In an era where The Dixie Chicks get slammed for taking an antiwar stance, Catherine Moon has guts.  Her incredibly timely release, Out Here On The Road, reinforces two things-she can still write gorgeous love songs (the poetic, wistful “Remembering”) yet, like Colleen Sexton, Cathy Grier, and Pamela Wynn Shannon, she’s unafraid to speak out on a variety of issues.  Moon’s instrument has always hopscotched between pure soprano and gritty throatiness.  Backed by superb guitarist Josh Rubin and bassist Paul Ivory, with Lara Gonzales on an exotic array of instruments, complimented by Luther Rix’s percussion, the 12 song work is Moon’s most intense sojourn into activist folk.
       In songs like the title cut, Buffy Saint Marie’s “Universal Soldier”, Joni Mitchell’s “Beat Of Black Wings”, Charla Chamberlain’s “Let Freedom Ring”,  “Dreams That Came and Went”, “People Say”, “What’s Next” and “Vision For This World”, the last four ,Moon compositions, ideas, pleas, disgust, and distrust are hammered home.  The evils of big government and big business are not new topics, but the sheer volume of detailed ravaging of America’s ideals, the loss of life, innocence, hope, the disillusionment that has been steadily building even before 9/11 make this a compendium of failed promises.
   In “Dreams That Came And Went’ she explores the frustration of the artist, wondering what role to play, what response do we have to this” never ending circus”?.  Are we indeed irrelevent?.  A sense of resignation pervades here.  Her youthful foolishness in pondering a romantic tragic self-destruction is mocked in “Grass Is Greener”.  She’s now mature, battle-weary and perhaps influenced by her new motherhood to respect life. Death is not romantic.
       Moon’s musicianship has at times overshadowed her remarkable poetic skills.  For me, the strongest piece here is the spoken word” Martha Marigolds”. In a scintillating display of verbal chops, she channels Mae West, Patti Smith, Betty Boop and The Wicked Witch Of The  West in a shivering, boozy self-examination, pitting dreams and reality.  “How can we co-exist when the world around us painfully insists on sanity” is but one provocative, juicy line to ponder.  Don’t try to analyze or place value on her. “Martha dreams of marigolds and parasols on sun-soaked beaches/But the world around her goes on as it pleases.”  What artist hasn’t been in that position,,  feeling alienated, retreating to fantasy?  I loved this one.
         Moon’s maturity as an artist and woman bear watching.  Her courage in speaking out is more than admirable-it is essential in these paranoid times.   Her dreams are our collective desires, unspoken, unheard, unburdened.
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Although anti-war music has its roots in the days of hootenannies when the biggest audiences were the other folks sitting around the circle with you, you wouldn't slap that tag on Catherine Moon. The big sound of her band puts an Eastern to Bluegrass touch on this assertive album. As Peacemover, Moon's clear sweet soprano talks about people riding bicycles and believing in one's vision, and you feel belief coming off the songs in waves.
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