Victoria, British Columbia-based folk/Americana singer-songwriter Richard Moody is set to release a solo project – Tobacco & Rose – on April 25th, 2025.

A 30-year veteran of the Canadian music scene, Moody has toured the world with such luminaries as Deva Premal, Miten, The Wailin’ Jennys, Steven Fearing, and The Bills. Tobacco & Rose – both the band name and the album name – is a collection of songs inspired in part by experience with psychedelic and medicinal plants from the Amazon and the Pacific Northwest.

Says Moody of the release: “Like most artists, I love to create, express, and showcase that which I can conceive, but I also want to fulfill a long-held desire to blend music and spirituality, and to share that with listeners that are interested in such things. I also want to honor the plant and animal worlds, and, hopefully, in some way to encourage healing, happiness, kindness, and inclusiveness… all the good things.”

1. Tara
2. Brave Earth
3. Wooded Vale
4. You and I
5. Path of the Heart
6. Bride of Suffering
7. Broken Angel
8. Madre
9. Where My Lover Goes

This majestically divine, lovingly sculpted new recording opens on the smoothly captivating Tara and the emotive Brave Earth and then we get the harmonically impassioned Wooded Vale and the quietly velveteen You and I brought forth.

Along next is the percussion-driven, beautiful ballad Path of the Heart which is then itself backed seamlessly by the dulcet storytelling within Bride of Suffering, the free flowing, 70’s-hued Broken Angel, the album rounding out on the robustly sculpted Madre, closing on the stirring Where My Lover Goes.

Moody imbues the music he makes as Tobacco & Rose with meaning that uplifts and inspires. The lyrics speak of a spirituality grounded in the natural world, in the body, and in authentic practice. At the same time, the musical aspect draws from more traditional western influences, ranging from the counterpoint of J. S. Bach to the chord progressions of a golden age of popular song.

They feature Moody’s sophisticated finger-style acoustic guitar approach and owe a debt to the lineage of ’60s and ’70s greats like Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell. Many have drawn comparisons between Richard and the English folk magic of Nick Drake. Fans of George Harrison, James Taylor, Bert Jansch, Nick Mulvey, and Alexi Murdoch will find much to like among Moody’s songs.

www.tobaccoandrose.com