A renowned singer, songwriter, and musician with a long and fabled history, Daryl Mosley brings an unabashed honesty and sincerity to his musical tableau, all ingrained with values that reflect his homespun sentiments and a traditional template that consistently holds sway. His love of small town life is evident in the whiff of nostalgia that fills both his songs and stories, and with this, his fourth solo offering to date, that’s never been more evident. The album title sums up those sentiments succinctly, a reassuring reminder of what it means to savor a simple life, and embrace one’s everyday environs for inspiration and enjoyment.
It’s hardly surprising then that Mosley lives up to those ideals both personally and professionally. He still resides in Waverly, Tennessee, the small town where he was born and raised, and it’s his ties to those rural roots that inspire the songs he sings. Long Days & Short Stories features ten tracks, each brimming over with overt optimism and the personal precepts that have brought him success as a songwriter and honors from his peers. So too, it personifies the poignancy and passion that Mosley’s managed to make his stock and trade. Its imagery is both vivid and vital, a reminder that flash and finesse need not go hand in glove.
Ultimately, it’s the music that matters, and given the support of Danny Roberts on mandolin, Tony Wray on guitar and banjo, Jamie Harper on fiddle, and Sarah Davison playing piano — all in addition to Mosley himself on bass and vocals — Long Days & Short Stories is an album that’s capable of standing any test of time. His former bandmates in New Tradition share the backing vocals, while Jeff and Sheri Easter add their voices as well.
As far as the songs themselves, they mostly parallel the backroads that inspired them originally. The sweetly sublime The Good Old Days Were New, the jaunty A Friend Like You, the quiet contentment that informs I’m Still Here, and the robust revelry ingrained within Still the Solid Rock offers homage to family, friends, faith, and idyllic environs. Taken in tandem, they allow sentiment and serendipity to find equal footing, while employing hope and happenstance in an idyllic escape. It’s a sound devoid of pretense, a traditional tapestry of down-home designs that ably conform to Americana ideals.
Simply put, Long Days & Short Stories offers all that’s needed for anyone content simply to bask in the basics. These days, that’s all one might ask.
