One way to think about contemporary American music is to put pop music on one end of the spectrum and independent music on the other. Both are looking to reach a broad audience, but have very different ways of going about doing so. Musicians like Taylor Swift have a team of agents, lawyers, public relations gurus, professional backing musicians, and production assistants, all working for Taylor Swift. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Robert Steven Moore, America’s most prolific DIY musician. Since his first album, Phonography (1976), Moore has self-released over 400 albums, mostly distributed through his mail-order catalogue, and has made dozens of videos, now available on YouTube.
Moore started out in the thick of the Nashville music machine playing music with his father, a backing musician for Elvis Presley. He could have been a part of the pop machine, but he decided to do things differently. And now, at age fifty-nine, Moore is planning his first world tour. -Jacob Singer

The Handshake: At age nine you were brought into the world of music. You grew up in Nashville. Your father was a session musician who played with Elvis Presley. Tell me about your musical influences as a child.

R. Stevie Moore: It’s such a long story, so involved. On one level it’s so middle class and ordinary, and yet on the other hand we’re talking about a massive musical and cultural avalanche. With my father, we had a swimming pool and everything was amazing, but there was an abusive, distant relationship, which I don’t even want to get into. There was all this money but not a lot of human interaction. He played great hillbilly music, but I hated country music. All I cared about were hits and 45s.

HS: Who were your influences?

RSM: I was influenced by my age and my peer group. I was the perfect age in 1964 for when the Beatles exploded. I was a Beatles kid. And that means Hendrix, Zappa, and smoking pot…I was the perfect age for the Woodstock Generation. I had nothing to do with what was happening in Nashville, which was regimented hillbilly music. Now it blows my mind. It’s fantastic music, just like the blues. I was never into the blues. In the ‘70s I had no patience for what was happening in Nashville, which was Allman Brothers southern blues.  It was three, four chords only. I was following Bowie, Roxy Music, Sparks, 10cc, Queen…I had to split. From then on I was DIY, which was pretty much what the Beatles were. They burst all the rules. They didn’t tolerate mediocrity.

HS: Tell me about your first home studio. How did you build it?

RSM: There’s never been a home studio. It was a simple matter of having a reel-to-reel tape recorder in the bedroom. I did it at home when I was living with my parents, in the basement, just like many kids in the ‘60s. Recording has never been more than tinkering with recorders. Back in the old days I had no multi-track, meaning I had a little stereo tape deck. And back and forth, bouncing, tape generation…5, 6, 7, or 8 passes until the first track sounds like static. Now everything’s digital—a mouse click. I’ve never had a home “studio.” It’s always just been pieces of equipment: little microphones, mixers, keyboard. I’ve used them all. I’ve lost some, gained some. But I’m not a techie person. I also have financial problems where I can’t just go out and blow money on upgraded compressors. I don’t even care. How good does it have to sound?

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