A couple of weeks ago, I chatted with Sean and Jamie Oshima, and during that conversation, another brother act came up: The Brother Brothers from Brooklyn, New York. I mentioned that I was pursuing a phoner with them, and the Oshima brothers said they had worked with them and found them to be a great act. Upon listening to their debut Compass Records album “Some People I Know,” I have to agree with Sean and Jamie — Adam and David Moss have a sound reminiscent of Simon & Garfunkel and, not surprisingly, the Oshima Brothers. On Oct. 24, I called Adam Moss on his cellphone to find out more about him and his identical twin brother as well as about the show they have coming up opening for I’m With Her — made up of Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan — on Nov. 11 at the State Theatre. With those two acts, it should be an evening of incredible vocal harmonies.

Q: Looking at your tour itinerary, I’m guessing I’m catching you in Ann Arbor, Michigan, right now.

Adam: No, we’re in Pittsburg heading to Michigan. We’ll be in Ann Arbor tonight for a show.

Q: Gotcha. Have you ever performed in Maine before?

Adam: Yeah, we played in Portland a number of times at this place called Blue.

David: We played at One Longfellow Square once and then played Blue twice.

Advertisement

Q: I’ve been to One Longfellow several times but never to Blue. How is it?

Adam: Blue’s really nice.

Q: When listening to “Some People I Know,” I was thinking that the intimacy of One Longfellow Square would suit your music beautifully.

Adam: Well, we’re planning on coming up there in March to do One Longfellow. I think they’re looking at a date right now.

Q: Oh, cool. This is your first album, right?

Adam: This is our first full-length album. We have an EP out that we’ve had out about a year-and-a-half — it came out in January of 2017. But it was like we became a band and just did a quick recording and threw it out there into the world. So this is kind of out first official statement of who we are.

Advertisement

Q: And on Alison Brown’s Compass Records, too — that’s a high-class home for you guys, for sure.

Adam: Yeah, she’s fantastic — one of my heroes seeing I play bluegrass fiddle. When she walked into the room to talk with us, David didn’t know who she was. So I went, “Dude, be cool!” and he was like, “About what?” (Laughter all around)

Q: Oh, about a month ago I was talking to another set of brothers — Sean and Jamie Oshima — and they spoke highly of you two.

Adam: Oh yeah, those guys are great guys. They’re Mainers, right?

Q: Yeah, that they are, and they’re another case of fantastic vocal harmonies. As you and they both prove: Sibling harmonies are the best, period. I’m such a fan of music in any genre that has close, tight vocal harmony.

Adam: So we’re doing it for you.

Advertisement

Q: Oh, yeah, major big time, for sure. No question. Now, is this album fairly representational of what you are like in concert?

David: For the most part, yeah.

Adam: The vibe is dead-on. We don’t always hire musicians to come with us, so it’s usually just the two of us. So it’s pared down, but the vibe is the same.

Q: Could we talk about the songwriting process you two use?

Adam: David wrote a lot of his songs over a six-year period before the band started, and so it just took us a little while to incorporate it into the band.

David: Our joint songwriting process hasn’t been worked out as of yet; the dynamic of that kind of eludes us. We’re really good about getting along on the road and getting to gigs and all that, but once we start putting the songwriting aspect in, it gets a little harder. So we prefer to do it separately and bring it to the band to work on.

Advertisement

Q: How about the instrumentation in the live performances. Adam, I know you are the fiddle player, but do you have any other instruments with you on the road?

Adam: I have a banjo for the “Banjo Song.”

Q: And David, you’re an acoustic guitar player. Do you have an electric one, as well?

David: I use a hollow-body electric guitar, and I also play cello.

Q: Oh, and you have one of those with you as well?

David: Yeah.

Advertisement

Q: And you both sing, of course, but that makes me wonder: Adam, is it difficult to sing and play the fiddle at the same time?

Adam: I work pretty hard at being able to do it — it takes some doing, yeah. I’ve practiced it and am still working on it.

Q: Now, as the opening act on this current tour, how much time do you two get?

Adam: Forty minutes, usually.

Q: With an EP and a full-length album out, how do you break down the material to perform on any given night?

David: Sometimes we’ll pick more new stuff or more old stuff depending on how we’re feeling.

Advertisement

Q: Well, at least as a duo you don’t have to worry about a set list. You can just go with the flow, as it were.

David: Yeah.

Adam: We kind of wing it.

Q: Well, that about wraps it up. Is there anything, guys, that you’d like to have passed on to the readers of this article about your show at the State Theatre or about your new album?

Adam: We’re just really happy about the new CD, and we hope that everybody enjoys it. That’s all.

Q: You want to add anything, David?

David: Not really, Adam summed it up right there.

Lucky Clark has spent 49 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.