John Hall and Jonell Mosser are Making a Scene
Home Page – Jonell Mosser
Home Page – John Hall
Jonell Mosser
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John Hall
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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with John Hall and Jonell Mosser
Little Black Dress is a live recording of their 1994 concert at the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock NY. All songs written by John Hall, Jonell Mosser and Johanna Hall.
John Hall
From his piano lessons at age 5 to his medal-winning french horn performance at the Ithaca College Music Festival, from his folk days of singing Weavers, Peter Paul and Mary, and Bob Dylan songs, from his obsession with the Ventures, Beach Boys, Beatles and Jimi Hendrix, John Hall learned three things: Play, Write, Listen.
Now that he’s finished serving two terms as the Congressman from New York’s 19th District, John is writing songs again, performing solo and with Orleans, and continuing with his environmental activism.
As John honed his bass and guitar skills as part of the band Kangaroo, James Taylor was gigging around the corner at the Night Owl with the Flying Machine and Jimi was backing up John Hammond at Village Gate as Jimi James and the Blue Flames. Kangaroo alternated sets for a time with a band called the Castilles, whose lead singer was Bruce Springsteen.
During this time, he wrote and directed the music for the Broadway show “Morning, Noon and Night,” and 1969’s Obie-winning “Honest to God Schnozzola.” From the Broadway score came a guitar lick that was the underpinning for “Half Moon” recorded by Janis Joplin on “Pearl.” John later penned songs for Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner and many more. After moving to Woodstock, John worked as a studio guitarist for Seals and Crofts, John Simon, and Jackie Lomax, and toured with Taj Mahal, recording the double album “The Real Thing” at both Fillmores.
In early 1972, John’s local jam band in Woodstock turned into Orleans when first Wells Kelly and then Larry Hoppen joined the ensemble. Later that year, Lance Hoppen joined on bass, freeing Larry to play guitar and keyboard. Orleans recorded four albums in the seventies, scoring radio hits with ‘Still The One’ and ‘Dance With Me’ (both certified over four million airplays in the US).
John left Orleans in 1978 and made two solo records, “John Hall” and “Power“. The latter featured the anti-nuclear anthem which later became the theme of the No Nukes concerts, recorded by the Doobie Brothers with James Taylor. Then followed two John Hall Band albums, and the AOR and MTV hit “Crazy (Keep On Falling)”. After Wells Kelly’s death in 1984, John reunited with Larry and Lance Hoppen and they were recruited by Tony Brown of MCA Nashville to record there. The result was 1986’s “Grownup Children.” Since then John has alternated between recording and touring with Orleans, and doing solo projects including “Recovered,” “On A Distant Star,” and “Love Doesn’t Ask.”
Along the way, environmental and political concerns have kept John moving in and out of direct community involvement. He was elected to the Ulster County Legislature in 1989 and served one term in 1990 and ’91. In the late 1990’s, he was elected twice as trustee of the Saugerties NY Board of Education, where his fellow trustees elected him president. He also served as a volunteer member of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater’s board of directors before running successfully for Congress in 2006.
The latest CD, Rock Me On the Water, will be followed soon by a new collection of songs including more collaborations with Pamela Melanie Hall, John’s wife and fellow strat player. A book detailing the journey from rocker to representative is also in the works.
Along the way, environmental and political concerns have kept John moving in and out of direct community involvement. He was elected to the Ulster County Legislature in 1989 and served one term in 1990 and ’91. In the late 1990’s, he was elected twice as trustee of the Saugerties NY Board of Education, where his fellow trustees elected him president. He also served as a volunteer member of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater’s board of directors before running successfully for Congress in 2006.
Congressman John Hall represented Mew York’s 19th district until 2011, when he returned to private life, and a life of music. After the Fukushima meltdowns in March 2011, he wrote and recorded the song “I Told You So,” which he recorded and later performed with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and others as part of a MUSE/No Nukes concert in Mountainville CA.
Since reuniting with Orleans in August 2013, John has crossed the country half a dozen times, sharing the stage with artists including Christopher Cross, Firefall, Al Stewart, Player, Robbie Dupree, Gary Wright, and Ambrosia.. A book detailing his journey from rocker to representative is also in the works. More details here when available.
Jonell Mosser
Jonell started singing at a young age, rising to do jazz standards in piano bars in her childhood home of Louisville. Her dad, a retired Air Force Master Sargent, had died of a heart attack when she was 3, so she was brought up
by her mother, Joy, who loved jazz. “I listened to all the big bandstuff,” Jonell recalls. “I loved Rosemary Clooney, Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday.
She bought me 45s and albums from the time I was 5 or 6. Later on, my brother had great records by Jethro Tull, Al Green and Dobie Gray.”And what about Janis Joplin, to whom she has been compared? “I didn’t like her at first. Janis seemed unattainable. And on the other side, Aretha Franklin seemed unattainable. So I was drawn more to men’s voices, like when I heard Otis Redding for the first time. And James Taylor, of course. I adored him and Jackson Browne and Dan Fogelberg. And then I found Lowell George and Little Feat.” Jonell attended Western Kentucky University, but dropped out to perform.
She was in the Ken Smith Band, playing up to six nights a week, and an all-girl group called Yo Mama. She also met her first husband, John Cowan, lead singer of the New Grass Revival, and moved to Nashville. She started doing studio sessions and was part of another all-female act, eventually called Girls Girls Girls, with Karen Staley and Lee Satterfield. She also loved Texas singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt {whom she first met in Bowling Green around 1978 or ’79} and her debut album was a 1996 compilation of Townes covers called “Around Townes.” She then came to the attention of Bonnie Raitt producer Don Was, after hearing her do demos of Townes’ songs to be pitched to Raitt.
Don Was was so supportive that he soon put a band together with Jonell as lead singer. He rounded up A-listers such as guitarist Mark Goldenberg from Jackson Browne’s band, keyboardist Benmont Tench from Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, and — get ready — Beatles drummer Ringo Starr. They recorded 7 songs and were named the New Maroons. They played Farm Aid in Ames IA and one other gig, but the recordings were shelved because other projects took precedence.
She also signed a deal with MCA with Was producing and cut and mixed a record in Nashville and LA. One song, a 6/8 version of the Supremes’ “Stop in the Name of Love,” later landed on the soundtrack to “Hope Floats,” the 1998 film starring Sandra Bullock and Harry Connick Jr. Although there is no chance in her mindof the MCA record seeing the “light of day”, incredibly, there may still be a chance of the New Maroons album coming out in the future. “Hope springs eternal,” says Jonell. Her second album was “So Like Joy” in 2000, a smart, sophisticated batch of songs that Jonell wrote with John Hall (of Orleans fame) and his wife, Johanna. They have been major believers in her. The disc included the high-arcing ballad “Do You Love Me” and the stylish title track, about letting go of regret. It is a connoisseur’s record.
Next up was “Enough Rope,” a 2001 album that Allmusic.com proclaimed had “enough class, muscle and tough grace to stand out from the pack.” Then a lull followed as Jonell turned to raising her sons, before her “powerful “Trust Yourself” CD came out. The title track was a Dylan song given new heft by Jonell, while other stand outs were three co-writes with the Halls, and a sax-laced soul version of Harlan Howard’s “The Chokin’ Kind.” Jonell has kept busy with some vital side projects. One is the band Kentucky Thunder, with Tom Britt’s sister-in-law, Etta, and singers Sheila Lawrence and Vickie Carrico. And perhaps the most intriguing project she’s been involved with in the last few years or so is being one of the Freedom Singers, who perform under the auspices of the First Amendment Center headed by former USA Today editor Ken Paulson.
They feature songs that were once banned or censored, such as George M. Cohan’s “You’re a Grand Old Rag” (later changed to “Grand Old Flag”) and the controversial Billie Holiday tune, “Strange Fruit.”It adds up to a highly unique career with no end in sight. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in this business, but I feel successful as a human being,” says Jonell. I play and sing every day” “I’ve gotten to sing with Mavis Staples. I’ve gotten to sing with Levon Helm, and with Sam Moore, Bruce Cockburn, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson. I’ve gotten to meet and play music with so many great people, most of whom I feel I can call my friends” “That means everything to me” Now it could be Jonell’s moment to grab the spotlight. “I feel a tidal wave coming,” she says hopefully. “I just don’t want to get buried by it. I want to ride it.”
