Moreland & Arbuckle (

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

Aaron Moreland,

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

blues harp The Richter-tuned harmonica, 10-hole harmonica (in Asia) or blues harp (in America), is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic scale, diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes (10 holes tim ...

Dustin Arbuckle, and

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Kendall Newby) was an American

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

roots rock Roots rock is a genre of rock music that looks back to rock's origins in contemporary folk music, folk, blues, and country music. First emerging in the late 1960s, it is seen as a response to the perceived excesses of the then dominant psychedel ...

trio. Moreland described their music as "gritty blues and roots rock from the heartland."Moreland & Arbuckle Biography
''Morelandandarbuckle.com''. Retrieved 17 February 2016 After six previous releases, the band signed with

Alligator Records Alligator Records is an American, Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971. Iglauer was also one of the founders of the '' Living Blues'' magazine in Chicago in 1970. History Iglauer started the label using ...

in 2015. The label debut, ''Promised Land Or Bust'', was released on May 6, 2016, and was produced by

Matt Bayles Matt Bayles (; born October 19, 1972) is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician, based in Seattle, Washington. Bayles is known for his work with bands such as The Classic Crime, Isis, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Botch, Mastodon, ...

. In April 2017, the band announced their break-up.

Biography

Aaron Moreland was born December 16, 1974. He played in a number of garage bands while growing up and was influenced by punk, blues, and rock music. He changed course and focused on blues music after hearing "Death Letter Blues" by

Son House Edward James "Son" House Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist, noted for his highly emotional style of singing and slide guitar playing. After years of hostility to secular music, as a prea ...

. Dustin Arbuckle was born December 25, 1981. He first discovered blues in his mid-teens. "Getting into blues made me want to play music," he says. He played in blues-rock bands while learning to sing with soulful authority. The two met at an open mic session in their hometown of

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

in 2001 and they quickly bonded and formed an acoustic duo playing traditional and

delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

. The all acoustic duo saw their start after reaching the finals at the 2005 International Blues Competition in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, and followed that success with their first self-produced album, ''Caney Valley Blues'' in 2005. In 2006 the duo added a drummer and evolved into an electric powerhouse trio. Later that year they released a self-produced independent album, ''Floyd's Market''. The trio forged a path combining

rural blues In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and city, cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agriculture, Agricultural areas and areas with forestry ar ...

, Delta, Mississippi

Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ameri ...

, and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

styles. They followed in 2008 with ''1861'' (

Northern Blues Music NorthernBlues Music is a Canadian independent record label, which specializes in blues music. The label was established in 2001, and a number of its artists and albums have since been nominated for and won Blues Music Awards. President Fred Litw ...

). The trio's sound continued to evolve on this recording with Moreland adding a handmade electric

cigar box guitar The cigar box guitar is a simple chordophone that uses an empty cigar box as a resonator. The earliest had one or two strings; modern models typically have three or more. Generally, the strings are connected to the end of a broomstick or a 1×2 ...

to his arsenal. ''

Blurt Blurt is an English post-punk band, founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Background Blurt was founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire by poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of ...

'' Magazine noted that "Moreland & Arbuckle put the edge back in blues-rock with their big league debut album, ''1861''". Moreland was further named one of the "10 Blues Legends in the Making" along with Otis Taylor and Davy Knowles. The band traveled to Iraq for nearly two weeks in the fall of 2008 to play for the American troops stationed there. Moreland & Arbuckle released ''Flood'' in 2010 (

Telarc Telarc International Corporation is an American audiophile independent record label founded in 1977 by two classically trained musicians and former teachers, Jack Renner and Robert Woods. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, the label has had a long assoc ...

). ''No Depression'' says, "These guys have kegs full of talent. Their songs will keep you driving fast and long." After the release of ''Flood,'' Moreland & Arbuckle hit the road supporting acts such as

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

George Thorogood George Lawrence Thorogood (born February 24, 1950) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. His "high-energy boogie-blues" sound became a staple of 1980s US rock radio, with hits like his original songs "Bad to the Bone" and "I Drink Al ...

Jonny Lang Jon Gordon Langseth Jr. (born January 29, 1981), known as Jonny Lang, is an American blues, gospel, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded five albums that have charted on the top 50 of the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and won a ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at ...

Los Lonely Boys Los Lonely Boys are an American musical group from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call "Texican Rock n' Roll", combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown-eyed soul, country music, country, and Tejano music. The ...

and other blues and rock veterans. In August 2011, they released ''Just A Dream'' featuring a guest appearance by

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He was the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as ...

. Upon its release, ''

The New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' named it Album of the Week, proclaiming it is "the band’s best record to date... there’s a raw, dirt-under-the fingernails garage-band attack in almost every song that flips between Stax-style soul, stinging Chicago Blues and Allman-style Jams." The band logged thousands of road miles playing high energy shows for larger and larger crowds in the United States, Canada, and Europe. European fans embraced the band's gritty American rock blues with enthusiasm. In 2013, they released ''7 Cities'' (Telarc). It tells the story of Spanish explorer

Coronado Coronado may refer to: People * Coronado (surname) Coronado is a Spanish surname derived from the village of Cornado, near A Coruña, Galicia. People with the name * Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (1510–1554), Spanish explorer often referred t ...

and his fabled search for the seven cities of gold in the Kansas plains, not far from where the band lived. WNYC's ''Soundcheck'' said the band plays "gritty blues with a thoroughly contemporary bite.” ''

American Songwriter ''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee. History The ''American Songwri ...

'' stated the group's music is "swampy, sweaty and muggy....mixing a bluesy foundation with bits of country, folk and squawking American rock and roll.” 2013 also includes tours through the United States, Europe, and the UK. ''Living Blues'' said of Moreland & Arbuckle, “Deeply satisfying...gritty soul and blues with garage overtones and fire-and-brimstone vocals." Their 2016 album, ''Promised Land Or Bust'', was nominated for a

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

in the Rock Blues Album category. In a radio interview in 2018, Aaron Moreland explained that the breakup of the band about a year earlier was caused by his dissatisfaction with life as a touring musician. In the interview, he also talked about his new band The Moreland Contingent, which includes his son Gabe as a bass player. After the dissolution, Dustin Arbuckle formed Dustin Arbuckle and the Damnations, which included Kendall Newby on drums.

Discography

As Moreland & Arbuckle

* 2016: ''Promised Land Or Bust'' (

) * 2013: '' 7 Cities'' (

) * 2011: ''Just A Dream'' (Telarc) * 2010: ''Flood'' (Telarc) * 2008: ''1861'' (

) * 2005: ''Caney Valley Blues'' (Moreland & Arbuckle)

As Moreland, Arbuckle & Floyd

* 2006: ''Floyd's Market''

References

External links

Moreland & Arbuckle Official Website on Waybackmachine
{{Authority control American blues musical groups