Local roots Americana duo Mojo Holler is releasing a new full length album, ROOT, featuring ten songs -- seven originals and three unique versions of Americana traditionals -- that span sub genres of folk Americana including hill country blues, cosmic cowboy, blues gospel, and traditional country.
ROOT, a musical reverie on remorse and redemption, was recorded over the course of the 2020 pandemic after the band was forced to cancel performances for the better part of a year. Larry Crane of Jackpot! Studios in Portland mixed the album, which reflects a live and richly intimate performance.
Folk music guitarist and singer-songwriter Nathan Moore (founding band member of ThaMuseMeant and Surprise Me Mister Davis) says of the album: "I love this record! A common question for an act making a record is: will it be a fantasy or will it sound like reality? And if the answer is 'a fantasy,' the next question is: How will we play it live? Mojo Holler has walked the line brilliantly. This record sounds at once fully produced and live. No small feat! And it’s not the only great balance they’ve struck. Origin and destination. Sin and salvation. Root and blossom. Missi and John! I feel like they were right here while they transported me somewhere far away."
The band formed in 2012 as the duo, “Missi & Mister Baker.” The pair released their debut album, “Where Black Ravens Flew,” in late 2014, and were tapped to showcase at South By Southwest in 2016. Its founder, Louis Black, said of the pair: “Why Missi had to move to Portland from Austin in order for The Bakers to channel their inner Mississippi Fred McDowell, I do not know. But she did, and they did.”
The late Lisa Lepine, a Portland legend in music promotion, said of their mission: “They weave their dark, modern spirituals from shared roots in magic, ‘mericana, and metaphysics. Mister Baker, like Robert Johnson before him, may have made a deal with the devil -- channelling an innate genius through lap steel, slide and dobro. Missi’s earthy voice brings burning intensity to each song. Picture them sitting knee-to-knee on a Southern Delta, watching the dark moon rise and singing from their eternal souls.”
Stream ROOT on SPOTIFY