Chris Moyse Moves on From Heartbreak on “Dancing Round A Fire”

There’s something to be said about survival. Humans can withstand more than they often perceive. Heartache is a songwriter’s paradise when weaving together words, but Chris Moyse is more interested in its aftermath and finding hope outside of a breakup, something the Nashville singer-songwriter explores on latest single “Dancing Round A Fire,” off his debut album Bitter Ballads & Cynical Prayers (March 20).

Produced by Shawn Byrne (Rodney Atkins, Mark Knopfler), Bitter Ballads & Cynical Prayers shifts along Moyse’s own journey, a delicate ebb and flow from uplifting “Live Till We Die” to more penetrating “Drinking Again” and “Hurricane Blues” and the roots-thick and shadowy lurk of “I’m Not Your Man.”

Filtered through surviving a breakup, “Dancing Round A Fire” is a sentimental tale, guided by velvety vocals and full-bodied instrumentation—a constant through Bitter Ballads. “There are a lot of breakup songs out there but far less post-breakup songs,” Moyse tells American Songwriter. “[It’s] when you’re healed up and want to give something else a chance.”

One of his favorite songs to perform live, it’s a a track the audience seems to remember most, says Moyse. “I was nervous about getting it right in the studio,” he says, “but I’m happy with what we got.” 

For the past seven years, Moyse has been tapping into the Nashville scene and his own sounds since moving there in 2013 and releasing his debut EP, Bad Parts in 2016. Sharing the stage with artists like Old Crow Medicine Show and Ben Kweller, Moyse continues to perform with 75-plus shows per year. The rest of the time, he still holds a warehouse job for the past four years, carves out time for songwriting, and finding some semblance of a work-life balance. “A great song can change the entire course of someone’s day, but at the end of that day, it’s still just a song,” says Moyse. “I find artistic freedom in being honest about that.”