The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — “We’re all drawn to the things that move us,” blues guitarist Aaron Moreland said over the phone from his home in Kansas. “And I guess roots music and blues are more fitting than any other kind of music that I’ve tried.”

With the trio Moreland & Arbuckle, Moreland expresses his love for music that’s real. The kind of playing he likes isn’t glossed over. All it requires is some earnest harmonica from Dustin Arbuckle, matter-of-fact drums from Brad Horner and a few lessons in open tuning and slide guitar from Moreland.

“I think (roots blues) just chose me. It just seems like it’s been a continuing evolution for me since I became a music fan the day I popped out of the womb, and since I started playing the guitar when I was 15. It seems like things have been heading in this direction whether I knew it or not,” Moreland said.

“For me to attempt to take any other route would just sound phony, I believe. I just personally like that very stripped-down, very raw type of roots sound, so naturally that’s how I play,” he said.

Moreland has been drifting toward pre-war, Delta and Piedmont blues since the first time he heard legendary guitarist Son House 11 years ago. There are a few lingering elements of hard rock to Moreland’s riffs, but the blues tend to take over. The same is true for American Relay, a band that shares the bill with Moreland & Arbuckle tonight at The Tap House.

Moreland listed 10 things that brought him to roots blues. And from family ties to hair bands, it looks like Moreland’s not exaggerating when he says he’s been moving toward this music for his whole life.