Moriah Harris has recently emerged from within the pop/americana scene in Nashville Tennessee with the release of her debut album, The Thieves on Stratton Avenue.
The record is rooted in a musical core of acoustic guitar, upright bass, and Moriah's vocal, which is somewhere between Alison Krauss, Norah Jones, and Carol King. Strings, piano, pedal steel, and electric guitar add layers of moody emotional texture around lyrics that are laced with both hope and heaviness. There are subtle but powerful references throughout the album to folk, jazz, classical, and religious music, all four important parts of Moriah's musical prologue.
She has opened for Uncle Earl, Crooked Still, and The Guggenheim Grotto, and is constant collaboration with players and musicians from both the indie rock scene and the burgeoning jazz scene in Nashville.
Moriah was recently invited to play at The Secret Garden Festival outside of Cambridge and will be traveling through out the UK in the summer of 2009.
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"Moriah Harris is a Nashville-based artist who's brand new EP entitled The Thieves on Stratton Avenue is a remarkable 6-song EP that draws from the hill-country folk of Gillian Welch, the melancholy breeze of James Taylor, and the haunting autobiographical style of Tracy Chapman. Harris' voice is reminiscent of jazz phenom Norah Jones, only channeled through her West Virginia childhood roots, and a social justice lens that has already seen too much violence. Harris is one of those rare souls who is deeply affected by the pain of others, and to our good fortune, also has the rare gift of being able to channel her emotions into poignant songs that can touch everybody's heart. In this sense, fans of Brett Dennon, Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss, and Norah Jones will find much to love in Moriah Harris.
Moriah Harris is a newcomer on the Nashville scene, but The Thieves on Stratton Avenue is as good as it gets in Nashville. Look for a full-length article on Moriah Harris to post on this website in the coming weeks."
--Vincent Wynne, Listen! Nashville, November 11th, 2008
