Sam Moss falls under the definition of troubadour. He has been a professional musician for fifteen years, most of it spent around the New England states. He now lives in Staunton, Virginia, but grew up in Connecticut and spent many years in the Boston, Massachusetts area, among other New England locations, like Brattleboro, Vermont, for one, where he recorded a folk album titled “No Kingdom” in 2013. His folk roots dug more into the understated variety than to protest songs. ‘Hammer’ is no cousin to the classic ‘If I Had A Hammer’, but he nails it anyway.
“Swimming” is Moss’ 2025 release, and it is a subtle but powerful self-reflective album recorded with some very good musicians, including Isa Burke, Molly Sarlé, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. Moss once played violin on his older records, but leaves the instrument in the capable hands of Sarlé on the opening cut, ‘Enough,’ a song indicative of the self-reflective content of the album. “When the creek runs dry, And the soil is dust, When we’ve said our piece, That we’ve had enough”.
‘Enough’ is far from enough, however, as it feels like Moss is learning how to step into his own identity. The songs are refreshingly introspective and truthful, and finds him surrendering to the emotions and experience that can overpower by taking a look into the psyche, in effect getting his own advice. It pours out of the singer-songwriter like a warm honesty in the form of simple acoustics and layered melancholy. Moss lays his worries on the line in the title track: “Stuck in the past, But somehow living, Out of my depth, But somehow swimming”.
On this exclusive AUK mini-gig, Moss recorded it in his woodworking shop – his other profession. The guitar he is playing in the video is a Huss and Dalton, a small company based in Virginia, which he became familiar with while working at a small guitar shop in Vermont about 15 years ago. “That shop was a dealer for H&D”, he said, “and when this guitar arrived on the shop floor in 2012, I immediately knew it was the instrument for me. I haven’t played a show without it since. In a strange coincidence, four years ago my partner and I moved to Virginia so that she could attend graduate school in the same small town that Huss and Dalton is based. Their shop is right down the road from us. I like to think that my guitar is happy to be home.”
Just as we are happy to have Moss as part of this series. You can catch up with what’s going on with him at assorted links to his website, streaming, Instagram and Facebook. But for now, press play on the video and enjoy the three songs he performs, with notes from Moss on them below. All are from “Swimming.”
- Wire– A rambling number about the daily dread and wonder of life.
- Feathers– A song based on the Emily Dickinson poem: “Hope” is the thing with feathers. Thematically, not all that different than ‘Wire.’ The dread/wonder balance is where my mind seems to live.
- Dance– Mostly just a simple song to honor the joy of dancing, and the way that movement guides us through hard times.
