Motive Force by Franklin Moore

Moore was recently interviewed and performed live at the FM radio station WGWG in Boiling Springs, NC which was broadcast worldwide via the Internet. Motive Force was the featured album of the week on the Mansion on the Hill Internet radio show from Springfield, VA, with his song "Nip-n-Tuck" becoming the number one rated song on the station. His gypsy-influenced song "Paprika to Taste" and his title track "Motive Force" have been featured on the Fret Net "Catch the Great Guitarists" radio show on FM 106.7 from Melbourne, Australia, and music from his CD was recently featured on "The Jeans Generation" radio show from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Locally, Moore was featured in an October, 2004 edition of the Greensboro News and Record 's Go Triad entertainment weekly, was the Editor's Pick for Winter 2004-05 by the Winston-Salem Journal's Relish the Music online e-zine, and his CD received the Villager Voice magazine's (Clemmons, NC) 2005 Artsy Award for Best Instrumental CD.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT MOTIVE FORCE

Chris Lonsberry, The Independent Music Site, "People I know tell me I'm a very good guitarist. (No, not only my family) And they don't get it when I tell them I just get by. I have a good ear and a sense of what works. I know what it means to be a great guitarist by listening to people like Steve Morse, Eric Johnson, Will Ackerman, Roy Clark.. the list goes on and on. People who leave me thinking.. What did he just do?.. and.. is that possible with only two hands? Would that be possible with four hands? And now I have to add Franklin Moore to that list. Franklin, a self-taught guitarist, is nothing less than amazing. His acoustic fingerpicking style, with all the hammer-ons and God knows what else he's doing, is nothing less than awesome. I don't mean.. 'like totally awesome, dude'. I mean like leave-your-jaw-hanging-open and full of awe. But he's not just technically proficient. Franklin's music sense and composition is on par with his playing ability. I'm not going into each track but Motive Force swings gently between soft new age melodies into acoustic guitar jams with obvious rock roots. The 15 track CD is beautiful, energetic and beautifully produced. I can highly recommend this for anyone who likes guitar music. Rating 9/10"

Ray Dorsey, Enter Chaos Realm, "I respect the hell out of people who have command of any instrument. But, I absolutely love people who can take that command and fashion it into a living, breathing, organic art that excites, soothes, sparks and contemplates. With this disc, MOORE does just that and (ouch!) MOORE! Listen to cuts like the title track, "Rioja" and the 8 minute, multi-section "Paprika To Taste." Let's face it, I've heard finger style and tapping techniques before, but it's what he does with these that makes the magic. Think about it this way: suppose you're learning Spanish. You take a sentence, get out your dictionary and then translate word for word. But, if you know the language and are fluent, it just pours out naturally. That's the deal with FRANKLIN & that freedom allows him to channel his self-expression into the guitar in a joy to hear that's magnified by the vividly clear production. "Motive Force" is highly recommended to anyone who wants to hear this kind of gorgeous synergy!"

John Thrasher, Left Off The Dial, "In the liner notes to Franklin Moore's new album Motive Force, Moore claims that the songs herein are essentially one man's view of the world. If that is the case, Moore sees the world as a beautiful, tumultuous, fractured whole that is also somehow in harmony with its parts. Moore essentially sees the world as a complex interplay between forces, chaos and discord transforming into harmony and intelligibility. Basically every song has this essential interplay. The whole album is instrumental and everything is performed on one guitar by one man. It is amazing then to hear the complex development of each song. The danger of so much of instrumental and solo guitar work is that it can quickly become self-indulgent and pointless. Songs will often meander around for a couple of minutes repeating various phrases like a monomaniacal lunatic lost for an audience. Moore, however, avoids this unenviable fate focusing less on repeated phrases and more on development of lyrical purpose. Most instrumental music is the equivalent of a bad advertisement: constant repetition of banal slogans meant to endear the song to the listener. Moore's music is more similar to a paragraph. There is progression and meaning rather than just repetition. For this Moore is to be commended, and more importantly, recommended.... From the simple contraption of wood and strings and his own body, Moore is able to create order out of chaos and beauty ex nihilo. This album is elemental music and should not be overlooked."

Henk te Veldhuis, Bridge Guitar Reviews (Lochem, The Netherlands)

"The interweaving melodies and rhythms and balance and structures Franklin creates are stunningly well played. This guy unquestionably is a new talent which actually plays any style with ease. Although Franklin has lots of influences..., he manages to create a unique own style with his entrancing approach to acoustic guitar music. Highly recommended!"

Kim Thore, GoTriad Magazine (Greensboro, NC), "It's not often in the plethora of CD racks currently hawking "reverbed" and cookie cutter tunes that one finds a collection of instrumental solo guitar; it's even more surprising to find a compilation that is this good and captivating. Franklin Moore's first CD Motive Force will keep you guessing as to what style Moore will pull from his guitar case next...songs range from quirky renderings to soft acoustic numbers that demonstrate Moore's own versatility and varied influences. "Snowfall" and "Cherokee Trail" are two stand out tunes that have a bookend of equally enticing melodies."

David Downing, owner of Vino Veritas wine bar (Greensboro, NC), and bass player for LabRatz, "Franklin plays a guitar like I've never witnessed before. The crowd would not leave until the last note was played. He is a master at his instrument. He got the crowd going and kept them the entire show. His between-song anecdotes are funny and keep the set going. Don't expect him to stay local for long."

Dave Harris, owner and chief engineer, Studio B Mastering (Charlotte, NC)

"Moore's playing is incredibly fluid and dynamic, the sound engulfs the listener in a sonic playground for the ear. The interweaving melodies and rhythms on Motive Force create amazing arrangements that captivate the imagination. Each song is in itself a thought-provoking theme yet they also work together to create a cohesive album".

Mark Johnson, host of the Mansion on the Hill radio show on live365.com (Springfield, VA)

"I got a great response to the entire Motive Force album during it's run as Featured Album of the Week on my radio show ... "Nip-n-Tuck" was at one point the number one rated track on the station!"

Steve Passiouras, host of the Fret Net radio show, PBS FM 106.7 (Melbourne, Australia)

"Motive Force will be getting airplay on my show and has been permanently installed in my car's CD player. We've been driving around a lot listening to the CD. Everybody's been enjoying it!"

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