Independent in a Mainstream World
Her presence, even through phone wires, is potent. Allison Moorer is a woman who knows what she wants and, in turn, what she has little time for. I'm used to being in the driver's seat when I interview. Allison hardly lets you have a chance at the wheel, in fact, you could very easily end up in Alaska when you intended to auto-cruise to California. Categorizing her as impolite would be greatly unfair. Her demeanor is brisk and straight-forward, as she chooses to make the most of her time and yours, tossing aside anything she effectively considers irrelevant, but there's no mistaking her sincerity or the passion she feels for her music.

Her loyalties run observably deep. One relationship in particular that has been sustained throughout her career has been with music industry mogul and producer, Tony Brown. At first glance the combination of a large, mainstream label and a spirited independent artist seems like a mismatch, but it's a collaboration that's worked for both of them. "He let's me be me. He doesn't try to change me or what it is I want to do, which is just invaluable."

In fact, choosing to change her label address from MCA to the newly created Universal South, following her long time producer, was something she regards as a given. Pointing to the recent mergers, she considers the move a wise choice. "Tony started me at MCA so if I could, I thought I'd better go where he went. He was the person I had the relationship with there. I think I would have been really lost if he had left and I had stayed, especially with the recent events. I feel like they're going to be cutting back big time."

Putting invisible margins around her creative process and self expression is out of the question.  Miss Fortune, her third album, following the critically noted Alabama's Song and The Hardest Part, demonstrates that boundaries have no place in artistic expression and she has no intention of adhering to them.  "I've haven't come across one yet that I didn't feel like I couldn't cross." In fact, you'll find Allison blurring the lines that much more this Saturday as she performs a duet with Kid Rock in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania, in front of a sold-out Farm Aid audience. They will perform the song "Picture" from Kid Rock's most recent album, "Cocky".

Critical comparisons from one album to the next, and genre-defining, pigeon-hole tags don't sit well with the feisty red-head. She prefers her music and her albums to be considered individually, each on their own merits. Her defiance is admirably blatant. "What's the point in repeating yourself. A lot of people expect you to. Does a painter have to paint the same painting over and over again?" she asks.

It's obvious her songwriting is essentially chronological, each album representing a snapshot of where she was on her life journey. "That's all an album can really do. I've been saying for so long that I think they should write expiration dates on them or something." she laughs "'This record was made from this day to this day.' Just because you did something at one point doesn't mean you should be held to it for the rest of your life. I am proud of everything I've ever recorded, and I'll stand by it. I still perform songs from that first record. If somebody wants to do one type of thing and do it repeatedly - well fine, and there are artists who do that very successfully, I just don't happen to be one of those people."

She's also not one of those people who scour magazines and the net for written interpretations of her music and vision. "I don't make it a habit of reading reviews. As a matter of fact if someone hands me one, or I come across one I am surprised when they say 'Well obviously on this one she's going for mainstream radio success. I find nothing more laughable. They also project stuff onto me like: 'Well, she's obviously blah, blah, blah, blah.' I am not doing anything but trying to express myself. I'm just trying to make what I consider to be quality music. It would be great if I had radio success, I would love that, but it's not the first thing on my list." she states firmly.

Compromising her music to gain mainstream airplay is just something she isn't prepared to do, and something she considers unnecessary. More concerned with her music, she doesn't have the time to stay up on industry politics and happenings. "I have to be honest with you. I don't pay much attention to what the trend is.. I don't have a lot of time to invest in that kind of stuff and honestly I don't want my vision to be skewed. Categories and sub-genres? I think it's great if it can call attention to certain music but I also think it can become cliquey just like anything else can. "You're really not a part of our group' That's not what it's really about. Anytime you get a group together and they say you're a part of our group, and you're not....that's country radio."

Probably the biggest reason you're not likely to find Allison on mainstream radio is the subject matter of her songs. Country radio isn't ready for the kind of topics she addresses or the emotions they evoke. "It's not that they shy away from music with emotion, just certain emotions. If you're not wavin' the flag or talking about being in love, or seeing a beautiful face, or singing about an angel, then you are pretty much out of the game."

She laughs about references to her songwriting as 'dark. When it's suggested that a better word might be 'real,' she readily agrees. "That's exactly the way I see it. I understand why people see it as dark, I even understand why it makes people a little uncomfortable. We work very hard at the songs we write together. Maybe we're shining a light on something in a different way sometimes. People like what's familiar, you know? "

"Take a chorus like: 'No one grows old in this house; We are a dyin' breed.' That's not exactly light and fluffy and uplifting. I can understand why everybody doesn't want to hear that first thing in the morning. It's not like that is not a common condition. I don't see anything wrong with shining a light on that. Country music has historically has been darker than pop music. That's one of things I don't like much about mainstream country currently because it's not about the dark side." she explains "Country music used to be about sinning on Saturday night and getting saved on Sunday morning. Now it's about going to the grocery store, or it's all nostalgia: 'Remember when we were young, remember when we blah, blah, blah, blah.' I'm not really sure where that's going, but at the end of the day, all I can do is what I do."

A recent Salon article places her alongside the Dixie Chicks and Kelly Willis as potential saviors of country music, a notion she dismisses immediately. "How many times have people said 'so and so's' going to save country music? What does that mean anyway? It's just music, does it need to be saved. I don't see anything particularly wrong with it. It has evolved into something that, as far as the mainstream goes, no, I don't particularly like it. But what are they trying to save? Are they trying to save records like Patsy Cline made which I love, or are they trying to save records like Hank Williams' records. Country music is supposed to be broad. It's a catch-all, a big umbrella. I don't feel a responsibility to anything other than being an artist and following my 'path.' Anybody that wants to come with me on my path, I am so happy that they're, but if they're upset with me for not repeating myself time and time again, they probably don't need to be on my path with me."

Allison Moorer. Her music draws you in, while the intriguing lyrics and smoldering voice keep you there. She's unapologetically honest, ferociously independent and admittedly stubborn. She's in no danger of getting lost in the crowd, proving that if you keep it honest and stay focused, an independent person can survive in a mainstream world.

She has the last word. "As long as there are people who are out there who do want to hear, who will support it -- that beats nothing."

Laurie Joulie Take Country Back September 2002

Read TCB's review of Miss Fortune