BLUES & BALLADS

STEEL, DAVE

Genre: music4me > jazz & blues > blues

Format: CD Album

Released: Sun 26 Nov 2006

Catalogue Number: SV0543

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AUD$28.71

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Description:
Blues and Ballads is Dave's eighth solo release. It is a deceptively simple solo outing with a large part of the material presented in solo mode-one instrument and vocal.

There are eight new Dave Steel songs which deal with the personal rather than the political, a general disenchantment with the world as it is (A Little Dream), reflections on parenthood(safe and Sound), lyrical contributions from his young daughter (Colour of the Wind), the fascination some people have for horses (Horse Trading Blues), suicide (Goodbye Traveller), human nature (Bound for Glory), and a moving tribute to his partner (Tiff's Song), are juxtaposed with versions of old songs from the blues tradition by artists such as Mississippi John Hurt, Sleepy John Estes, and Rev. Gary Davis.

Bassist Sandy Brady plays on four tracks and singer/songwriter Tiffany Eckhardt sings harmony vocal on three tracks, otherwise all the music is performed, recorded and mixed by Dave with some assistance in the mixing process by Welcome Wagon drummer and sound man John Parry (J.P.) Blues and Ballads was mastered by Barry Stockley at Phatsound in Melbourne and is distributed by Sound Vault.

Dave Steel is a veteran of the Australian music scene. He spent four years as the guitarist with Weddings, Parties, Anything, seven years as Archie Roach's instrumentalist, has released seven solo albums, and been nominated for several ARIA awards. He has also worked with Cyndi Boste, Tiffany Eckhardt, Rory Ellis, Rose Bygrave, and Marcia Howard, amongst many others. Dave has spent much of his life traveling both in Australia and in Europe, Asia, and North America, both in his own right as a performer, and as a sideman. His last solo CD 'Home Is A Hard Thing To Find' was a final nominee in the 2002 Aria Awards for Best Blues and Roots Release. A song from that CD 'Weary Blues' was awarded Song of the Year by the Melbourne Blues Appreciation Society

Currently Dave works both solo and with his band the Welcome Wagon, whose last release was a CD of blues-based material titled 'Been On This Road Too Long'. He is still working as an instrumentalist with Tiffany Eckhardt, and Rory Ellis.

The release of 'Blues and Ballads' in December 2006 marks a welcome return to solo acoustic mode for Dave. The new CD includes eight new original songs and four versions of old songs from the blues tradition. 'Blues and Ballads' is a deceptively simple acoustic recording which amply displays Dave's instrumental and vocal talents and demonstrates the links between his own music and that of blues artists such as Rev. Gary Davis and Sleepy John Estes.

Track Listing:

1.	Safe And Sound
2.	I Will Do My Last Walking In This Land
3.	Horse Trading Blues
4.	Bound For Glory
5.	A Little Dream
6.	Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor
7.	Colour Of The Wind
8.	Tiffs Song
9.	War All The Time
10.	Goodbye Traveller
11.	He Was A Friend Of Mine
12.	Goin' To Brownsville