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The quartet delivers an improvised jam, infused with equal parts Southern rock, pop, jazz and funk, with the occasional hint of bluegrass.
Graham Guest -- vocals, guitar, banjo
Jeremy Horton -- bass
Rick Thompson -- vocals, keyboard
James Edwards -- vocals, drums, percussion
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Saint Mo
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How Does It Feel
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Best Side Up
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Take Me
Guest Motel, 2004
Moses Guest, 2002
Three New Ditties EP, 1999
Live Stages, 1998
American Trailer Home Blues, 1997
Geniality of Morality, 1996
Graham Guest was something of a philosophy buff, which explains, in part, his answer to the first question below. His band, Moses Guest, makes a brainy and melodic brand of Southern rock with some arty aspirations (see the Steely Dan reference below) that never feel cumbersome.
You'll like our tunes because . . . (Guest via e-mail) They are - ostensibly anyway - inquisitive and adventurous, both intellectually and musically. Hopefully a little bit like a David Lynch film.
If I could have a superpower, it would be . . . The power to make it so that, as one ages, life does not seem to somehow get shorter and shorter.
Song you wish you'd written? Kid Charlemagne, Steely Dan.
Favorite Canadian? Les Stroud, Survivorman.
R.E.M. vs. REO Speedwagon? REO Speeddealer.
Dumbest purchase? Lots of bottles of hand sanitizer.
Favorite Cat Stevens song? Hard-Headed Woman.
I love . . . Skiing and snowboarding.
-- July 2008
Walk into a Moses Guest show and feel the kinship. Old friends reconnect, new friendships begin. From the merch guy to loyal fans ready to spin in front of the stage, everyone smiles as the band plays its first note.
Songwriter Graham Guest formed Moses Guest in 1995, naming it after his fifth-generation grandfather. The Houston-based quartet delivers an improvised jam, infused with equal parts Southern rock, pop, jazz and funk, with the occasional hint of bluegrass.
It took three years for Guest -- who fronts on vocals, guitar and banjo -- to get the current lineup. Former Beat Temple keyboardist Rick Thompson joined in 1997. That same year, the band recruited drummer James Edwards, a former classmate of Thompson's from Houston's High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Jeremy Horton, who had played bass with other metal and funk outfits, came on in 1998, after responding to an ad.
Fans heard noise about Edwards wanting to quit in December 2002, but according to Guest, he never stopped playing with the band and "now he's more excited about MG than anyone in the damn group." Guest adds that the band is a "solid core of four." Though, the guys do dabble with the idea of adding a permanent fifth member -- a multi-instrumentalist proficient on pedal steel, acoustic and rhythm guitars -- but for now friends sitting in will do.
As a kid, Guest only listened to classical music and his parents made him take classical piano lessons. He hated it, but concedes now that it helped him with his music. Friends eventually introduced him to rock 'n' roll, and he quit piano at 13. He started taking guitar lessons and has been playing ever since.
Guest decided to dedicate the band to his ancestor -- a soldier in the American Revolution -- after visiting his not-so-easy-to-find grave off of Highway 63 at the South Carolina/Georgia border. Since that first visit, interest grew among other family members. This past Memorial Day, Guest held a special ceremony at the grave with his wife, Jennifer, family members and other sons and daughters of the Revolution who had since cleared away the brush and marked other graves. Guest sang Saint Mo, a song about Moses Guest, for them.
The band's musical influences are varied and include the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, Little Feat, Steely Dan, Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder, Art Blakely and Tony Williams.
Moses Guest has self-produced five albums on its own label, Aufheben Records. The most recent, a self-titled offering that spilled onto two discs, was recorded at Sugarhill Studios. The band shares producing credit with Dan Workman, who worked on Destiny's Child albums and the solo efforts of its members Beyonce and Michelle Williams. Released in 2002, Moses Guest supported the set with frequent touring in the South and West.
Moses Guest features treats from guest musicians like Workman on guitar, Steve Palousek on pedal steel and Andy Saad on saxophone. There's also an orchestral performance on Song for Dead, complete with violins, viola and cello. Some of the band's best offerings to date are woven throughout, like Cellophane Man, How Does it Feel and Best Side Up. Guest, who attended Wesleyan University before earning a master's in philosophy from Boston College and a law degree from University of Houston, delivers his cleverly poetic lyrics with conviction. Tracks like dejam>stealin' and the spacey instrumental In Transit, solidify Moses Guest's place on the jam scene.
But the chemistry between band members is best heard live. Thompson's skill on the keyboards is electric, placing him among Houston's most talented musicians. Covers like the Grateful Dead's I Know You Rider have become staples in live sets, but don't be surprised to hear a groovy rendition of On Broadway, too.
Regularly packed houses prove that the band's philosophy on success works. Members believe in the importance of focusing on grassroots-level jazz, jam and experimentation. As Guest says, it's about getting "down and dirty, traveling in a van to places where people love music."
Tapers with the latest digital audio recording equipment can be found at Moses Guest shows, and free CDs of past performances are sometimes available right next to studio recordings and other goods at the merchandise table.
Guest embraces the jam-band culture but approaches the classification with caution.
"Our ambitions are pretty high," he says. "We've taken the challenge of writing shorter pop songs very seriously."
While stations like KPFT-FM (90.1) and others its size around the country have been supportive, shorter songs could mean more airplay.
-- January 2003
very nice....