Moga Family Band is gearing up for a big month. The band was recently selected as one of the three finalists in American Songwriter’s 2025 Road Ready Talent Contest, which is designed to spotlight unsigned performers who are already built for live performance, going beyond songwriting alone.
That certainly applies to the band, which is made up of Dekar Baker, Eric Fortaleza, Emme Cannon, Owen Fader, Jake Baynes, and Cav Mims. Though they’ve been together for only a year, Moga Family Band has found a rhythm that works, co-writing all of their songs as a unit. That includes “What You Do When You Can’t,” which is the track they entered into the contest.
On March 31, Moga Family Band and the other two Road Ready finalists will perform at the contest’s finale at The Basement East in Nashville, Tennessee. After the performance, one artist will win the Grand Prize package that includes $20,000 in cash and additional prizes.
Ahead of the big performance, fans can cast their vote for their favorite artist. Online voting will remain open until March 31.
Read the Q&A below to learn more about Moga Family Band before the big night.
Moga Family Band Road Ready Q&A
Why did you enter the contest?
Cav Mims: American Songwriter is just really associated with the best songwriters of every genre and every time. So we wanted to just pit our songwriting against the best in the industry on the platform that celebrates the best songwriting.
How did you feel when you found out you were a Road Ready finalist?
Eric Fortaleza: When we got that call, I was like, “Really? For real? Finally!” That was a real feeling. We don’t know where it’s gonna go—we really don’t—but we know it takes a step. It takes little steps to get there and it’s just every single step, every gig, and every performance, and every single thing that happens is just like, finally! I wanna enjoy the moment, be grateful for it, but then be hungry to move forward.
What is the origin story behind the song that you entered?
Owen Fader: It started in a write between Eric and I. We just thought there’s so many songs these days that are just about love and relationships. We were like, “What if we turn something into more of a life lesson?” Eric came in with this beautiful idea of you’re going through life and you’ve exhausted all your other options, [but] it’s the next thing that you do that defines the kind of person that you’re gonna be in the trajectory of your life.
How are you feeling ahead the big performance?
Dekar Baker: We feel ready. As artists, as individual performers, and as this band, we don’t have to worry about the next person showing up, because we always show up for each other on and off stage. All we have to do is show up, and do our thing, and be be ourselves. We’re pretty confident that we’ll do well.
How are you preparing for the performance?
Jake Baynes: It’s the prep we put into pretty much everything. Family being at the core of our name, us as individuals and how we connect directly impacts how the music’s going to sound. [We’re] spending time with each other. We play a bunch of gigs in town… At all of the gigs that we do, we’re always out meeting as many people as possible and trying to grow that arm of family to our extended family, which is any person who likes us in our music. We love all those people back. With this performance, like every performance, it’s bringing that element of family to the stage, making sure that all of us are on that same level of love with each other, and that we can bring that to the event itself and share with everybody there. Hopefully we make some more family members along the way.
Moga Family Band Musical Journey Q&A
How did you all come together?
Eric Fortaleza: We’ve been a collection of musicians playing in Nashville. Most our job has been playing for other people for a long time. We finally decided to [ask], “How can we claim it as our own?” I think there’s a connection that eventually we all had. I was like, “Oh, there’s something here beyond just the playing.” We just asked each other eventually, as we’re playing around the world and around the country, “What would it look like if we did our own thing?” That’s pretty much the birth of it. It’s a collection of all these people.
Talk about the bond your band shares.
Dekar Baker: It’s actually very rewarding to have found a group like this… I can call them at any time, any hour… That little bit goes a long way. It makes our communication on stage and everything just matter that much more. We’re in each other’s corner. It’s overwhelming how much of a family it’s become.
Why did you choose this career path knowing it’s hard to find success?
Eric Fortaleza: I think as you guys get to know us more, they’re gonna see the depth of every individual in this band. He played with Snoop Dogg. She sings with Maren. He plays for Maggie Rose. And it’s like all these different people and all these different things that we’ve done… that’s what led us here… We’ve tasted the biggest arenas in the world and it’s still not enough, because it’s like, “Oh, this isn’t mine.” Once you see that world, it’s amazing. We’re grateful to be able to reach those moments, we really are. We’ll do it as long as we live… The unknown now is: What does it look like if we bet on ourselves? I think the unknown is what we’re chasing.
Emme Cannon: We’ve seen that it’s not impossible. We believe in each other so much where the impossible has just dissolved, and it’s just what we wanna put our minds to.
Cav Mims: I literally live for it, and so you just find your people that also live for it… There is this similar level of fire and we’re all kind of at a similar head space at this point in our lives. For whatever reason that lined up. I’m very thankful that the six people in this room are on my side. I’m just thankful for that.
How have you all shaped each other’s musical journeys?
Emme Cannon: I think, if anything, it just zooms out the lens a bit more to what you can be capable of… Meeting these guys, playing these shows, writing the music, and just kind of letting go of any expectation, I feel like it’s really just expanded the wherewithal of what I can actually mentally comprehend of what is possible. I think it’s just a really beautiful expression of our rooted family and the actual, pure meaning of the music. When it comes from somewhere of no ego and no expectation, it comes out the way it’s supposed to. Doing it that way as a band really lights up each of our own artistry and individuality.
Describe your sound.
Eric Fortaleza: It’s like if Tedeschi Trucks Band and Lake Street Dive made a baby, and then Vulfpeck joined in.
Cav Mims: You have music that impresses you and the music that you feel. Rarely are they ever both. We have both. This is really cool. It’s a lot of fun.
What are your live performances like?
Owen Fader: There’s just this spontaneous energy that comes from the stage. Every show is just completely different, since it’s never the same experience. It’s insane.
Cav Mims: I think that’s probably my favorite thing about it, is that everyone’s so sensitive to what we do as individuals on stage. If someone’s feeling led in a different direction than they typically go, the whole band just responds on a dime and it births something really cool.
Moga Family Band Future Plans Q&A
What are your goals during this process?
Cav Mims: It’s just to see how we measure up. We’re just so thankful to have made it this far and to have the chance at the live show… We’re just here to give literally everything on the stage.
What are your long-term goals?
Cav Mims: A lot of us [are] coming from a background of playing for other people. We’ve all been in situations where for various reasons it just hasn’t worked out… In the long term of what this band is out to do… we all aim to treat each other with respect and like family in the long term. That’s something that we plan to do for a very long time.
Eric Fortaleza: I just met people that have something to say, and I go, “Why don’t we say it together?” I think that’s it till the end. I wanna share this story… We’re giving our whole life for this. What we’re fighting for is not fame. If we wanted fame, we would just stick and play for these big artists in these arenas… But I think it’s beyond that.
Jake Baynes: Some people do [music] because they want people to look at them and go, “Wow, you’re so cool.” Other people do it because there’s zero choice. For us, we have zero choice… When we play a gig, we’re essentially trying to invite people to experience what we love so much.
What are your post-contest plans?
Emme Cannon: We already have big plans for the summer to play a lot of festivals and a lot of shows and just kind of grow our audience. I think, if we were to win this competition and be the Road Ready finalist, it just juices up our energy and our exposure even more on top of what we’re already doing. It would be a blessing. It would be more fun to have that extra fuel to push us to keep going for plans that we already have. And then also hopefully doors will open if and when we do win this one.
What advice would you give to other people pursuing a career in music?
Eric Fortaleza: I always tell people that it takes a village for them to do anything. A lot of artists are very good at being lone wolves, but they’re gonna realize as they climb that it takes a village… If you don’t realize that, you won’t succeed… You gotta bring people up with you.
Emme Cannon: Get in touch with your uniqueness and what makes you special and what makes you different. There’s so much competition and comparison in this industry… No one can do what you do. Don’t try to do what someone else is doing, because what you have is really special and can’t be replicated.
Jake Baynes: If you have an idea and you believe in that idea, follow through that idea and do not listen to the noise that says no.
Owen Fader: I think you should treat your relationship with music well. You should treat your interaction with music as a relationship, whether it be with a family member or a significant other… Spend time with it, fall in love with it.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Photo by Chris Layman
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