Mo Leverett: These are the Days: Album review by Kirk

Artist: Mo Leverett:

Album: These are the Days

Genre:  Folk/ Blues/ Singer Songwriter

Release: December 2014

I might have said that this is Mo's twelfth “studio” album, but there does not seem to be too much studio here.   “These are the Days” may just be Mo’s sparest offering ever:  Quintessential, autumnal folk -- One man with lone guitar or small ensemble, bearing his innards for dimes.    (I can see Mo wince… there is a LOT of skilled music craft here, and glorious contributions from a host of talented and giving musicians, playing everything from fiddles to organs to upright bass to chimes to...etc.  But with the one exception of “All the Same"  -- which simply blazes with blistering sound-craft and BIG guitars  – These are the Days is an understated musical offering, given to honed simplicity in both word and sound.

In contrast to his last several offerings (see reviews here and here and here),  These are the Days does not appear to have an overarching theme.      But then it does.  Only more subtle.  In the wake of a few years now marked by relative stability, Mo is marked by a thankful heart.   It creeps up through the arthritis and smoke.  

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It is my sincere hope that Mo has many more albums up his sleeves.   But dollars and new-music challenges being what they are, Mo may be finishing a chapter.   I sense that Mo wants to thank the people -- and the Person -- who have held him through his tangled, pocked, detour of days.  Listen for the gratitude that he feels toward his wife, mother, brothers, fans, and those friends and a church community who walked with him through the dark hours of his soul.   This is an album soaked in appreciation.   This is an album given to the people who walk with him.

At this point in my “writing career” I am going to assume you know the name Mo Leverett.   Which may be a bad assumption; cause about as many people read my reviews as listen to Mo’s music.  All dozen of you.

Actually, I know that is a bad assumption, because (and this will surprise you) MO is the most sought after name in any of my music reviews!  I know this, because my blog has a counter and I get to see both what people read, and the words folks use to find my stuff.   As is, Mo gets far more hits than do my reviews of a  band like U2, and his “hit-count” is still much ahead of my second-place searched-for name --  Audrey Assad (who got a big boost when the other Assad was in the news).    And so, I try to figure, Why would a pretty much obscure singer song-writer get that many more hits?

I figure some of the Mo-popularity  is due to a kind of weird math.  The more popular an artist, the more people there are in the world to write reviews, and my little reflections don’t compete with folks like Rolling Stone.  So inversion sets in, and my lone Mo Review makes his work a much bigger target.

Mo Lookalike: aka Leonardo DaVinci

Then of course, there is that stuff of raw talent.  In the case of Mo, really raw.  As a vocalist, Mo sounds like part nervous breakdown, part pirate, and part gash in the tent of heaven.   I will get this more in a bit, but Mo brings to the table the gift of honest lamentation.  His writing is desperate, concrete, and treasured by folks like me, who yearn for writing that pushes past the glossy-fluff stuff that inhabits so much of Gospel world.

Actually there is a final reason that Mo gets more hits.  I hate to bring it up.  But several years after the fact, a conservative Presbyterian pastor who gets a divorce, then remarried  is still a source of concern or intrigue.  And lest I sound like your judge, I know that I too have looked up other artists, trying to get the skinny on what went down,  why so and so split, is there blame to toss –  have they acknowledged their sins etc.   I figure when a preacher-man with taint comes to town, folks wanna figure out the taint.

Or as Mo once said.   (Find Facebook quote.)  

find quote about how folks who believe in grace as their only ontological hope, are often the last to grant it to others.

Truth is I don’t know Mo’s full story, but I do know that Mo exudes… then, now and forever, one deep awareness of his own personal frailty.  And our profound need of extravagant mercy.  If this review ends up sounding like some other reviews, it is because Mo keeps singing about the desperation of his soul…the absolute bankruptcy of his being… then offering thanks to God, and the many folks through whom God works… to bring him into the completeness of his salvation.   (Personal note: I figure that there is part of our salvation that is instantaneous and outside of time, and another part that is all process, warts, community and finish line.)

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Having spit out a few paragraphs,  Not sure how much more I have to say. 

I like Mo.   Should I ever meet him I know I will love him.    I love his music.  Everyone in the world should listen to it all the time.

I like this album.  In as much as it is a disparate collection, I find I respond more to some songs than I do to others.

I love Love  LOVE the third and somewhat atypical track “All the Same” with its snarly coal train rhythm, shark-tank  guitars, and that bad-boy crooning.   Kind of reminds me of Johnny Cash at his meanest.   What really puzzles me about this song, is its intent.   Is is a blessing... being poured out on an enemy, the self, or a truest friend?   The words seem to say one thing, the delivery another.

All the Same

mo leverett

June 18, 2013

Jacksonville, FL

May the longest arms defend you

And the strongest charms befriend you

All the same, all the same

May a peaceful light attend you

And the darkest night amend you

All the same, all the same

May the heavens always send you righteous fame

May the thunder and the lightning be your name

May this sacrifice appease you

May these sacred spices please you

All the same, all the same

May my countenance remind you

And move your weaknesses behind you

All the same, all the same

May the masses always cast me in the blame

And the thunder and the lightning be your name

May bright mornings rise to greet you

In white royal dress complete you

All the same, all the same

May your righteousness commend you

And sweet benedictions send you

All the same, all the same

May the sacraments conceal your vilest shame

And the thunder and the lightning be your name

(Mo, Since I do not know who you are singing this to, I am claiming it for myself…J)

Second Fave.  My Brother.   What a splendid mingling of voices.  I see and hear the dudes' names, but is that you daughter in the first verse?  I don’t see her name, but I know that sound.  That is one glorious blend of kindred souls.

Oh, and that song: Only Love.  It is like the essence of boiled-down Mo.  Pain and love in one great dance.

Beyond that, I love the ongoing tenderness you express to Lori-Lee.  There are several charming songs here... but You Belong to Me just makes my heart ache with the depth of God's provision in your life.

Finally, I think the second-to-last song, a hymn to God “I Will Worship You Alone” is about as direct, personal and naked as a hymn can get.  It's like listening to David… or Mo.  (Cause God knows Mo’s name.)   I simply adore this song; I hope you do not mind if use it as a listening prayer.

I like that you closed with a song to your mom (though I would have switched tracks 9 and 10.)

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Mo, Not sure where you are going from here, or how many songs you have left.   But you have left an indelible mark on my soul.  I feel blessed to count you as an audio friend and cousin in the soul.    Your audience may be small, but to the knowing, we find a treasure of great worth and beauty in your brokenness – and continual healing.

Ps.  Final Note.  If you do not yet follow Mo on Facebook, do yourself a favor and search him out.  He is a  songwriter’s songwriter, and the same craft he brings to verse, he brings to his “status” reports.   In fact, if Facebook ever figures out a way to monetize wit and wisdom, Mo will be a wealthy man.

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For all things Mo, and to order.

Mo Leverett: Kings Road Album Review.

Mo Leverett
Album: King’s Road
Release April 23, 2013

Genre: Singer songwriter,  guitar based folk with a southern accent. 

Quick Spin:  Velveteen troubadour and gypsy tour-guide, Mo Leveret, takes us on a road trip through Dixieworld to the Celestial City, with a stop at a ‘tavern,’ a glade, and an altar on the way, enjoining us to glory in our weakness as we fall into those Mighty arms. Or something like that.

So Here I am… cruising around in the car listening to Mo’s newest release.  I have expectations for this album that I will reveal in a bit….but for now, I am smiling, tapping my foot and taking in the warmth, the production, Mo’s curmudgeonly-growl,  tempered by cheer. 

Yes! this is  the better news I was longing to hear.  I am smiling and emoting.   If these are the blues, I wan’t em.  Track 11 wets my eyes.  Good tears.  Then I hit track 12.

Whoa…..I must pull over my car.  Stop. 

Mo Leverett: Shards of Light

Mo Leverett: Shards of Light
(Hymns and Spiritual Songs – (Pirate Edition*)

I think this came out real late 2009.
Genre: Rogue Folk, at the intersection of Creole blues and the great Awakening.

Synopsis: Original and “Old-School” hymns, as sung by a poet-pirate. Lean production, mostly guitar and small ensemble. One of the finest “New-Hymn” collections ever created on the Face of the Earth.


Mo Leverett: Shards of Light (order)

Mo Leverett is one of those guys whose music you just have to know about – or you will never find. He doesn’t seem to show up in any kind of stores, or lists, or even reviews…..and he even dumped me on Facebook. (Truth is, he may have dumped everyone. For whatever reasons, I stopped seeing his post, then went to see if perhaps I had been relegated to Facebook purgatory, only to find that Mo doesn’t appear to be there right now. You can however, follow him through one of his ministry music outlets, or on a Facebook page. You can even read him on this defunct blog, or read a charming review of the process behind Shards of Light.

Jars of Clay: Redemptions Songs - 2005

(this is another review that, four years late, may not make a lot of sense, but I’m on a theme.)

Jars of Clay: Redemptions Songs - 2005

Modern music renditions of songs with “old words.”

Synopsis:  Thirteen covers of traditional and sometimes obscure hymns (with lyrics spanning several centuries), blending elements of folk, modern-rock, black gospel and “Jars-experimental-fusion”

(For the unacquainted, Jars of Clay is an acousta-rock phenomena, launched somewhere in the Christian world of the 1990’s, but moving (as of 2009) in an art-rock direction and toward broader “mainstream” audience. Early albums mixed elements of orchestral music, even tribal music into rhythmic folk. Later albums showcase a motion to Beatle-esque harmonies and harder edged modern rock, with attending lyrical ambiguity. As if to answer questions about who they are (or where they draw their vision) Redemption Songs is a clear statement by the Jars (2005) in which they clearly confess both their need of, and love for their Redeemer.

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Of my couple dozen hymn-based CD’s this is one I spin less. Not for any lack of quality or spiritual vitality, but because the liberties taken with the hymns and the general styling make this more of a “listen to” than a “sing-with” CD… That, and the fact that several poundy-shrill “covers” kind of grate on my ears. Songs of Redemption isn’t really a rock album – I would call it heavy edged folk with a touch of the blues (reflective of Jars earlier albums) however, if you don’t have an ear for at least some rock, you probably won’t find home here. I personally found song three (God Will Lift up Your Head) too much of something. I might do better with the rock-dissonance in another album context, but find that I go to hymns for certain majesty and repose.)

That said, the delivery and tone of Redemptions songs goes a long way to driving home a message that might be lost to yesteryears piano. The stuff of sin and salvation (and nailing God to a tree) can be a bloody grating affair. And certainly the stuff of sorrow. “Redemption songs” isn’t bleak – indeed, it holds a great body of joy – however, a certain “heaviness of soul” infuses the album -- not unlike black gospel, where radiance flows from certain pain.

The “heaviness” is aided by lead vocalist Dan Haseltine’s multi-hued voice. He sounds at times like a pack-a-day tenor. How is it possible to have a voice that is at once high and melodic, muscled but thin, clear but rough, and tinged with a kind of frail desperation? I sense healing irony when I hear the voice of “nervy” little white man singing spirituals backed up by the very big black baritone voices of the Blind Boys of Alabama. It is as if two peoples, once estranged have found both common home and culture.

As is, Redemption Songs re-presents the songs of several centuries, beginning of all things with the Psalter, a 17th (?) Century adaptation of the book of Psalms, used by old Scottish Presbyterians, the Puritans, the Pilgrims, and even a few --very few-- contemporary assemblies. Later selections pick up with Charles Wesley and John Newton (author of Amazing Grace), both from the “First Great Awakening.” (Think of poetry-doctrine penned before the American Revolution.) Several other songs follow more directly from the Second Great Awakening (think of the fountain-of-blood revival tunes penned after the American Civil war and before World War One. Add to the mix several African American spirituals penned who knows when, and the closing offering – They will know we are Christians by our Love, penned (I think) somewhere in the 1960’s (?)

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As a lover of hymns, I was surprised by how many of these songs I didn’t know. Jars of Clay went out of their way to choose a truly eclectic collection with songs off the beaten path. They chose songs with strong word craft, spanning source denominations and demographics. Even so, there is common denominator in the selection. These are songs for sinners, and the venue, whether new or old … is the rescue mission.

Beyond that, the tunes themselves represent a collage of old, semi old (or seeming new) and brand spanking new tunes. I am not sure of the exact count, but the greater number of the hymns employ “some part” or the original melody, but often reworked, so that we have some sense of antiquity and some sense of originality, twined. A few tunes emerge from the last decade. My favorite new tune – a surprising Beatle-esque adaptation of “It is Well With My Soul.”

Jars themselves do the best job of telling what they want to do with these songs (From a back cover excerpt) : I suppose if you dedicated your life entirely to the building of bridges your eye would be attune to notice things life rivers and canyons….You have in your hands a collection of very old words set to almost completely modern music. The music comes from a place of TRUE REVERENCE and appreciation for the RICHNESS OF OUR PAST and an attempt to leap across YEARS and articulate that the past in a language that could be embraced by 21st century of people of faith…..We hope you are challenged as we are by the unbridled praises that sprung out of the lives that were so deeply bruised with sorrow and struggle. We hope that you are blessed by them as well. Lastly, we hope your find FRESH orientation as your immersed in the rich grace the soaks these songs and that your HEART is ASTONISHED as they boldly and eloquently make that which has become old to us…NEW AGAIN.



I would heartily recommend this album to anyone who wishes to reap the creative and articulate passion of yester-years saints – but with one caveat. I would not give the album to my mom. By contrast to Jar’s other offerings, Redemptions Songs is toned down. It has yukes, flutes and cello. But it still has enough modern-rock sensibilities, that folks who don’t listen to some rock probably won’t like this record.

I do like this record, immensely, as much for the selection as the sound. Listening to Redemption Songs, I feel a deep connection with those who have called Zion their home across the centuries. Bravo Jars, for serving the saints with such skill and passion.


#Save the Hymns