John Moore
John Moore is a guitarist, mandolin player and singer from the San Diego area of California. He played in Bluegrass, Etc. from the 1970s, first with his sister Julie and the banjo player Dennis Caplinger, and was a member of California, the band built on Byron Berline, Dan Crary and John Hickman that the International Bluegrass Music Association named Instrumental Group of the Year in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Caplinger, a friend since their high-school days, recalled that he started playing with John and Julie Moore in Bluegrass, Etc. around 1976 or 1977, when he was thirteen, and that at fifteen and sixteen they had gigs every weekend. The band’s first album, Tree Ripe N’ Ready to Pick (1982), had Byron Berline as a guest. Later records by a lineup that included Steve Spurgin are Bluegrass Etc. (Sierra, 1995), Travelin’ Band (1996) and Home Is Where the Heart Is (1999), which Moore produced. With Caplinger, Moore taught the young players who became Nickel Creek: Chris Thile and Sean Watkins both took mandolin lessons from him.
After Berline, Crary and Hickman regrouped in 1981, Spurgin and Moore joined them and the band became California. On its Sugar Hill album Traveler (1992) Moore plays mandolin and finger-picked guitar, sings harmony on most tracks and takes lead guitar and the lead vocal on “Spurs.”
He has also recorded as a sideman and producer. He plays mandolin and guitar on Chris Thile’s first album, Leading Off… (Sugar Hill, 1994), mandolin and harmony vocals on Byron Berline’s Fiddle & a Song (1995), and appears on Berline’s Jumpin’ the Strings (1990) and Dan Crary’s Jammed If I Do (1994). In 2016 he was still singing and playing guitar with Caplinger and Spurgin in Bluegrass, Etc., and his band John Moore and Friends played San Diego’s Summergrass festival in 2024.
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Chris ThilePlayed on recordings with Chris Thile
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Byron BerlinePlayed on recording with Byron Berline
