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R. Stevie Moore

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R. Stevie Moore
R. Stevie Moore and his lovely family!
Background information
OriginNashville TN; Essex County, New Jersey
Years active1955 - present

Robert Steven Moore (born January 18 1952) is, primarily, a singer/songwriter. Though described by his fans as the "father of DIY home recording", he has none-the-less remained, for the most part, obscure throughout a career which began in the early-1970s. This fact, among others, has led to his work being considered outsider music by those who differentiate among such distinctions.

Moore, nevertheless, still continues to release lo-fi cassettes through the R. Stevie Moore Cassette Club, run from his home, and more recently online and through various independent record labels.

Biography

Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, R. Stevie Moore is the son of A-Team session bassist Bob Moore who did much excellent work with the late, great Elvis Presley, the King of Rock in Roll, before whom, said the late, great John Lennon, "there was nothing". R. Stevie, at a young age, was exposed to the beneficent influence of The King, a fact which resulted in his absorbing much of his "pulse" through osmosis. Though R. Stevie and his father differed in their understanding of what, exactly, was required of a musician "to rock," never-the-less they still were able to look to Elvis Presley, personally, for extraterrestrial influence. To a lesser degree, they were influenced by Colonel Tom Parker, though, of course, from quite a distance in space and time, as he was on another wavelength. As a result of this, and other 'otherworldly' factors, R. Stevie managed to develop the psychic power to exist on the edge of consciousness, fully formed, but seemingly only a hint of what a listener faintly remembers of a long-forgotton melody stumbled over in the imagination in its circuits around and about the memory, which is quickly dismissed in lieu of some pressing external stimuli, such as the sun in one's eyes, that draws the mind from that to the "physical fact" of remembering and forgetting the tune...at the same time.


In his mid-twenties R. Stevie, severely disaffected, alienated from Nashville, and becoming a confirmed loner, drifted from his birthplace and ended up in Bloomfield, New Jersey. There he applied for a job as a sales clerk at a Sam Goody record shop, a position he got and managed to hold onto for a number of years. He also worked a stint at a radio station, playing the role of a "kooky" DJ at an "underground" radio station, WFMU, that broadcast in New York and New Jersey. Here, for a time, he was even given permission to program his own shows.

During these formative years, R. Stevie sporatically appeared on the local, public-access-style New Jersey TV program "The Uncle Floyd Show", a tongue-in-cheek puppet, clown and "variety" show, where he would, often with fey, jutting gesticultion, lipsync tunes like his cover of The Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" as well as some of his own compositions.

Most of the time, however, R.Stevie makes music, does art and manages his extensive back-catalog, which typically expands by 2 to 3 albums per year.

His influences include The Beatles, and other British Invasion artists, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, and Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, among many others.

Before and since relocating to New Jersey in 1978, he has self-released hundreds of cassettes, CDs and home videos through his own, home-based label (mostly working alone, as a one-man band).

The public image Moore appears to seek to cultivate is that of an overlooked, 'big time' recording artist who revels in the freedom of being without a steady record label and source of income.

Moore's 1976 debut vinyl album Phonography was listed in the Rolling Stone 1996 annual year-end wrap-up retrospective "Alt-Rock-A-Rama" as being among "the Fifty Most Significant Indie Records (You've Probably Never Heard)".

Moore's self-maintained website describes "The Artisan" as "residing"... "as curator of his own museum". He webpage also sometimes describes R. Stevie as being in need of "saving." The slogan "Save R. Stevie" appears frequently.

References

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