American Heartland is composer/guitarist Todd Mosby’s heartfelt tribute to his home state of Missouri. With his exceptionally diverse music background, Mosby effortlessly combines jazz, folk, new age, country, blues - and more! - to create vivid sound-paintings of the place he calls home. In addition to Todd’s acoustic and electric guitars, the album’s other performers include Michael Manring (bass), Lola Kristine (vocals and piano), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), Tom Scott (sax and aerophone), Lee Scott (bass), Laura Vall (vocals) and Dapo Torimiro (keyboards and piano). Todd Mosby composed ten of the twelve tracks on the album, which is all over the map stylistically and yet creates a smooth and always-interesting listening experience that can be savored many, many times, discovering different nuances in the music each time.

American Heartland begins with “Clouds Above Golden Fields,” a song composed in a contemporary chamber folk style. The easy-going tempo and (mostly) acoustic instrumentation create a relaxed yet compelling groove that gets more compelling every time I hear it. “Palomino” picks up the tempo a bit with a samba tune that was inspired by Mosby’s childhood spent riding horses as well as his love of drawing them. This one features Mosby on electric guitar, backed by lively drums, wordless vocals, keyboards, bass and aerophone. “Witchi Tai” has two versions. The first one is in a folk-rock style that features Mosby on both acoustic and electric guitars backed by bass, percussion, piano, vocals and horns. Inspired by the sound of the Native American words, the piece expresses an appreciation for the water spirits and the positive impact they have on lives. “Witchi Tai (postlude)” slows it down a bit to a contemporary chamber folk style that has the instrumentation scaled down to acoustic guitar, bass, percussion and vocals. I found it interesting that the next track is Mosby’s beautiful arrangement of Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman” (“Witchi Tai” and then “Wichita” back to back!) a big hit for Glen Campbell in 1968. The soulful vocals by both singers give the song a brand new shine! “On the Farm” is one of two acoustic guitar solos on the album and reflects on Todd’s memories of growing up on a farm - beautifully relaxing! The title track is arranged in an upbeat, contemporary jazz-rock style and is Mosby’s personal version of down-home Missouri. “A Full Moon Rising” is the second acoustic guitar solo and is part rag, part blues, part finger-style and was inspired by a full moon rising over a summer lake, reflecting on distant memories of light and sound. The album closes with Mosby’s haunting arrangement of the Joni Mitchell classic, “Both Sides Now.” Lola Kristine’s expressive vocals and piano are accompanied by acoustic guitar (Mosby), bass (Manring), cello (Judy Kang) and percussion (Luis Conte) - a great ending for another great album by Todd Mosby!

American Heartland is available on CD and to stream and download from Bandcamp. It can be streamed and downloaded on Amazon and Apple Music/iTunes; and can be streamed on many services including Spotify and Pandora. I give the album an enthusiastic both thumbs up!