Chapter, Hook and Verse. Stories From In The Blood
by John Buchanan

Every successful album has a story to it, a story behind it. Some have many as there are tracks; some as many as there are notes. And some have ones that stand out. Stories – the words and the music that accompany them – make the album. The better the story goes, the better the album.

As stories go, this illustrates the best thing about cutting an album. Things happen. Licks are created, improved. Lyrics are changed, scrubbed, vocalised and changed again. Patterns get reworked. Listened to. Then listened to again. And again. Then, perhaps again. Then, on the umpteenth listen, just as general agreement is about to be reached by all involved, the phone goes – the outside world intrudes, welcomed and scorned in equal measure.

At Gravity Studios in Glasgow, engineer and producer Brian McNeil turns down the mix and takes the call. On the line was Phil Cunningham, mostly for no reason at all. Playing in the background was the track “Troubadour” from the new Dez Walters album “In The Blood”. A guide vocal is in place, while the backing is as finished as it is infectious. So Phil and Brian are chatting away, and Phil catches wind of it over the telephone. It sounds fun. “Troubadour”, like all the other tracks on “In The Blood” is written by Dez Walters. It’s a statement of fact – life on the road, virtual glamour displaced by actual reality, rental vans and (mostly mechanical) breakdowns, the joy of a borrowed bed, the grind of the tour and all the associated highs and lows. The drumming trips along beside the melody – something’s always happening like life on the road itself. The track shows that the luxuries you yearn for on tour are relative – there’s no time to get above yourself when you only have time to stop, to sing, and to move on.

Not all of us are Phil Cunningham. And not all of us can call at the right time to catch a wry look at the reality of travelling, performing and leaving because it’s what you do in life. It’s the recognition between fellow travellers, fellow troubadours – the value of keeping moving only so you can stop a while to perform. Part of the journey is sometimes with others. Sometimes alone. Times you have to stop and play and times to move on. But sometimes, just sometimes, you get to join in. And that’s how Phil Cunningham ended up playing on “Troubadour”. He heard it in the background, and found himself joining in. Shared a journey for a while. Laughed and left lighter. It’s only one story, but it’s one that illustrates the fact that there are still troubadours. I guess it’s in the blood.
In The Blood – Through The Tracks

In a musical career spanning four decades and genres as far-ranging as rock, jazz, bluegrass and country, “In The Blood” is the fifth album from Dez Walters. From the opening, grungy chords of “Honey I Know It’s Over” to the closing, almost sub-sonic refrain of “The Whale”, “In The Blood” represents the most personal portrait of an artist equally at ease in his music as he is with his own still-unanswered questions. Tracks such as “Man’s Hatred For Man” and “Windows At The Back” represent the eternal quest for reason in the world, and in oneself, while “Standing In The Summer (Waiting For The Fall)” and “This Thing Called Love” pull at the heartstrings from opposite ends in their depiction of the joy and pain that only love can bring. Love also permeates the other tracks on the album - “Please Say You’ll Be Mine” touches on the power and the purity of yearning, “E.L.C. (Eternal Loving Care)” is the idealist vocalising his deepest needs, while “Yosemite Sam” is a paean to a fictional, animated cowboy character from somebody surely old enough to know better, but still young enough to think the tattoo was a good idea. Throw in a classic track about cheating – “Don’t Come Knockin’ (At My Door)” – and a not altogether serious meditation on life and death – “Dying is Hereditary” and you have 12 memorable tracks from an artist at his personable – and personal – best.

Page Contents © John Buchanan 2006

Click Here and listen to samples of every track on the album