Songs from Dan Dan Tuffy

• 1The Biggest Bastard Who Ever Rode the West05:48
• 2Toorooka Trail03:22
• 3Shake It Loose04:43
• 4Stony Cold Heart03:12
• 5Don't Go Crying on My Shoulder02:52
• 6Belinda04:00
• 7Stay True03:39
• 8You Cant Stop Where It's Going03:47
• 9The Dying Rider05:07
• Total Runtime36:30

Info for Songs from Dan

Australian songwriter, producer & storyteller Dan Tuffy, founding member of ARIA award winning Oz cult band Wild Pumpkins at Midnight (1984-1998). Frontman of Big Low (2002 2014) and bassist/guitarist of Parne Gadje (2002-present). Owner/producer at Smoked Recordings and resident of the Netherlands since 1995.

1st solo album Anyone familiar with the wide and disparate terrains of musical influence Dan has covered in his musical career might be surprised by how uncomplicated "Songs from Dan" sounds. They wont be disappointed. Gone are the intricate time signatures and weirdly recorded sound fragments that lent Big Low its modern offbeat folk sound. And little influence at all of the Arabic and Balkan styles that Dan, as bassist/guitarist of Parne Gadje, has been immersed in for the past 14 years. "Songs from Dan" is straightforward country-noir, but with an attention to detail that invites you to listen to the stuff that's going on between the notes. This is a record not just for those who like songs, but also for those who like sound with influences from the dustbowl to the present.

The album spans two continents and began while fellow Australian artists Matt Walker and Lucie Thorne were in the Netherlands in 2013 promoting albums they had both released on Smoked Recordings. With no goal or plan of making an album, Dan, Matt and Lucie found a free afternoon to record some songs together. The result being, as these things go, that 6 of the 9 tracks on the album came from this 2hour session, each of them unrehearsed takes and without Matt or Lucie even being familiar with the songs. Lucie sang along regardless and some of the albums strongest tracks are the delicately shaky duets that Dan and Luce sing together ("Don't Go Crying on My Shoulder", "Belinda"). There is a looseness to it all that can only be achieved by lack of planning and this carefree approach set a precedent for finishing the project in the same spirit a year or so later in Melbourne. Walker attended to post-production, calling some of Melbourne's best musicians in to add pianos, pedal steels, mandolins and bass to the original tracks. Sometimes it sounds like they walked in off the street.

Back in Amsterdam, producer Zlaya welded his sonic magic into it, adding machine generated layers of sound and morphing "Songs from Dan" from raw acoustic into something wholly contemporary without the slightest danger of over doing it. The tunes and the way they were played already had a lot of space in them but Zlaya cracked this wide open. There are surprises galore on "Songs from Dan", not least of which are the songs themselves. The album contains 9 hauntingly confessional tunes covering traditional territories of love, loss, divorce, jealousy, infidelity, parenthood and, yes, since it is slightly country - dying cowboys. All of it delivered with in-the-moment directness and simplicity.

"Despite the fact that this recording contains songs that never reach mid tempo I suspect that at the end of this year it will figure highly in many people's best of 2017. The songs are all beautifully written stories, with Dan's vocal performances perfectly evoking every syllable of his lyrics on this tremendous, if often sparse, album. The warmth of the arrangements will wrap themselves around listeners creating an atmosphere that makes it a disc that many will wear out before they get fed up with it!" (americanrootsuk.com)

Dan Tuffy, main vocals, guitars, mandolin, bass
Matt Walker, guitars, mandolin, piano, keyboards, percussion, backing vocals
Lucie Thorne, backing vocals
Grant Cummerford, electric and double bass
Shane Reilly, pedal steel

Recorded at Smoked Sounds, The Netherlands & Stovepipe Studios, Melbourne
Recording engineer: Rowan Matthews (Stovepipe) & Michiel Hollanders (Smoked Sounds)
Mixed & Mastered by Zlaya
Produced by Zlaya & Matt Walker

Dan Tuffy
Australian songwriter Dan Tuffy has been based in The Netherlands for over 25 years. In the 90’s he was a member of the Tasmanian psychedelic folk rock outfit Wild Pumpkins At Midnight. In the early 00’s he formed the bands Big Low and the Balkan Arabic world music formation Parne Gadje, and established the Smoked Recordings label.

In recent years, he has released 2 extremely well received solo albums. "Songs From Dan" in 2016 and "Letters Of Gold" in 2020, securing his reputation as a much respected songwriter, both in Europe and abroad.

For his 3rd solo album, "Country Star", Dan recruited some of The Netherlands finest young musicians to form his backing band Song Crew. Multi instrumentalist Madelief van Vlijmen, also known as Madlife, guitarist and pedal steel player Stefan Wolfs, and drummer and percussionist Mischa Porte.

Tuffy, speaking of Song Crew: “I let go of what the album should be and got them to throw everything they could at it, especially Madelief”. Tuffy is referring here to his main collaborator of recent years, van Vlijmen, who co-wrote 2 of the tracks and whose multi instrumental talent helped shape the album’s sound.

Recorded in Studio 150, Bethlehemkerk in Amsterdam, "Country Star" is dense with live energy and layered harmony. At a stretch, it’s modern day roots music, but it’s also a sound that defies straight jacketing. Even the title is deceiving. It is anything but country. Opening track, "Don’t Smoke In Bed", gently lures you into alt country territory before dropping you off upside down somewhere else altogether.

The haunting extinction lament "Firetails" has a piano and synth driven shimmer reminiscent of early 90’s David Sylvian, while the trippy left field pop groove of "Silver Morning" highlights Song Crew’s cracking rhythm section and bent taste. Big picture themes of human inadequacy, longing and hope inhabit the songs, but this record’s salient feature is the way it pulses and grooves you out of thinking and into feeling.

This album contains no booklet.