About
Bret Mosley is a singer-songwriter for hire in Melbourne, VIC.
From a small desert town in Texas, via New York's indie scene, to Melbourne. Bret Mosley plays Americana that sits somewhere between country, R&B, folk and rock, and he's put in the miles: over 2,000 headlining shows, support slots for Trombone Shorty, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Ivan Neville and Jackie Greene, and Australian stages shared with Ian Moss and Tex Perkins. He's played to capacity crowds at the Blues at Bridgetown Festival and stood out at Nukara. Expect original songs plus a handful of what he calls un-covers, familiar songs rebuilt from the ground up. He carries his own PA and lighting for most shows in Victoria, SA, NSW and Queensland.
Watch
The show
Critics have found Bret hard to file. Americana UK in London reached for Van Morrison as a comparison, Time Out in New York heard roots and Americana with a songwriter's pop instinct in it, and a public radio writer in New York placed him somewhere in the desert between Son House and Leonard Cohen. PopMatters singled out his rhythm and his way with a line. What you get on the night is slide guitar, a raw voice and a set that treats the blues as something to break open rather than colour in.
On the day
For most shows across Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, Bret Mosley drives from Melbourne and brings the full PA and lighting he needs. Where a booking involves flying, PA and lighting have to be hired in at that end. A stage or riser is strongly preferred over playing at floor level, even a low one, because sight lines make a real difference to how the songs land. Intimate listening rooms and house concerts are the exception and sometimes run with almost no production at all.
Insurance and paperwork
Public liability insured
Song list
Original songs, plus a few selected idiosyncratic "un-covers" (re-imagined renditions of familiar songs).
