There’s no doubt choosing a life as a professional musician requires you to chart your own path. That’s pretty evident with Kansas born-and-raised songwriters Lily B Moonflower and Jake Keegan. Growing up a few miles apart, but not meeting until years later, they had similar musical experiences that fed their creative streaks. While still fronting their own groups they shared an experience seeing the moon rise over California’s Mt. Shasta. When they decided to combine forces, adding Colby Allen Walter on guitar/mandolin and bassist Zach Bozeman, that visual became the impetus for the band’s name. Re-centering to nearby Kansas City they’re releasing their first album, Take A Trip, later this month.
The record cuts across a variety of styles, beginning with CD opener Sunflower State of Mind. It’s an ode to Midwestern values that starts as a southern rock ballad before shifting to uptempo bluegrass, then galloping back and forth between the two surprisingly well. What started out as a Florida beach daydream became a doo-wop tinged, country blues number about the ebbs and flows of a romantic relationship, Waves Of Love. Weekend With Me is no-apologies psychedelic rock with a Bo Diddley beat. “You and me and a bottle of tequila” is the lyrical kickoff to the song so you know there’s a party coming.
The stylistic thread that holds all this together is a jam grass attitude. Do the Damn Thing is roots rock, but with the bass line pushing a reggae beat it’s a 4 minute cut teetering on being a 15 minute, as Moonflower puts it, “anthem to falling and getting back up again.” Somewhere On A Mountain leans to the progressive side of bluegrass. When Keegan notes “the grade is steep and the trail does wind,” it’s an apt picture for an observation that life’s going to throw you some curves and you just have to hang on and adjust. The CD finishes with Party On the Moon. There’s some classic rock and country vibes to go with the horns and some super-sweet, old school Fender Rhodes keyboard riffs. The theme is it’s important to do what makes you happy and the sound absolutely embodies McLuhan’s famous quote that the medium is the message.
Moonshroom tackles some tough topics in their debut release. At no point in the record, though, do they lose the underlying feeling of joy they’re emitting, no doubt enhanced by recording the album live in the studio. So if the path to your happy place passes through a carefree summer music festival, Take A Trip is a 45 minute journey through it.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.