In a Nutshell
Alastair Moock is an award-winning singer-songwriter who has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, performing at renowned events like the Newport Folk Festival and sharing the stage with acts like Arlo Guthrie, Taj Mahal, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and Greg Brown. He’s also a Grammy nominated children’s musician, social justice educator for all ages, and co-founder of The Opening Doors Project, an anti-racist music organization. The Boston Globe calls him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post says “every song is a gem.”
Beyond the Nut
Alastair started performing in 1995, moving from his home outside New York City to the folk haven of Boston. After working his way up through the local coffeehouse and club circuit, he began touring the U.S. and Europe, eventually graduating to renowned events like the Newport Folk Festival and Norway’s Bergen Music Fest and opening for national acts like Arlo Guthrie, Taj Mahal, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Greg Brown. In 2007 Moock was nominated for a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year. The Boston Globe called him “one of the town’s best and most adventurous songwriters” and The Washington Post declared “every song a gem.”
When Moock’s twin kids were born in 2006, he turned his focus to family music, making five albums which together garnered many of the top awards in American children’s music, including a 2013 Grammy Nomination, three Parents’ Choice Gold Medals, and ASCAP’s coveted Joe Raposo Children’s Music Award.
In 2016, Moock returned to ‘grownup music,’ releasing a new self-titled album produced by Mark Erelli (Lori McKenna, Josh Ritter trio) and featuring drummer Marco Giovino (Robert Plant, Buddy Miller) and bassist Marty Ballou (Peter Wolf, John Hammond Jr.). The end result was eleven shimmering new tracks that evoke a wide breadth of American musical textures – early Nashville, country blues, Western swing, a tinge of gospel – but, most of all, the kind of intimate storyteller’s approach at which Moock excels. On the album’s release, Rich Warren of the nationally syndicated Midnight Special proclaimed, “Moock reemerges as the best new, old singer-songwriter on the scene.”
After many years teaching Civil Rights and social justice history to kids of all ages, Alastair began to dig in more deeply with the work of anti-racism in 2020 when he helped found Family Music Forward, a racial justice initiative working to amplify Black voices in the children’s music space. That same year, Moock was one of three nominees to respectfully decline a Grammy nomination for Best Children’s Album (his second nomination) due to historical under-representation in the category. In 2021, Moock co-founded The Opening Doors Project, a volunteer organization with a mission to amplify voices of color and advance conversations about race through the arts. He is also a charter member of The Folk Collective equity group at historic Club Passim in Harvard Square and a co-founder of The Melrose Racial Justice Community Coalition in his hometown outside of Boston.
Awards
- 2007 Boston Music Award Nominee, Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year
- 2006 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition Finalist
- 2004 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Emerging Artist Contest Winner
- 2004 Great Waters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest Winner
- 2004 Sisters Folk Festival Songwriting Contest Winner
- 2004 Telluride Troubadour Competition Honorable Mention
- 2004 South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Contest Finalist
Press for Moock’s Grownup Music here