Ward White is the singer-songwriter equivalent of the cool, quirky kid who used to sit behind you in high school and crack you up with ultra-droll observations about everything within his purview. READ MORE…
It’s been a period of loss for Nick Dittmeier. Around the time he was writing songs for his forthcoming album, All Damn Day, the Southern Indiana-based country musician’s mother-in-law succumbed to cancer, and his great-grandmother and dog also passed away. Tragedy and death are woven through the album, which is set to be released Friday, but the poetic, story songs are composites of truth and fiction, pulling from real life people and places, as well as the fictional universes of desperate characters in tight situations. Take “Two Faded Carnations” for example, a song that was written with his mother-in-law in mind, referencing a real cemetery, but featuring a made up and mysterious character in mourning. Like the best Jason Isbell songs, such as “Decoration Day” and “Speed Trap Town,” the listener gets evocative, yet vague fragments of the narrative, creating an ambiguous puzzle. It’s a song that will make you run through it again and again, just to see if there’s something you missed.
“I wanted the listener to figure it out for themselves,” Dittmeier, who is 33, said. “I didn’t want to make everything in plain English, because there’s a lot of songs or shows or stuff where that ambiguity is how you find your audience. It’s based on what they don’t tell you. A good example is ‘Pulp Fiction’ — the briefcase, you never really see what’s in it.”…………READ MORE
Running the gamut with ten self-contained stories of deep inner reflection, Nick Dittmeier & the Sawduster’s new album, All Damn Day is a sturdy collection of authentic, blue-collared Americana. More than the usual drone of love and loss, Dittmeier’s colorful songwriting pervades every inch of the LP with a meticulously-woven, straight-shooting life story. It’s music that feels like an earnest living room conversation set to a soundtrack, each character represented blooming to life in vivid color almost tangibly before intent listeners’ eyes. In between are melodies and rhythms crafted evenhandedly with sincerity and passion. Like the dog on All Damn Day’s cover, Dittmeier and the crew are no strangers to handling things head on. They are approaching their art with a no-frills approach that sets meaning at the forefront, but alongside a well-rounded, ebullient musical performance while they’re at it, laden with soul……..READ MORE
Can you talk to us more about your single “Devil” and winning the American Songwriter award?
Sure. It’s been a while at this point – about 4 years now. That song is from our first record. Devil was one of the first songs Liz and I wrote together. (We were a duo for a short time before Dave joined). We had a few songwriting sessions and Devil was among the first 3 or 4 songs we came up with. Liz was always the real vocalist and she came up with those intricate intro parts. I remember working on that a lot, personally. It was challenging for me but worth it. When Dave joined the group and we added his vocal parts, and he added the slide guitar, it really came together. When we entered the contest, I don’t think any of us expected to win. Well I know we didn’t. I had entered into a handful of things with nothing really to show for it. When we advanced, that was cool enough. Then we won and it was quite a shock, in a very good way.
Did any event in particular inspire you to write this song?
I mean, not really one event in particular. It’s just kind of about making decisions that you know aren’t quite right……READ MORE
Southern Indiana musician Nick Dittmeier was hit with a lot of hardship during the recording of his new album, All Damn Day (due October 26th). “I went through a lot of deaths when I was starting to record this album,” he says. “So, a lot of the songs touch on people dying, something I normally wouldn’t have done.” When writing the album, Dittmeier got inspiration from literary legends John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Roald Dahl, and Mark Twain. It helped shape his record into one that’s not entirely somber but also hopeful and uplifting. Today, we feature the musician as part of our Fresh Wax series.
The band is based out of Bloomington, IN and we’re kinda scattered around the Southern part of the state. I live in a town called Jeffersonville, IN and have lived in the same neighborhood my whole life. The town is on the Ohio River and I wrote a song about the 1937 Flood for the record called “City of God” and when I was writing the song I calculated that my family has been right here on the river for at least 5 generations….READ MORE
You could say Mad Crush know a thing or two about music. Only years of experience can explain the wry wit and complimentary musicianship of the songs on the band’s forthcoming, self-titled debut album. One part June Carter sassing Johnny Cash along with two dashes of Itzhak Perlman on a midnight hayride, Mad Crush’s songs contain theatrical, back-and-forth performances between their singing protagonists Joanna Sattin and John Elderkin. Complete with humor and heartbreak, their songs are in fact bright little dramas about fussing, fighting, and occasionally making up—universal truths sprinkled with brand-new magic dust.
Please tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how did you get started in music? Any defining moments along the path to present day?
I grew up in North Carolina in the 1970s and 1980s, sharing a record player and an AM radio with my younger brother. We ate up the pop hits of the day – disco, anthems about cowboys and CB Radios, and the occasional crooner like Engelbert Humperdinck. When I was 12, the hippy teenagers next door invited me over to hear their music, including a rare pressing of The Beatles on Vee Jay Records—early songs rejected by their American label before their Ed Sullivan Show appearance. I heard instantly that these songs were more alive and wild and bursting with joy than the music I’d been listening to, and life wasn’t the same afterward…..READ MORE