On 1972's MOONSHOT, Buffy had surrounded herself with the cream of Nashville session musicians (many of them were part of the group that would find their own fame, recording as Area Code 615). The musicians included Charlie McCoy, Billy Sanford, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam and Kenny Buttrey, as well as the Memphis Horns. The session mixes up Gene Thomasson's Lay It Down, Arthur Crudup's My Baby Left Me and Micky Newbury's Sweet Memories and Newbury with co-writer Townes Van Zandt's Mister Can't You See Me with her own original songs like Native North American Child. The songs are generally upbeat with Buffy singing out extrovertly over the punchy brass, rock chords and sinewy bass lines. This is modern country with the kind of rock input that would mutate ten years later into the sound of New West: a kind of Wall Of Sound meets Nashville modern. It is one of the singer's most confident albums, a country-rock masterpiece that deserves to be much better known.
by JOHN CROSBY
