Moon Winx

Description

As one of the brightest and most prolific new singer-songwriters on the Birmingham music scene in recent years, Will Stewart has made a name for himself both as an imaginative storyteller and as a six-string gunslinger whose detailed tales of life in the Deep South seem to capture the essence not only of the humid, kudzu-covered surroundings from which they spring, but also of the creative cultural milieu that makes such tales possible in the first place. Drawing inspiration from everyone from Big Star to R.E.M., via Phosphorescent and the Drive-By Truckers, and even classic Southern literary figures like Eudora Welty and Barry Hannah, Stewart has managed to carve out a niche as an evocator of time, place, and characters — and the stories that swirl around them — in a way that is at once thoughtful, empathetic, and unapologetic in its presentation. Now on his fourth solo LP, over his last three studio efforts, Stewart has shown a deft touch not only for engaging character arcs and succinct studies of the human condition, but also for a range of musical modes that span everything from quiet dissertations on love and loss, to brash rockers and moody explorations of the complicated nature of modern life in the South. As someone who also wears the hat of a much sought-after sideman lending his talents to friends and fellow travelers like Birmingham locals The Blips, Terry Ohms and Sarah Lee Langford, there are few sonic spaces Stewart’s hands haven’t touched in one way or another. Stewart’s latest offering sees him poised to realize his most ambitious project yet, with a 10-song cycle centered on the iconic and now-defunct Moon Winx Lodge in Tuscaloosa, AL, and some of the characters and scenarios that played out there over the years.