‘More naked’ songs
Latin Grammy winner Gaby Moreno doing short tour with trio
Gaby Moreno recently finished a tour opening for the Punch Brothers. And she’s already gearing up to get back on the road for a short tour, which will bring the Latin Grammy Award winner to the Duke City.
All this is before she heads back home to Guatemala for a hometown show — her first in almost three years.
“It’s always great to go back home, because those are my people,” she says in a recent phone interview. “These are the people who came out to my shows when I was first starting out. They’ve seen me grow into the performer I am today. It’s been too long since I was back.”
It doesn’t seem that Moreno likes to stay still for too long.
If’ she’s not on tour, she can be found writing and working on the her next album.
And Moreno prides herself on not
having boundaries when it comes to genres of music.
She was raised on blues, soul and jazz and is known for mixing English and Spanish vocals.
Moreno has released eight full-length albums since 2009. Her most recent is 2016’s “Illusión” and says she will pull from her entire catalog for the show in Albuquerque.
“It will be mostly songs from ‘Illusion,’” she says. “Of course, I look forward to playing some of the new stuff I’ve been working on. But I also enjoy playing old covers.”
In Albuquerque, Moreno will perform with a smaller band than usual.
“I’m coming as part of a trio,” she says. “The songs are a bit more naked. The only things that will be missing are the lead guitar parts. The songs sound great with the way we are presenting them.”
Moreno hasn’t done a full proper tour in support of “Illusion” and is looking forward to presenting the material.
Work began on “Illusion” in 2014, and Moreno worked with the incomparable Gabriel Roth, who is part of The DapKings and produced albums by the late Sharon Jones.
“The album took a long time to complete because I worked with Gabe Roth,” she says. “It took a long time to figure out the schedule, because both he and I were doing our separate tours. The actual recording took four days. But the post-production took longer because Roth works strictly with analog. He is a genius, and it was incredible to watch his genius at work. I was surprised that he agreed to work with me. Our bond formed the moment we met, and we both knew we were making something special.”