Poor Moon (Reissue)

Composed and arranged by Head Messenger M.C. Taylor at his home in the rural Piedmont mill town of Pittsboro and recorded with longtime collaborator Scott Hirsch in New York, California and North Carolina, Poor Moon offers a moving culmination of the spiritually-charged song cycle commenced on the critically acclaimed album Bad Debt. Treading a red-clay road between Bad Debt and Country Hai East Cotton in sound and sentiment, it is the first fully electric ensemble recording since the highly limited Hiss Golden Messenger live release Root Work in 2010. 

Featuring contributions from Terry Lonergan, Nathan Bowles (Black Twig Pickers; Pelt), Hans Chew (D. Charles Speer & the Helix), Matt Cunitz (Brightblack Morning Light), Tom Heyman (The Court & Spark), and others, Poor Moon represents both an elaboration and inversion of previous Hiss Golden Messenger efforts, proposing an America at perpetual sundown, wracked by devotion, wrecked by celebration. Named in homage to the Canned Heat track penned by the immortal Blind Owl, Poor Moon conjures the unsteady experience of soul at home in the wild, and it stands as a captivating document of Southern songcraft. 

Poor Moon remastered by Chris Boerner at Kitchen Mastering. Artwork reimagined by Sam Smith (Lateness of Dancers).

"Initially out last year on a small vinyl-only edition, this collection of skewed country-soul greatness deserves to be heard by more ears." Pitchfork

Tracklist

1. Blue Country Mystic 
2. Call Him Daylight 
3. Drummer Down 
4. Under All the Land 
5. Westering
6. Pittsboro Farewell (Two Monarchs) 
7. Super Blue (Two Days Clean) 
8. Jesus Shot Me in the Head 
9. O Little Light 
10. A Working Man Can't Make It No Way 
11. Dreamwood
12. Balthazar's Song