Americana desert-dwelling rockers, not a church choir.

11 MP3 Songs in this album (36:22) !
Related styles: Rock: Americana, Blues: Blues-Rock, Featuring Guitar

People who are interested in Ben Harper JJ Grey & Mofro Jon Butler Trio should consider this download.


Details:
From the lyrical depth of his songs to his soon-to-be-released albumâs title, Mon is the most honest heâs ever been on his new project. âAs a songwriter, you want to write good, catchy, fun tunesâor whatever will make people listenâand I kind of said âF**k itâ on this one and wrote exactly what I wanted to say,â says Mon.

Unlike some balladeers, Mon writes almost entirely from experience. âThe more and more I write songs, the more and more honest it becomes,â Mon says. âThis album approaches darkness more than I ever have, but itâs well expressed and balanced.â

The resulting tunes are a glimpse into the psyche of this soulful singer, found in the Western-twinged roots-rock extravaganza that is the new Turn CoatsâMonâs best effort yet. The CD releases March 2011

The albumâs raw energy is seasoned with experience, yet is youthfully experimental. This duality shows in his appearance, too. Wearing a tweed blazer and bushy beard, he could pose as a community-college sociology professor, but his eyes have the intensity of a brash, youthful rocker, like he was when he first started.

A down-and-out Southern Utah University student in 1998, Mon picked up guitar to save himself from depression, inspired by the musings of Ben Harper. His goal: to learn a few tunes, and maybe write one, as soul therapy. Progressing along, heâd record tracks on his computer. Unbeknownst to him, they were discovered. âMy brother snuck into my computer and burned CDs and gave them to people around town ... if they ever surfaced, Iâd be so embarrassed,â laughs Mon. âI know [my brother] has a CD somewhere that heâs holding for blackmail purposes.â

Monâs friend Greg McGary got one and forced him on some open-mic stages, which Mon says was thrilling. âMusic is so therapeutic for me, I use it to express angers and frustrations that I normally just internalize,â Mon says. âI remember the first open-mic experience was like, âHoly sh!t, that felt good.â It was such a bigger release.â This, you can imagine, might have been felt exponentially when Mon opened four shows for JJ Grey and Mofro earlier this year.

After 12 years and four studio albums, Mon demonstrates his talents with wide-ranging songs and singing styles on the new CD, recorded and engineered in his Orem basement by Chad Weis (tour manager and front-of-house engineer for the likes of Mason Jennings, Martin Sexton and Ben Kweller). Monâs backed by the Starlight Gospel, but their name is deceiving; led by musical prodigy Eric Ellsworth, theyâre desert-dwelling rockers, not a church choir.