in the mission— to share the talents of (mostly) unrecognized singer-songwriters, by setting a suitable table for their cookery, and to give them encouragement as they presented their work to a receptive audience. It took time and patience get some traction, in a market with very little in the way of radio support— but a small cadre of the right people responded, and, like the Wright brothers’ early aircraft, the contraption flew just far enough to prove that it could.
The best part of the tale is that the audiences— and now also the readers— could discover the rich vein of original music that flies under the industry’s radar, and the broad range of its creators, who take a ground-level, person-to-person approach in connecting with those who will appreciate their gifts. Since those days, some of Moonlight’s artists have left the field, as they were already legacy performers when we hosted them… but an inspiring number are still writing, traveling, and honing their skills, and active links in the blog’s text will take you right to their current websites.
We’ll recreate the time frame and progress of The Moonlight’s lifespan, by publishing these newsletters weekly, as was originally done. The first few months we will offer for free, while we build a list of subscribers, and expand our readership. With increasing interest, and sufficient numbers, we’d hope to attract the support of paid subscribers, much as we did in asking our listeners to avail themselves of the rewards to be had by coming out to the shows. Sign up and read, if you will— the story starts here!
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