Rocking Country Boy and Band Pick and Pound Unplugged

Larry Nager
Cincinnati Enquirer
November 24. 2000

CD Review of Untold Stories - ***1/2

Local country star Dallas Moore is known for his hard-rocking shows that mix Hank Jr. and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  On his latest release, he and the boys unplug their amps and head for the porch.

The result is one of the year's most unashamedly hard-core country records.  At a time when Nashville is more suburban than country, ol' Dallas is gleefully celebrating the "Good Times" the joys of "Frog Giggin," and singing about how happy he is to be "Back Down Home Where I Belong."

A "Few Things I'd Like to Do" sums it all up in a paean to beer, "big-time rasslin," fishing and the open road.  And he means every word.  This is a band whose liner note endorsements include "George Dickel Whisky" and "tattoos by Shades of Crazy."

But Untold Stories isn't all Blue Ribbon and bodacious babes.  Dallas and his ace band take full advantage of acoustic music's spooky, minor key moods, particularly on the haunted "Put Me Through Hell" with its eerie, whining dobro underpinning the leader's tortured vocal.  "Blue Jean Jesus" is the story of an unorthodox street preacher, "The Wall" is about life in prison.  "Sweet Marie", the last of the CD's 11 songs, is a good old-fashioned murder ballad.

Along the way, the guys throw a few curves (guitarist Chuck Morpurgo slips into Bob Wills' "Billy Bowman Hop" smack in the middle of "Frog Giggin").  Packed with hot picking and good songs, Untold Stories is Dallas' best album yet.