Mississippi Chris Sharp
CD Review
7/27/23

CD: A Life Well Lived
Artist: Daryl Mosley
Label: Pinecastle Recording Company
Artist Website: www.darylmosley.com
Label Website: www.pinecastlemusic.com

A Life Well Lived is the third Daryl Mosley CD I've had the pleasure to review. The first two were Small Town Dreamer and The Secret of Life. I'd post links to those reviews, but the vagaries of Google searches and a rural internet connection have maliciously thwarted every attempt to find them. It is an understatement to say that I was smitten with them both. Now that A Life Well Lived has been released, as far as I am concerned, for the benefit of the public at large, all three need to be re-issued in some future anthology. Anthologies are typically issued late in an artist's career when their best work is behind them. Having said that, I guess it's not time for a Daryl Mosley anthology; his work gets better with each release.

I usually listen to a CD several times before I ever start to write a review, but A Life Well Lived is only eight songs in, and already I have seven favorites. Mosley's smooth voice, the unrushed band, the soft harmonies, the understated but superb instruments, the gentleness of the production, and the lyrics all call out to this Mississippi country boy with obviously shared life experiences with someone hailing from Waverly, Tennessee, not too far at all from Mississippi as the crow flies.

Mosley shares songwriting credits with Rick Lang on four of the CD's songs. I'd say some of the songs Mosley co-wrote with Lang are among my favorites, but that would be redundant as they are virtually all my favorites. There's only one song that isn't among my favorites, but I won't name it because it very well may be yours. I'm on the last song as I continue to write this, and I have a solid ten favorites out of eleven songs. If that was a batting average, Mosley would be the all-time baseball superstar and be showered with huge contracts, awards, and product endorsements. I can only hope that Mosley's stellar songwriting and the superb CD production team of Mosley and Danny Roberts (The Grascals) can be showered with those huge contracts, awards, and product endorsements. To many, that kind of commercial success would be the ultimate indicator of a life well lived, but I strongly suspect they are already in the midst of well-lived lives. The eleventh song on the CD, “Thankful,” sums it up the best.

My apologies to Mosley and So Much Moore Media (who sent me the CD) for taking so long to get around to listening to A Live Well Lived. Sometimes, with well-lived lives, there's epic summer rainfall, sweltering heat, and acres of relentless grass to mow. Next time I climb aboard the mower for a few hours of delightfully humid summer sunshine and forlornly almost-August heat, likely tomorrow, A Live Well Lived will be bluetoothed right to my earbuds, making for a while a seemingly endless, hot summer chore a bit more tolerable. A Life Well Lived will make my life better as I get lost in the melodious lyrics and stories woven of shared human experiences that great songwriters use to touch our hearts and make them soar.

Did I say that I liked it? Come on, now.

I didn't think I was being subtle.

Mississippi Chris Sharp