Country artist to play Emporium in Woodville

By Chris Edwards
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WOODVILLE – For East Texans who love live music (and shame on you, if you don’t) the name Randy C. Moore should set off a few bells.

Since re-settling back into Texas in 2020 with his wife Linda, Moore has been a regular presence on stages throughout the region and the state. Moore is bringing some of his engaging wit and storytelling acumen along with his prowess as a solo acoustic act to Woodville on Sunday, April 9, when he plays the Emporium Stage downtown.

Doors open at 2:30 p.m., and local musician “Wild Bill” Spurlock will open the show. Spurlock, of course, is the namesake proprietor of Wild Bill’s Grill in Woodville, where Moore has performed several times.

For many artists, the love of their chosen medium can be all consuming, and with Moore, it is evident that he lives and breathes music. 

Moore identifies as a country artist, but his sound and tastes come from a variety of places. A veteran of the music industry and Nashville, Moore can rattle off seemingly esoteric facts about everyone from Neil Young and U2 to the late, great Carl Perkins, in a way that makes for fascinating storytelling.

Onstage, Moore can impersonate several artists, including Johnny Cash, vocally, and he covers songs from a variety of sources, but at the end of the day, Moore’s own sound is tempered with a warm, friendly vocal cadence and an intimate identification with the songs – whether they came from his pen or others’.

“An artist is someone who takes something that feels right for them and can deliver it to an audience,” he said. 

Since he relocated to Texas, he and his wife used the pandemic-stricken year of 2020 as a time to resettle and move, or “Texas-ize,” as he calls it. 

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“[The pandemic] afforded me the opportunity to reset my studio and reset my songwriting,” he said.

They settled in Nacogdoches, after Moore said they made a conscious decision to move back to Texas, two years before the pandemic put the hold on so many things.

“I just decided I did not want to live in Tennessee anymore, and had done all I could there,” Moore said.

In the time since then, Moore has become a steady presence to audiences across the region, and he is also popping up on some upcoming festivals, including the Wildflower Festival in Richardson in late May and TwisterFest in Oklahoma.

He has also released a couple of albums, Lufkin and Hwy. 59, both of which are filled to the brim with his heartfelt lyrics and inescapable melodies. Such songs as “I Sold a Lot of Beer” and “Big in Texas” have gotten radio play.

Moore said he is also working on an upcoming EP, which he is co-producing with Norbert Putnam, a music legend who played bass on many Elvis Presley recordings. 

For the Emporium show, Moore promises that audiences can “come and enjoy music the way it was meant to be, with a voice, a guitar and some great stories.”

He said he will draw from the repertoire of original tunes, as well as covers. “They’ll hear me play songs from other writers who I’ve met, and whose stories I know,” Moore said.

One artist who he promises to cover is his late influence Perkins, whom he knew quite well. Moore is also working on a screenplay about Perkins’ life, with Perkins’ daughter.

Tickets to the show on Sunday are $20 for reserved seats; $15 for general admission. For tickets, call 409-283-3832 or 409-200-4759.