Released January 17, 2022. Originally performed by Randy Newman.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
I’ve been thinkin awhile now on how to release more music
Separate from the modern album release cycle
And all its requirements and pressures etc..
Recently my tiny animal brain had an epiphany:
“How dense are you, bub?” it said
“This is easy. Record it. Then put it out there. Duh.”
And then, “Maybe the moon can help. Look to it.”
So starting here at the top of this year of 2022
And I suppose aiming for the rest of my natural life
I’m gonna release a song with every full moon
For now it’s going to be exclusively cover songs
As there’s a mile-long list of songs
That’ve meant the world to me
And I’d like to try my hand at em
They may be moon related (as the first one is)
Or they may have nothin to do with the moon at all
I’m open to this thing evolving
Into whatever it wants to be
(New songs, working demos, requests, mashups, ??)
In honor of the year’s first full moon (The Wolf Moon!),
The first track from this project is out today
I’m so excited
Keep an eye out for future newsletters
To be notified when there’s a new song
Or just keep an eye on that big ol’ moon
xoxo, Phos
*********
Voice & Sounds: Matthew Houck
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released February 16, 2022. Originally performed by Nick Lowe
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
It doesn’t seem like that long ago
But I’ve consulted the archives
And can confirm it was March 2009
Phosphorescent was in the middle of one of many van tours across North America
When a buddy reached out to say he had just lost his dad
And he wanted to get out on the road and do some moving around
See if maybe traveling could be a remedy towards offsetting grief
So he offered to come drive the van and roll around with us for awhile
I agreed at that time and still do agree
That traveling can be a powerful fix for any number of things
So it was settled and he met us on the west coast
And assumed the official role of “Driver”
When you’re the Driver, you get to pick the tunes
– Everybody knows that
And as I recall it was a warm early evening
Somewhere in the southwestern desert
I was sitting front passenger
And we were headed east into the dusk
With the sun setting behind us
When he said “Do you know this album?”
-I did not –
“Oh buddy,” he said “Welcome to your new favorite record”
And hit play
It was Nick Lowe’s masterpiece “The Convincer” and it knocked me out
And became a staple for that trip and many others to follow
I’ve even laid the “Welcome to your new favorite record” line on others
I could’ve picked any number of songs off this album
And may yet do another one (Looking at you, “Lately I’ve Let Things Slide…”)
But the one that grabbed me first and hardest
Way back on that desert highway
Was this one called simply: “I’m A Mess”
*********
Voice, Piano, Guitar, Bass: Matthew Houck
Organ, Keys: Jo Schornikow
Drums: Christopher Marine
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released March 18, 2022. Originally performed by Bob Dylan.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
Pleased to share this third offering from the Full Moon Project
And so pleased to find it has already provided something
Like I hoped it might
That is to say this month’s song came as a wholly unexpected
surprise and wouldn’t have come about otherwise
While there are many Dylan songs on “the list”
This one was certainly not one of em
– I mean who in their right mind
Would cover Like A Rolling Stone?
As it happened I had my longtime compadre Scott Stapleton
Over to the studio one night last week, with the intention of
Overdubbing some keys on some other songs for the project
I was settin him up with microphones over at the Wurlitzer
And he was riffing some notes
And it sorta sounded like “Like a Rolling Stone”
We laughed an started singing it and then realized
That neither of us really knew the chords
A song like that, you just kinda assume
That you know em naturally
Anyhow we played with it a little more and figured em out
And then fired up the microphones and hit record.
7 minutes later we had this.
It’s a live, one-take, first-take thing.
To be fully honest we did try it a couple more times
But none of em were better than this first raw take
And I think it captures that spirit of freshly (re)discovering
Something powerful and moving in a song
And that, in a nutshell, is what this project is all about.
Or more simply:
How does it feel?
Xoxo
M
———————
Voice: Matthew Houck
Keys: Scott Stapleton
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sound, Nashville TN
Released April 16, 2022. Originally performed by Tom T. Hall.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
I adore Tom T. Hall
More than any other songwriter I know of
He sings from exactly where he’s at
With a straightforwardness that in less capable hands
Would probably be unlistenable
Possibly even embarrassing
But he somehow transcends all that
In song after song to make
Some of the saddest, hardest songs out there
All shot through with warmth and humor too –
I’d say it’s like magic, except theres no smoke, no mirrors
No tricks, just a steady, unflinching directness,
Just a master doing his thing
I particularly love his later stuff
From the 1970’s and way on into the 80’s
But this song is one of his early ones
When he passed away last year
I was thinkin a lot about him
And I sat with and played a lot of his tunes
And I decided I’m maybe not old enough
To record some of those later songs
– Not quite grown up enough yet
To do em justice
I am grown up enough
To sing this one tho
So here’s to Homecoming
Rest In Peace, Ol’ T.
Love,
Phos
*********
Voice, Guitar, Bass, Drums: Matthew Houck
Piano: Jo Schornikow
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released May 16, 2022. Originally performed by Nina Simone.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
I can remember the first time I heard this song
It was a real piece of time ago
But lemme see if I can tell it real quick:
I spent a hot few weeks one summer riding around the country
In a little van playing drums in a band called Castanets
This was a musical project helmed by songwriter Ray Raposa
And he’d assembled a 4-piece band which consisted of him and me
Plus Annie Clark (St. Vincent) on guitar and Jana Hunter (Lower Dens) on bass
(Today, in some very specific circles
This might be considered a bit of a supergroup –
I don’t remember if our shows were “super” or not
But I remember that we played hard and gave it our best)
One afternoon it was me and Annie in the van
Driving thru a steaming Williamsburg, Brooklyn
We musta been looking for the venue
Or looking to pick up Ray and Jana from somewhere
I don’t recall exactly
But it was during the sort of daily logistical exercises
That you get into on tours like that
Which can sometimes feel like a slog
Or can sometimes, like all of life I guess,
Surprise you with some small or large delight
Anyhow, we were sittin in the traffic heat with the windows down
(If you ran the AC the engine overheated immediately)
And Annie had a Nina Simone collection playing
I didn’t really know much of Nina’s music then
And I remember bein quietly transfixed
Listening to her sing along to “Ne Me Quitte Pas”
And thinking I should spend more time with this gentle, jazzy stuff…
Then a few songs later “To Love Somebody”
Came ripping out of the speakers and I was a goner
Just absolutely crushed by this song
By that performance
There’s no way to touch that masterful recording
(That drummer! Those singers! Nina!)
So I thought I’d try it stripped to its basics
And
Let it stand as the bare-boned heartbreaker that it is
*********
Voice, Bass: Matthew Houck
Organ: Jo Schornikow
Keys: Scott Stapleton
Mixing: Joe Visciano
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released June 14, 2022. Originally performed by Vern Gosdin.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
A bit of a mystery, this song
I don’t know how I came across it
And the version I first heard
Is not the same as the one on Vern’s album
The album version finds our singer bereft
In need of something, anything:
“Whatever you might have around,” he says
“Any old miracle will do”
But apparently, some years later
He must’ve re-recorded it (?)
Without any fanfare or even acknowledgement
He’s changed the words in the chorus
And it’s a whole different beast
He’s upped the ante, is demanding now
More desperate but somehow stronger too:
“Make sure you send the right one down,” he says
“Any old miracle WON’T do”
Well that’s the version that found me
Dancing my first-born around in a little
One-room Brooklyn apartment
A few steps from the kitchen floor
Where one night a few weeks earlier
Her mama had unexpectedly said, “It’s happening”
And then, “I think I might die”
Before pushing her right out into my hands
I wanna be clear that
I’m not making any connections
Between the “send down a miracle” lyrics
And the birth of my daughter
That’s not how I hear it
And it feels a bit mawkish
And I think forces the song’s metaphor
Into a too specific and too small box
But life is funny
And it’s sometimes hard to
Know what’s what
I’m just tellin you how it happened
*********
Voice, Guitar: Matthew Houck
Organ: Jo Schornikow
Keys: Scott Stapleton
Drums: Christoper Marine
Bass: Eric Whitman
Pedal Steel: Luke Schneider
Violin: Kristin Weber
Engineering: Joe Bisirri
Mixing: Joe Visciano
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released July 13, 2022. Originally performed by Vic Chesnutt.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
This full July moon finds me alone
In a deeply remote cabin in the mountains
I came up here to finish writing some songs
But I ended up with a case of the Covid
And as I sit out here tonight achy and
At the mercy of Sasquatch’s whims
Well the writing ain’t comin easy
Even this piece seems large to tackle
Got a lot of thoughts and am just not sure where to go with it
If it’s disjointed and unsuccessful, forgive me:
Covered a lot of internal ground making this song
Took me down memory lane to the years I spent in Athens, Georgia
Where I started this thing called Phosphorescent
And one specific thing it brought home
Is just how influential Vic Chesnutt
Was to me as a songwriter
Hell, he was a huge reason why I moved to Athens in the 1st place
Him & the Elephant 6 folks and that town’s whole
Creative-magic-oasis-vibe but I think that’s a different story
I must’ve seen Vic play over a dozen times during those years
Quietly in the tiny back room of Flicker Bar
Weirdly in the daytime out at the city Botanical Gardens
Sloppily in the din of the 40-watt Club
Etc etc etc..
And also up in his attic studio rehearsing one night
Where I sang this very song with him
After he graciously obliged my request that we play it
All these performances were so different from each other
And none of them very much like what’s on his albums
And I don’t think I’d be overstating it
To say I came away from all of em
With an expanded notion of what was possible
What was allowable, in this art form
The last time I saw Vic was in NYC
I had lived there several years at that point
And hadn’t seen him in a long time
I went backstage after the show
But it was crowded and I didn’t stay long
And Vic, you and I weren’t even super close
Just acquaintances really
And you had a lot of folks wanting yr attention at that moment
And I didn’t wanna interrupt anything or be a bother
And so we only managed a little wave to each other
From across the crowded room before I left
I cried so unexpectedly hard
When I learned of your death a few weeks later
I hope I told you properly at some point
How much your work meant to me
********
Voices, Guitars, Percussions: Matthew Houck
Organ: Jo Schornikow
Keys: Scott Stapleton
Drums: Christoper Marine
Bass: Eric Whitman
Pedal Steel: Luke Schneider
Pedal Steel: Ricky Ray Jackson
Engineering: Joe Bisirri
Mixing: Joe Visciano
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released August 12, 2022. Originally performed by Raymond Byron Raposa.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
I was recording a bass guitar
On what I thought would be this month’s song
When I felt my phone vibrate
It had been interrupting me all day
And I was annoyed
I finished the song
And went to silence the goddam thing
But the message was there on the screen
And it knocked the wind right out of me
I don’t want to be writing any of these words
So I’m gonna keep it short here
But suffice it to say that
Losing an old running buddy is tough and sad
Me and Ray did a hell of a lot
Of traveling together in those early days
Him as Castanets,
Me as Phosphorescent
But also quickly playing in each others’ band –
Somebody needed drums or bass or guitar for a tour
We’d just do it – whatever it took to make it work
Several times around the US
3 or 4 times around Europe
This was still a pretty scrappy time for us all
Lots of sleeping on strange floors and couches
Lots of barely getting by
Often not, in fact, getting by
But lots of fun and sweat and love and life
And I wanna say this out loud on record
Cuz I think I forget it too sometimes
In all the give and take of these things
Ray was truly generous
And truly a good friend
Of course he was thorny as shit too
But not on purpose
Any purposeful moves were honest
And open and kind
After that message came in
I spent the day thinkin on you buddyboy
And talking to you
And sending out my love to you
And Ray I hope you could hear it
Before you got too far gone from here
And still I hope you can hear it
Wherever you are now
I fired up the microphones about midnight
And sang this song of yours
Warmth, light and godspeed my friend
Love, M
*********
Voice, Guitar: Matthew Houck
Mixing: Mike Fahey
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released September 10, 2022. Originally performed by Fleetwood Mac.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
Never have I been
A blue, calm sea
I have always
Been a storm
*********
Voice, Guitar, Bass, Percussion: Matthew Houck
Organ, Keys: Jo Schornikow
Guitar: Ricky Ray Jackson
Mixing: Jay Joyce
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released October 9, 2022. Originally performed by Robert Earl Keen.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
I love this song in a way that is
Unaccountable
So much to unpack
I don’t think I can do it this morning
So much dirtbag behavior
Litterbuggin bein the least of it
I don’t know what it says about me
But things like this
These things that are heartbreakers
And asskickers at the same time
That’s pretty much where I live
Was such a pleasure to meet you
Earlier this year Mr. Keen
Your work has meant
A hell of a lot to me over the years
Xo,
M
*********
Voice, Guitar: Matthew Houck
Organ: Jo Schornikow
Wurlitzer: Scott Stapleton
Bass: Rustine Bragaw
Pedal Steel: Ricky Ray Jackson, Luke Schneider
Violin: Kristin Weber
Drums: Dom Billett
Mixing: Joe Visciano
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released November 8, 2022. Originally performed by Lucinda Williams.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
Been carrying this song around
For prolly some 20 yrs now
Have played it who knows how many times
And still it hits me like a revelation
Such a sweet sad perfect thing
That a song this amazing
Could be a sort of “minor” song
On Lucinda Williams’ 1988 self-titled album
Speaks volumes as to what an
Absolute masterpiece that album is
Miss Lucinda Williams
I just adore you
Thank you for yr work
Xo
Phos
*********
Voice, Guitar: Matthew Houck
Mixing: Mike Fahey
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN
Released December 7, 2022. Originally performed by Bob Dylan.
A note from Matthew:
–
(See original post and photos here)
–
Well here we are at the final full moon of the year
And how else could we close it out but w/ a song by
Bob Dylan
The best to ever do it
By a long shot
And I feel lucky that we been
On this planet at the same time
To be here in real time
While the undisputed master
Has been actively making his best work
And somehow, impossibly, is still even now getting better
Has been a true thrill
And has remained endlessly inspiring
And also just a marvel to watch
(Jeez, Bob save some for the rest of us you know?)
—
It was exactly one year ago that I was walkin around Key West, FL
With headphones on, listening to this song on repeat
When I got the idea for The Full Moon Project
It’s been a lotta fun
And a lotta work too
But all in all hella rewarding
And I hope it was for y’all too
I may have to put it on hold for next year
As I gotta make the next proper Phossy record
And man this stuff takes a lotta time!
But maybe not too
We’ll see what happens
Come next full moon…
Thank you for comin along on this journey y’all
It’s been a peach of a ride and
I remain
Yr boy,
Matthew Phosphorescent Houck, Esq.
xoxoxo
*********
Voice, Guitar, Harmonica: Matthew Houck
Organ: Jo Schornikow
Keys: Scott Stapleton
Pedal Steel: Luke Schneider
Bass: Eric Whitman
Drums: Dominic Billett
Engineering: Joe Bisirri
Mixing: Mike Fahey
Produced by Matthew Houck
At Spirit Sounds, Nashville TN