Rootstime - Belgium Magazine (translated)  January 2008

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                     Americana UK     October, 2007
It’s a funkathon kind of thing.

Tom Gray used to be in a band called ‘The Brains’ who recorded ‘Money Changes Everything’, which went onto be a hit for Cyndi Lauper 23 years after it was originally written.   Gray has also had a number of his songs covered by Manfred Mann, Carlene Carter and many others. So does that make this an album of pop and country?  No.

Delta Moon dish out delta style blues with the emphasis on the two guitar sound preferred by The Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers and early Fleetwood Mac.  The bottleneck slide guitar and lap steel coupled with the overall swampy sound bring to mind the distinctive sounds of Sonny Landreth but without his full in your face approach.  Along with Tony Joe White these guys appear to have been born in the bayou.

‘Jesse May’ is a simple song that chugs along wonderfully and if you don’t tap your feet along then you probably don’t have any. ‘Money Changes Everything’ makes a welcome return and it’s one of those songs that had hit written all over it. Grabs you from the off.

‘Cool Your Jets’ is a funky rhythm that showcases that bottleneck whilst making you want to groove like you’re a demon on the dance floor. Which I’m patently not, as my dancing at the wedding I went to yesterday demonstrates.  Yes I was the embarrassing uncle that everyone dreads!  But if they’d played this track then I reckon my street cred would have gone up a notch or two.

Gray and Mark Johnson are the hub of Delta Moon and it’s clear where their tastes lie.  In that laid back funkaground that brings the essence of the swamps and bayous into your living room.  Luckily without the alligators of course.

‘Lap Dog’ would fit right into a ZZ Top set, with its Billy Gibson like vibe and punchy lead guitar. Maybe these guys should grow beards, wear the same suits and try to pinch his mantle?

Tom Clarke said of Gray and Johnson in ‘Hittin’ The Note’ (The Allman Brothers fanzine) “They are the rusty banged up Cadillacs of the slide guitar…..which never fails to be gutsy and mesmerizing”.  I’d concur with that. Nothing else to add really. Aside from…………….cool sounds guys.   Reviewers Rating: 8 out of 10.

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Performer Magazine    Oct. 2007

Principle songwriters and guitar wizards Tom Gray and Mark Johnson launch into their fifth CD release as Delta Moon, conjuring a hurricane force and churning up blues that sizzle the soul and capture a broken heart's essence.

Clear Blue Flame spawns a bone-chilling collection of 11 songs infused with noteworthy song craft, a flair for blues on lead duo guitars, and a well-executed backing instrumental section, providing a clear-cut foundation for this material.

Clocking in at forty minutes, each song on the album paints a compelling and serious portrait with music fused with both pain and delight. These songs interlace an atmosphere of making ends meet and surviving in the south, a brew eagerly chilling those who understand what it takes to be a true songwriter.

Gray and Johnson are veterans, wise in an art embedded with compositional gifts.  These songs, such as the fiery opener "Clear Blue Flame" and the sizzling "Blind Spot" roar through the speakers with a lion-like growl.

The instrumentation dutifully serves the album with careful presence.   Each guitar riff is a painstakingly crafted bluesy punch.  Each bass line rolls out of the speakers, providing a stable backbone of heavy melodic flesh.  The percussion and guest instruments continue to deliver a meaty, healthy base.

This album is a genuine testament to how much hard work these guys have put in as artists-the sweat and guts, the pain and sorrow, the joy and jubilation — all qualities that define the makeup of Georgia's best in blues-rock.

The discerning listener will be truly surprised to find so complete an album of Southern blues, full of intelligence and emotion.  Delta Moon has created a work full of texture, an ambitious effort that fails to let up.      -Shawn M. Haney

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All Music Guide    Oct. 2007

The Southern swamp blues rock of Delta Moon takes a significant turn with the exclusion of a female frontperson/vocalist for the first time in the group's career.  Guitarist/songwriter Tom Gray is the exclusive singer throughout, which gives this a slightly tougher, less overtly sexy texture than previous albums.  Gray's grainy voice isn't polished but its rough-around-the-edges crunch is perfect for the slippery twin slide guitar propelled attack that Delta Moon has all but patented.  

Songs such as "Jessie Mae" (dedicated to and about blues woman Jessie Mae Hemphill) take a funky, greasy riff and drive it home through repetition and intensity as the rhythm section stays in the pocket.   The style shifts slightly to include the greasy mid-tempo "Life's a Song" which features the dual intertwining guitars laying down the foundation, but generally the template remains consistent for the majority of these 11 tracks.   Gray is a classy songwriter whose topics of ornery men and women generally mistreating each other are handled with sophistication and a deft touch unusual for the genre.   Most impressive is the sense of restraint for a band that features two excellent slide guitarists (Mark Johnson is the other).   The solos are short, sharp and concise, and don't compromise the melodies for the sake of aimless wanking, a refreshing change for both Southern rock and blues played by guitarists.

Gray revisits his own number one hit "Money Changes Everything" in a fiddle soaked version that sounds unlike either the original new wave oriented approach by his first band The Brains or Cyndi Lauper's far more Technicolor--and popular-- cover.   But that is not typical of this more aggressive set that hones Delta Moon's established slide guitar dominated sound with tight playing, memorable melodies and a gutsy sense of red clay rebelliousness found all too rarely in pre-packaged contemporary blues rock.                  Review by Hal Horowitz

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Louisville Music News.net     Oct. 2007

Down and Dirty Blues       By Andrea Hunt

In the title track and album opener of Delta Moon's fifth album, Clear Blue Flame, Tom Gray sings, "All whiskey ain't the same/Good moonshine burns with a clear blue flame."

Among bluesy rock acts, Delta Moon definitely falls in the "good moonshine" category. Composed of Gray and Mark Johnson, Delta Moon has a unique sound characterized by interwoven guitar melodies that has earned the duo comparisons to prolific two-guitar acts the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers.

Although Clear Blue Flame is the first Delta Moon album not to feature a female lead singer, Gray's gritty vocals, coupled with slide guitars, help to define the band's timeless sound: mellow, bluesy Southern rock that begs to be played live and that won the band the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2003.

Before singing lead vocals in Delta Moon, Tom Gray had established himself as a proficient songwriter with a No. 1 hit, "Money Changes Everything," which was recorded by Cindy Lauper. A decidedly swampier version of the track appears on Clear Blue Flame, albeit sans Cindy.

In addition to the smoldering opener, the energetic "Jessie Mae" and guitar-laden "Lap Dog" are notable tracks. In fact, on this remarkably even album, no tracks stand out as weak.

Dig Delta Moon at www.deltamoon.com.

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An Honest Tune Magazine   July, 2007

 Hittin' the Note Magazine  August, 2007

Tom Gray and Mark Johnson are the rusty, banged up Cadillacs of the slide guitar, side by side coughing up smoke and spitting backwoods dirt, but unswerving in their precision and singular style.   Gray and Johnson form the axis of Delta Moon, and their slippery, rousing blend of delta-style blues and rock ’n’ roll consciousness never fails to be gutsy and mesmerizing.  

Until recently, a lady with a gorgeous voice sang lead in the band.   On Clear Blue Flame, Gray alone sings his songs in a jagged rasp that only adds rightly to the rough and tumble air.   The title track, flickering brightly in a fog, and “Blind Spot,” slinky and marauding like a mountain lion, both establish without question that the pull of the Moon groove is as strong as ever.   But, there are some great changes of pace here.   A sweet fiddle glides through “Money Changes Everything,” the pop tune Gray wrote way, way back that Cyndi Lauper took and turned into a big hit.   And on “Stranger in My Hometown,” the guitars dart in and around a lively melody that, juxtaposed with the melancholic theme of the song, sets up a sharp contrast.   Backed mainly—and sturdily—by bassist Ted Pecchio and drummer Tyler Greenwell of the Codetalkers, Gray and Johnson have cooked up yet another set of smart, down home rockers as the incomparable Delta Moon.

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Sunday Paper, Atlanta, GA  August 1, 2007      4 stars

Churning through two female vocalists in the past two albums sure doesn’t help the consistency of a band fronted by a woman singer. So guitarist/songwriters Mark Johnson and Tom Gray ditch the attractive front person for the first time on their new release.

Not surprisingly, the result is a tougher, more streamlined attack, anchored by Gray’s flinty voice and the twin slide guitar interplay that has always been the heart of Delta Moon’s sound. The opening title track aims for a somewhat swampier Drive By Truckers feel with its loping rhythm and slow burn acoustic and electric guitars. The following “Blind Spot” is a sleazy mid-tempo rocker that sizzles with a sinewy, tense restraint.

Gray reclaims his million-selling No. 1 ’80s hit “Money Changes Everything” for a workout in the Delta Moon format. Removed from the Brains’ sludgy new wave and Cyndi Lauper’s day-glo pop sheen, a moaning fiddle helps yank the tune back down to the humid South. “Trouble in the Home” and “Lap Dog” find Gray in a dark mood.

Although this one is more guitar-centric than previous albums, the duo’s sense of restraint keeps the songs tight and sharp, saving the fireworks they are capable of for concerts that typically close with searing slide solos on Johnny Winter’s “Mean Town Blues.”

The final acoustic version of Mississippi Fred McDowell’s Delta-styled “You Done Told Everybody” shows yet another side to the twosome, whose guitars—either plugged or not—burn with a clear blue flame. 4 STARS —Hal Horowitz

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GRITZ Magazine, August, 2007

Whether playing the slide-guitar laced smooth groove of “Cool Your Jets” or the moonshine soaked title track, “Clear Blue Flame, “ Delta Moon continue to prove themselves as one of the very best of the newer Southern bands. Tight musical arrangements, heavy on slide guitar, well written songs and a whiskey soaked lead vocal from Tom Gray all add up to major success.

All eleven tracks here are very good, and I especially love the groove on “Life’s a Song” and the heavy bass line that drives the blues of “Blind Spot.”

Delta Moon, which is spearheaded by Tom Gray and Mark Johnson dish up the classic (recorded by Cyndi Lauper) “Money Changes Everything,” which was written by Gray.  Another good one is “Lap Dog,” which is built around some funky and infectious slide guitar grooves. Speaking of slide, the set closer “You Done Told Everybody” features some Blind Willie McTell style picking in a true foot stomping blues tradition.

Delta Moon is one fine band. Every song on Clear Blue Flame is a winner.  I cannot find a single negative thing to say about this record.  So good.        -Michael Buffalo Smith

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Rocktimes, German Magazine (translated) August 2007

 Mark Johnson and Tom Gray first ran into each other in a music store in Atlanta, as Tom tried to sell a Dobro to Mark.  Nothing came of the sale, but the both exchanged telephone numbers.  A short time later they decided to start a band together.  After Mark had heard Ry Cooder and David Lindley together at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, the musical direction was ultimately established and what the future band should sound like.  Together with the singer Gina Leigh and others on bass and drums, Delta Moon was born.  

They wanted their own music style to create in the tradition of the older 2 guitar bands.  A style in which the lap steel and the bottleneck slide should fit perfect together.  Gina left the band in 2004 and was replaced with Kristin Markiton, who was responsible for the vocals for the next 18 months.  In the meanwhile Tom Gray had taken over as lead singer.   He had earlier swung the microphone for the band The Brains.  “Delta Moon have now finally found our voice” commented Mark Johnson about the decision. 

With this line up went Delta Moon into the studio to record their 5th album.  What emerges is a wonderful work with relaxed yet rough tones.  The music is maybe best described as most of all a mix of blues, swamp, and roots rock, by which the slide guitar is the most dominating instrument.  Occasionally a fiddle and mandolin are heard, and of course, not to be forgotten, the steel guitar.  There are 10 original compositions plus “You Done Told Everybody” from Fred McDowell on Clear Blue Flame.  The songs spread a marvelous, relaxed atmosphere, where both guitarists prove to be masters of their craft.  Unbelievably full of feeling they work the strings of their instruments and complement each other perfectly. Also the acoustic parts (example:  Title Song) sound excellent and fit great in the overall feel of this CD.  

I do not know the previous albums from Delta Moon.  I cannot however imagine, after many listens to this gem, a female lead singer with this music.  Tom’s rough voice is simply made for this art of sound.  I do not want to give a song tip for this album.  Each of the songs is multifaceted and all have their personal strengths and specialties.  These both guitarists speak here one and the same language and that is what Clear Blue Flame comes to express.  Classic work.  Keep rockin’ Delta Moon.

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Mountain Times, NC    By Jeff Eason

Slide Guitar Tandem Delta Moon Finds Its Groove -

Clear Blue Flame One of the Best Blues Albums of the Year

Tom Gray of the Atlanta blues and rock band Delta Moon is one of those musicians who is finally getting his time in the spotlight after toiling in working bands for over two decades. In the realm of the blues, it’s called paying your dues, and Gray has paid his share and then some.

Even though many music lovers may not be familiar with Gray, they are probably familiar with a number of his compositions that were recorded by others. In the early 1980s he wrote a song called “Money Changes Everything” that proved pivotal in the career of a young singer named Cyndi Lauper.

“I was in this Atlanta band called the Brains at the time,” said Gray. “We were on the Mercury label and recorded our version of ‘Money Changes Everything.’ The song was pitched to Rachel Sweet, who passed on it, and six months later a cassette version came to the attention of Cyndi Lauper’s manager. She recorded it for her album Time After Time and it became one of her signature songs.”

Other Gray compositions were recorded and performed by Carlene Carter, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and others. Meanwhile, Gray continued to plug away playing guitar with The Brains and working as a studio and side musician in the Southeast.

Flash-forward to the early days of the 21st century where Gray met fellow guitarist Mark Johnson in an Atlanta music store. The two musicians struck up a friendship and began working on a double-slide guitar combination with Tom playing lap steel and Mark playing bottleneck slide guitar.

That unique sound of gritty slide guitars played in tandem is the sonic backbone of Gray and Johnson’s band Delta Moon. The band has just released its latest album, Clear Blue Flame, and it’s a treat for lovers of searing blues guitar and original songwriting.

Clear Blue Flame features Gray on vocals, guitar, steel guitar, organ and dulcimer, Mark Johnson on guitar and mandoguitar, Ted Pecchio on bass, Tyler Greenwell on drums and Chris Long on backing vocals.   “The two slide guitars give us our unique sound,” said Gray. “This is the first time that I’ve been the featured vocalist, so that’s a change for me. We like to play it loose and see where the song and audience leads us.”   The album is a perfect example of how a song can evolve from two guitarists sitting down and jamming into a full-blown band number.

The song “Jessie Mae” is an homage to Memphis blues legend and electric guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill who died last summer. With its tub-thumbing beat and plaintive “field-holler” blues vocals it tells how she never made it big because of her thieving husband.

Other standout cuts include “Cool Your Jets,” the gentle acoustic traveling song “Stranger in My Hometown,” and the fantastic title cut “Clear Blue Flame.”

Of course, one of the highlights of this fine album is Delta Moon’s updated blues-soaked version of “Money Changes Everything.” The song simply soars and is helped on its flight by the fiddle playing of High Country musician Zeb Bowles.

With the release of Clear Blue Flame, Delta Moon is getting some well-deserved airplay on radio stations such as WNCW-FM and WETS-FM. Gray and Johnson are currently touring with a Delta Moon lineup that includes Robby Handley on drums and Cindy Adler on bass.

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Musikansich - German Magazine (translated) August, 2007

Two slide guitarists, discreet drums, a little bass. So one makes music.  No frills and straight ahead.  Clear Blue Flame offers just that.  CD in, and a few seconds later one finds themselves in the middle of Louisiana.   Delta Moon grooves such an earthy blues, that one seems beamed direct to a rocking chair on a veranda somewhere in the vicinity of New Orleans.   Even if the band comes from Georgia.

Aside from the perfectly, well-played instruments, it is Tom Gray, whose voice fits just like a fist in the eye (Classic German meaning very good).  Without excursion his voice sets the accent from which the music lives.   Otherwise all is offered, what makes this music fun.   Great guitar, first class slide, and always this whisky voice.  No cheap showmanship, no unnecessary solos, only first class interplay.  

Comparisons I’ll present here.  I’ll express it rather so: Delta Moon play on par with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mellencamp, Allman Brothers, etc. The blues in the voice reminds me in ways really of John Lee Hooker. All the ingredients, which gets this music under your skin. Song tip: Money changes everything, which is not a Cyndi Lauper original, but actually comes from the feather of Tom Gray.
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BLUES CRITIC.COM   August 2007

Delta Moon "Clear Blue Flame" (*** 1/2) To me "Americana" music is for those who like their country without the twang and their rock without the metal. It's truly alternative music and it's booming. "Clear Blue Flame" is CD number five from this Atlanta, Georgia duo and again the bespecled pair lay down mean, acoustic roots originals with gravelly Tom Gray now handling the vocal chores himself. Those familiar with the group know two female singers, Gina Leigh and Kristin Markiton, mostly filled that role through 2005. Thus, though they are indie darlings, they are re-inventing themselves.

Though Gray doesn't have much range as the femmes, he's the right man for the job when the band hits one of those swampy grooves, almost hypnotic in their perfectly-timed pace. For me, being not familiar with the femininely departed, Delta Moon doesn't sound like punch drunk survivors overstaying their welcome. Cuts like "Life's A Song" and "Money Changes Everything" wouldn't sound out of place on a John Mellencamp album.  Less, melodic, but more primal are the superb leadoff hitters "Clear Blue Flame" and "Blind Spot".  In fact I would've preferred they stay clear of the pop oriented song structure in favor of more rhythmic pounders like "Jessie Mae", "Cool Your Jets" and the slidefest "Lap Dog".  These are where it's at for these guys.  Providing that rhythm are bassists Ted Pecchio, Chris Long and drummer Tyler Greenwell. "Clear Blue Flame" is one of those records that sneaks up on you and takes you by surprise.

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    Home-of-Rock.de (German, translated) August, 2007

What was left in my memory from the last Delta Moon album, Howlin’, was the voice of singer Kristin Markiton, which was sometimes exciting, but too often was weak.  On their new work, Clear Blue Flame, thankfully, it looks different.  The main songwriter and chance singer Tom Gray was, after the decision by the band to go on as a quartet, pressed to the roll of lead singer.    But he does his thing decidedly good.   Gray’s rough and edgy, raspy voice, which one can compare with Jon Dee Graham’s, fits good in Delta Moon’s concept, that the whole album makes a remarkable step forward.   A track like “Money Changes Everything” could in this roots-rock version find a place on any of a number of John Dee Graham albums and be a hit in a different world.

The basic idea on the southern state band stays the same: one wades knee-deep in the swampy, greasy bog, where the elements of Delta-Blues, Swamp-Rock, and Memphis-Soul on a bubbling surface clash. The dominating, slide guitar protagonists, Mark Johnson and Tom Gray, perform, in harmony, magic with this new primitive lead voice and this incomparable, funky atmosphere.  One would know this atmosphere from bands like North Miss. All-Stars, ZZ Top, one or another Ry Cooder albums, or also from Rob Randolph.   Of course, inevitable names like David Lindley and Sonny Landreth also come to mind.  Footstompin’ music, the irresistible groove of the southern states.   Songs like “Lapdog” and “Life’s a Song” could here be representative.   Delta Moon presents on their 5th album a simmering Southern-Roots-Music-Brew, which puts the efforts of the past years in the shadows and knows how to impress with a marvelous balance between power and elegance. Recommended!!!
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Independent Mail, Anderson, SC

Downtown Sounds fires up Delta Moon

By Jake Grove    July 26, 2007

Tom Gray and Mark Johnson of the band Delta Moon have been at this music thing for a long time. They have played with multiple national and regional groups and individuals throughout the country and the world.  Oh, and who knew that Mr. Gray wrote one of the ’80s most popular performer’s, Cyndi Lauper, best-known songs, “Money Changes Everything”?

 In anticipation of Delta Moon’s new album, to be released Aug. 7, the band will headline the July 26 installment of B&B Development Downtown Sounds in Anderson.

 Mr. Gray found time in between gigs to chat by phone about the new album, the band’s new approach and what audiences can expect when Delta Moon and their rock/blues/bluegrass sound hits the courthouse plaza tonight.

“Our thing is, we try to get the people up and dancing,” said Mr. Gray. “Now, if you want to sit and listen, you can do it that way, but we like to communicate with the audience and get them up if we can.”

Based on the new CD, getting up won’t be a problem. “Clear Blue Flame” is Delta Moon’s first in a long time without a female on lead vocals. Mr. Gray now takes care of most of those duties and the result is a raw, soulful sound.

He said when the band laid down the tracks for the new album, the whole experience just kind of happened. It was almost like kismet.

 “It really was a mindset,” he said. “Rather than worrying about getting everything precise, we thought more about getting people in there and getting them comfortable. I think we succeeded in that.”

The new disc will be available for sale at Downtown Sounds from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. tonight at the courthouse plaza in downtown Anderson. And chances are even that audiences will have a chance to hear Mr. Gray’s very own version of “Money Changes Everything,” a hit he wrote years ago that became popular under ’80s icon Cyndi Lauper.

 “We have only just started doing the song (at shows) and just enjoyed it,” he said of the decision to start playing the song and putting it on the new album. “I think now that I’m doing the vocals, it gives me some credibility to do it."

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Chicago Sun Times    "Clear Blue Flame" (Jumping Jack) 4 Stars

There's nothing quite as sensual and invigorating musically as the primitive sound of a slide guitar and a simple, pulsating rhythm.   Southern rock was built on that swampy roil, and Little Feat later refined it for a fuller band.   Delta Moon, a two-man band from Atlanta, has the formula down pat on its fifth disc, "Clear Blue Flame."

Tom Gray, the co-founder and guitarist, organist and dulcimer player, assumes the additional duty of lead vocalist here, assisted by guitarist Mark Johnson and some topnotch regional session players.   Gray and Johnson's double-slide style, inspired by a pairing of David Lindley and Ry Cooder, works to perfection on "Flame."

Gray, while he was with the Atlanta new wave outfit the Brains, penned "Money Changes Everything," a hit for Cyndi Lauper.   A Springsteen-esque version is included here, but the slick tune doesn't quite fit with the more earthy material.   More interesting is the title track, a phrase familiar to anyone who has ever road-tested a good jug of moonshine, and "Jessie Mae," an ode to the matriarch of Mississippi hill country blues.     Jeff Johnson

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Kitter Music Reviews, September, 2007

In the title track and album opener of Delta Moon’s fifth album, Clear Blue Flame, Tom Gray sings, “All whiskey ain’t the same/Good moonshine burns with a clear blue flame.” Among bluesy rock acts, Delta Moon definitely falls in the “good moonshine” category.

Composed of Gray and Mark Johnson, Delta Moon has a unique sound characterized by interwoven guitar melodies that has earned the duo comparisons to prolific two-guitar acts the Rolling Stones and the Allman Brothers.

Although Clear Blue Flame is the first Delta Moon album not to feature a female lead singer, Gray’s gritty vocals, coupled with slide guitars, help to define the band’s timeless sound: mellow, bluesy Southern rock that begs to be played live and that won the band the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2003.

Before singing lead vocals in Delta Moon, Tom Gray had established himself as a proficient songwriter with a No. 1 hit, “Money Changes Everything,” which was recorded by Cindy Lauper. A decidedly swampier version of the track appears on Clear Blue Flame, albeit sans-Cindy.

In addition to the smoldering opener, the energetic “Jessie Mae” and guitar-laden “Lap Dog” are notable tracks. In fact, on this remarkably even album, no tracks stand out as weak.

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See past press reviews HERE