Noteworthy - Two ECMA nominees check in with Jon Bruhm and reveal their uncertain expectations for the weekend. (Ashley's portion of the article included below.)

Ashley Moffat
A new lease on life

Early last year, Ashley “Little Miss” Moffat finally released her first full-length solo album, the critically acclaimed Miss Canada, after three EPs. Featuring contributions from ex-Guthries, Piggies, Hermits and Friendz, Miss Canada shone a spotlight on Moffat. However, the fallout from the record launch lead to a musical breakdown.

“In October, I was ready to totally quit Little Miss Moffat and become a lumberjack or carpenter or sell beer on my parents’ golf course in Ontario,” she says. “For so long, I had put all my extra energy and money into LMM, and was really starting to feel like I was barking up the wrong tree. I felt like a complete failure, all alone with only my skyrocketing Visa bill and piles of CDs as my companions. Basically, I hit a musical rock bottom 10 months after the release of Miss Canada. I gave up and took to the woods of Kejimkujik.”

Fortunately, a pair of 2004 MIANS Award nominations (female artist, new artist) and a 2005 ECMA nod gave Moffat a new perspective on why she chose to become a musician—because her music touches people.

“The nomination means more to me than I thought that it would,” she says of the ECMA nod. “It was one thing that helped to pull me out of the pit of musical despair. It was all about realizing that people were listening and felt that my songs were good enough to deserve the recognition. People who I did not even think cared about music have been coming up to me to tell me they loved Miss Canada, and were happy to hear about its nomination for Folk Album of the Year.”

Moffat will perform four times during the ECMA weekend, including an official showcase at the Songwriter’s Cafe on February 18. However, she says that while she used to participate in all of the industry forums and discussions, she’s made a point this year to focus on the music instead.

“The ECMA weekend is about whatever you make it about,” she says. “To some, it is about schmoozing and impressing the right person, to others, it is a big party. I guess to me, it is about appreciating musicians in eastern Canada. I like the fact that ECMAs get the rest of the country to turn their heads east for a weekend. I have no agenda except to play the best I can, and to appreciate those who have that same agenda.”

Following the ECMAs, Little Miss Moffat will be headed to Toronto for Canadian Music Week, followed by a return to her trailer in Kejimkujik. There, she will continue to write, with a new lease on her musical life.

“I am starting to learn to guide my music career from within, instead of from what other people tell me,” she says. “I guess I am rebuilding, but I refuse to use a blueprint.” // JOHN BRUHM (FEBRUARY 2005)

 


Echo Weekly (Guelph) 03/25/2004
ChartAttack.com (National) 03/26/2004
ChartAttack.com (National) 01/07/2004
The Coast - Scene & Heard (Halifax) 12/04/2003
Now Magazine (Toronto) - NXNE 2002
CBC Atlantic Airwaves (Atlantic Canada)
Hfx Herald Re: Redfish Radio 12/28/2001(article offline)

 

A sweet sampling of poppy alt-country steeped in a strange brew of Canadiana, Little Miss Moffat's first full-length album features a slew of Halifax indie all-stars, from co-producers Joel Plaskett and Charles Austin to rising pedal steel wizard Dale Murray (the Guthries, the Heavy Blinkers). Miss Canada updates earnest rootsy twang with the bubbly loose-limbed jangle of early 90s Pop Explosion bands, while Moffat (nee Ashley) chronicles her journeys through outposts like Edmundston and Charlottetown - with some clever nods to Canuck iconography like TTC transfers. Her lyrics are self-reflexive but never precious, and the arrangements are lovely. The mix is slightly shallow, though - there are too many guitars competing on the same level as Moffat's airy vocals. // SARAH LISS (APRIL 2004)

 

Little Miss Moffat's Miss Canada is a pleasant, laid-back stab at folk-infused country. While the disc boasts the attendance of more Halifax mainstays than a Super Friendz reunion show (Joel Plaskett, Guthries' Gabe Minikin, Friendz's Charles Austin, and Heavy Meadows' Ben Ross) the focus remains steadfast on Moffat's songs. Her subdued delivery, along with the instrumental prowess of her contributors, gives the disc a remarkably accomplished sound. This feeling peaks in album closer "Who Cooks For You." Without a doubt the album's highlight, the song is a dark and beautifully textured hybrid of folk and bluegrass. Featuring the fantastically sparse banjo plucking of Chris Luedecke (Old Man Luedecke), the song offers the kind of mysterious tones usually reserved for 60-year-old murder ballads. Much like Whiskeytown's "Dancing With The Women At The Bar" or Neko Case's "Blacklisted," the track is a haunting and accomplished number that unintentionally eclipses the rest of the disc. Probably the best song to come out of Halifax this year, "Who Cooks For You?" closes Miss Canada with the feeling that Moffat could deliver some truly important music in her future. // MATT CHARLTON (APRIL 2004)

 

Sweet doesn't have to be cute. No girl wants to be cute. Luckily for Little Miss Moffat, potential listeners for her new CD, "Miss Canada" will not likely register her as cute. But, the warm timbre of her steady, mature voice is bound to resonate. She evokes the kind of musical sweetness experienced by music fans of Jewel and Gillian Welch. The wonder of this kind of artist - Exhibit A: Miss Canada - in the writing is anything but sweet. Moffat's lyrics are pure and simple but unique. Thanks to musician and producer, Joel Plaskett, that lucidity comes through. Moffat's tracks are backed by Plaskett and the following players: Gabe Minnikin, Benn Ross, Lukas Pearse, Mark Bragg, Dale Murray, and Brent Randal. // BOBBIE SMITH (MARCH 2004)


With what marks singer/songwriter Little Miss Moffat's (aka Ashley Moffat) first full length release, Miss Canada is an intimate look into the environment in which Moffat lives in and creates.

Her sensitivity towards geography in light of experience and emotion is what is truly great and, ultimately, accessible about Moffat's earnest tunes and one comes away feeling that every individual is a country - a varied landscape - with every experience carving valleys, forging mountains, and spawning rivers.

Recorded between March and September of 2003 at Charles Austin's Ultramagnetic Studios in Halifax, Miss Canada was produced by Moffat, Austin and Joel Plaskett. The album also has musical contributions from some of Halifax's finest: Gabe Minnikin, Dale Murray, Benn Ross, Lukas Pearse, Brent Randall, Chris Luedecke and Mark Bragg.

Despite so many musical contributions, Moffat has a keen ability to create intimacy in her country/pop tunes and that is due to the agreement between Moffat's sweet and easy to digest vocals, the comfortable melodies, the careful production and the simple musical language.

Highlights on the album include the bright "Edmundston" and the confident and up-tempo "Humbled By the Stall". With mandolin flares and a smooth, sawing bass, the mysterious closer, "Who Cooks for You?", is also a welcome addition. Even though there are stand-out tracks, Miss Canada is at it's best when listened to as a whole - with warm tones and textures and a rustic ambience complimenting each other so well, it will humble your soul. // LINDSAY DOBBIN (FEBRUARY 2004)

 

First off, Little Miss Moffat (nee Ashley) is neither genetically nor musically related to those Moffatts. Already established in the independent Halifax music scene, Little Miss has recruited Haligonian indie royalty — Joel Plaskett and Charles Austin — to produce her latest, and their presence does not go unnoticed. Like Joel, LMM seamlessly blends pop with bittersweet alt.country and jumps at any chance to allude to Canadiana in her songwriting. Miss Moffat is quite possibly the true patriot lovechild of Sarah Harmer and Bob & Doug Mackenzie. // SOFI PAPAMARKO (FEBRUARY 2004)

 


"Who says the music industry is dead? The Khyber seems to be the place for CD releases lately. Last Thursday Ashley Moffat showcased her latest disc, Miss Canada in front of a packed house." // J. KANSAS (DECEMBER 2003)

 

Little Miss Moffat, a.k.a. homespun singer-songwriter Ashley Moffat, paddles her canoe into the Khyber on Thursday to release her new CD Miss Canada.

New CD Miss Canada a heartfelt, rootsy treat.

As Halifax singer-songwriter Ashley Moffat gets ready to release her new CD Miss Canada, under the nom de tune Little Miss Moffat, she's reminded of a Christmas not so long ago when she had to put music on the back burner for the holidays.

It was December, 2001 and although Moffat had moved to Halifax from her native Leamington, Ont. to further her music dreams, push came to shove for Christmas and in a tale worthy of O'Henry, she had to part with her most valuable possession.

"It was a Washburn hollow-body electric guitar, there's only a hundred of these in the world, and I sold it to Lyle Peterson who plays in a few bands," recalls the blonde alt-country crooner who releases Miss Canada on Thursday at the Khyber.

"I sold it for about $500 so I could buy presents for my family. They still wanted me to come home that year, but things were too unstable, and you need some stability in your life to be able to go away and come back to something."

The story has a happy ending though, wrapping up rather neatly as another Christmas approaches.

"I just got it back last week, for $500," Moffat grins. "I made this deal with Lyle --because he knew I didn't want to sell it --in case I ever wanted to buy it back. He wouldn't have sold it if we hadn't made that deal, although now, Lyle needs a guitar."

Now with her Washburn back in her grasp, Moffat will be singing her new songs off Miss Canada with renewed vigour. The album was recorded over a long stretch between March and September at Ultramagnetic Studios in the Khyber Building, with Super Friendz' Charles Austin and rock 'n' roll whiz kid Joel Plaskett at the controls.

The extended gestation was due to a lengthy summer break in the middle while Moffat followed her other calling as a naturalist at Kejimkujik National Park.

"That was four months of being in a completely different world. Totally different lifestyle.

"I was trapped, because there's no public transportation and I sold my car to pay for this album... I had a truck, but I could only drive it in the park, so most of the time it just sat in the driveway."

Oddly enough, during that whole time in Keji, Moffat only managed to write a couple of songs, including the CD closer Who Cooks For You?, inspired by the call of a native bird. It seems unusual, considering she also performs songs about nature in the children's musical duo The Wilderbeats, singing about Maritime flora and fauna.

"(Keji) was bad for songwriting," she explains, "You'd think that being stranded in the wilderness for four months would be good, but life was so stable and normal that I didn't really have anything to write about except for owls.

"But then I got back and things were back to their usual state. I use my songs to comment on what's going on in my life, so I need for things to be happening." // STEPHEN COOKE (DECEMBER 2003)

 

A few years ago, Ashley Moffat packed everything she owned into the back of her Volkswagen and left home for Halifax. Drawn to the city by her love of bands like Thrush Hermit and Eric's Trip, Moffat arrived in Halifax knowing no one, but quickly carved a niche in the city's sea of singer/songwriters through tireless self-promotion, a charming demeanour and thoughtful, earnest lyrics.

Now a permanent fixture in Halifax's music scene, Moffat (better known as Little Miss Moffat) is preparing to release her first full-length album. With several quirky and solid EPs already in her discography, she enlisted local indie-rock superstars Joel Plaskett and Charles Austin to help produce her latest offering. Miss Canada is a lovely mix of laid-back pop and country written with the poetic grit of Neil Young, and dripping with the intimacy that lies at the root of every good singer songwriter's music. When asked about Plaskett's involvement in the new album, Moffat laughs, "It's still catching up to me." During the album's recording, Plaskett not only helped her focus and concentrate on recording, but also played on all but two of the songs. Moffat credits his and Austin's influence in helping her create what she calls "some of the best music I've written yet."

Lately, when she's not busy with her solo career, Moffat has been performing in The Wilderbeats. Ashley, along with friend and fellow naturalist Joyce Saunders, has been writing and performing songs about nature intended for a family audience. Seen by Moffat as a chance to incorporate her love of nature (she works for the Museum of Natural History in Halifax) with her love of music; the results have been great. "It's been immediately successful without any effort at all," she says, adding that they haven't booked any of the shows they've had. "People keep calling us up and asking us to play."

Moffat hopes to tour in support of the new album, although making it out of Halifax might be tough, as she sold her car to help pay for the new recordings. Station Wagon or not, she wants to play as much as possible as long as it's under the right circumstances. "This is the first time in my life that I've actually felt completely driven and almost possessed," she says with a smile. Moffat is truly happy being able to make music, even happier about her upcoming album, and happiest of all about life right now. Getting to do what you love will have that effect on a person. Little Miss Moffat's CD release show is December 11, at the Khyber Club. // RYAN POTTER (DECEMBER 2003)

 


 Name: Little Miss Moffat
 Band Base: Halifax
 Description: Bittersweet twang-infused alterna-pop about road trips and back-seat nookie.
 Rating: Growth Potential

// NOW MAGAZINE FOR NXNE (2002)

 

 Little Miss Moffat stars singer, songwriter and guitarist Ashley Moffat, Dave Chisholm (The Sycamores) on electric Guitar, Lukas Pearse (Piggy) on bass, Benn Ross (Heavy Meadows) on drums, and Dale Murray (The Guthries) on pedal steel. Oh, Come Off It! is the follow-up to 1999's Midnight Messages EP, and was recorded in a cozy cabin in St. Margaret's Bay, the birthplace of these countrified (and accessible) songs. It starts off with the upbeat double-header of the east bound "Highway 2", and the duped "Border Crossing Guard." "Chapstick" is fresh and fun and fits in with the current season. "In the Theatre" is a touching and passionate embrace, "Sick of Lovin' You" is the best barn-burner in the bunch and "What This Heart Is For" leaves you warm inside as the recording fades out. It's a shame that only half a dozen tracks make for such a musical tease. // IAIN K. MACLEOD (JANUARY 2002)

 

Halifax singer Ashley Moffat has an eye for talent. Her band Little Miss Moffat includes some of the local scene's finest players, perhaps taking a cue from West Coast honky-tonk heroine Neko Case, whose back-up band The Boyfriends has included members of such illustrious groups as Flashing Lights, The Sadies and Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.

Moffat's spunky new six-song CD "Oh, Come Off It!" features contributions from drummer Benn Ross (Thrush Hermit, Piggy), bassist Lukas Pearse (Rebecca West, House of Usher), The Guthrie's Dale Murray on pedal steel guitar and Dave Chisholm (The Sycamores) on electric guitar.

You can hear this all-star outfit on Friday at the Khyber Club, with special guests Gabe and Ruth Minnikin from the Guthries. Moffat's tunes are a homespun blend of pop, folk, and country that alternate between the fun of Chapstick and the bittersweet memories of In the Theatre. Unsophisticated, but with loads of charm, hopefully Miss Moffat will get off her tuffet soon to put together a full-length effort together. // STEPHEN COOKE (OCTOBER 2001)

 

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Little Miss Moffat play in her home and native town of Halifax at the Khyber Club and this Leamington, Ontario native rocked out in the most charming of ways. Opening the show was B.A. Johnston a local Peterborough-ite whom the crowd did not seem to want to kill very much except when he asked them if they had poutine on the east coast, big mistake, I guess they take their gravy coated snacks very seriously in the Maritimes. However judging by the number of people wearing B.A. Johnston buttons at the end of the show, it would appear they forgave him.

Then it was time for the main attraction Ashley Moffat backed by Gabe Minniken from The Guthries on guitar and backing vocals as well as a full rhythm section to take the stage. Crossing sugary pop with alt-country sensibilities into beautiful songs seemed to be the order for the night. One of the guy's from This Hour Has 22 Minutes was there and actually was seen tapping his feet and bopping his head! Tales of road trips, lip balm and lovesickness were the order of the night and for an added bonus Ashley performed 2 children's songs about beavers and ravens to a surprisingly receptive audience. It's always interesting to see drunken adults chant out beaver dam in unison.

Little Miss Moffat will be in town on Wednesday September the 10th at the Trasheteria in support of her “Oh Come Off it”, a CD recorded with members of Thrush Hermit, Piggy, The Sycamores and The Guthries. While it will be just her and Gabe performing, fans of alt country and sugary pop will not want to miss this. Also on the bill are locals, The Malcontents, B.A. Johnston and hopefully Anouk. // CHRIS J (2001)