THE MOONRISE CARTEL – “FOLK ROCK FROM BLACK ROCK”
By Wayne Mazzoni
If you’d asked The Moonrise Cartel’s founder Al Pascarelli if he was a musician five years ago, the answer would have been “no.”
Music was, at most, a hobby. At that time he was just overcoming many years of debilitating mental health and substance abuse issues. When he’d finally turned the corner, and was healthy and sober, music was an outlet where he could channel his creative energy. He started to put some pieces of his original music on Instagram.
Around this time, he saw singer Stephanie Harrison performing at a local bar. “I requested she sing Wild Horses. And she sang the hell out of it. Like no one I had heard before,” says Pascarelli. The two spoke briefly that night, and Harrison wound up following his Instagram. She loved his music and commented on it.
Pascarelli was mostly oblivious. “That people were listening and commenting on my music was nice, but I never put much stock in it,” he says. He was writing more and more music and going to “open mic nights” at places like Bobby’s Q’s in Norwalk and the Horseshoe Cafe in Southport. This was 2020 and his start, like so many things during that time, was temporarily derailed by Covid.
Once live music was back, Pascarelli went to see Harrison perform again and she returned the favor, going to see him play at another open mic night. She liked it so much she told him if he ever wanted to try her out, singing his stuff, she’d be happy to.
Pascarelli had never written for a duo before but he sat down and wrote “Set to Stun” for them to sing together. (Diehard Moonrise fans know that “Set to Stun” opens every show they do.) They tried it out and, needless to say, thought they blended pretty well. From there, Pascarelli went on a writing tear and the two started to perform together occasionally.
“I didn’t have any illusions that we would become popular,” said Pascarelli. Soon though, they realized that audiences loved them together.
What began as Harrison joining Pascarelli on some of his songs quickly turned into an established acoustic duo. To come up with a name for themselves, they decided to put a bunch of names in a hat and pick them out to see how combinations worked. The Moonrise Cartel struck a chord. What also struck a chord was their growing feelings for each other.
With their music and love blooming, it was time to start a band. Soon, bass guitar player Benj Lefevre joined; he and Harrison had played together in the cover band Fake ID. Their next find was drummer Steve Tobey. Then Sean O’Reilly joined, playing keyboard and harp. (He’s since gone on to pursue his own music.) Last fall[, the band found a new member in Jason Polise. Polise can play almost any instrument, and has wowed fans by adding saxophone riffs to Moonrise Cartel favorites.
For the past two years, the band has been playing gigs in the tri-state area to an ever growing, passionate audience. Shows have been selling out and more and more fans turn up proudly wearing the band’s merchandise. There’s even a fan club on Instagram.
It’s rare for a new band to play only original music. People like songs they can sing along to, so this usually doesn’t go over well. Playing covers is how you build a fan base. But “folk rock from Black Rock,” as they call it, consistently wins over audiences the very first time they hear it. “It’s a combination of rock, folk, gospel, and Americana,” says supporter Jon Hade. That might be why their fan base spans generations.
“I grew up listening to Carole King, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Crosby, Stills & Nash. The way Al and Stephanie’s voices combine, whether they’re harmonizing or alternating parts, brings me back to those pure, beautiful sounds. It hits you in your heart and makes you want to sing with them. Every song!” says Lynn Prowitt, a self-proclaimed groupie from the start.
“The harmonies between Al and Stephanie are alone worth the price of admission,” says fan Sean Griffin. Liz Wachsler, another devotee, says: “I loved folk music when there were storytellers, where you could hear the words and where you could identify closely with their message—where the music took you to a place.’ The Moonrise Cartel has that combination of great songwriting that you feel in your soul, as well as tunes that make you sit back and relax or get up on your feet and dance.” And it’s not just local fans.
Last year, they won the New England Music Awards 2025 “Connecticut Rising Star” award. “It means the most to us to be part of a community that believes in each other and lifts each other up,” Pascarelli said, after winning the award.
2026 promises to be a big year for the band. They’ve been putting in studio time and have a plan to release more of their music on the popular streaming platforms. They also have plans to play many local, and not so local, venues and festivals. And of course the band will play their beloved annual August event, “Porchfest,” as they have the past few years. “No matter where this band goes, we will always play Porchfest. That’s our hometown” he says.
This past August, nearly a thousand people swayed and sang and smiled while they played from a front porch in Bridgeport. To date, this has only been topped by their show at Westport’s Levitt Pavilion, where twelve hundred attended.
The band, and their devoted fans, are looking forward to what’s to come. ‘It’s time for the world to hear what we hear. ‘Myrtle Beach,’ ‘Goodnight Magnolia,’ ‘Niagara,’ ‘Wake Up Call,’ and all their other songs need to be heard. The world needs The Moonrise Cartel,” says Keli Mazzoni.
That’s high praise for a band that didn’t exist two years ago, led by a man who never considered himself a musician.
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