Going into the american south for this post, I found myself immediately thinking of Dan Sartain from Birmingham, Alabama. Dan has always been the underdog in his music scene. Carrying the title of "rockabillly" comes with a lot of elitism. Unfortunately the rockabilly scene has gone in a terrible direction in the states, preoccupied with judgmental "fans" who revolve their lives around tattoos rather than their angsty teenage forefathers who didn't want to be the next Elvis Presley. So his true fans are mostly in England, where American garage rock has always been admired. After three albums, he finally has gained some mainstream success with his latest release "Lives."
Now don't let his clean-cut image throw you off, this man means business when it comes to his music. From easy-listening swing rock songs to gritty slide-guitar ballads, his influences reek of classic American rockabilly music. A highlight track on the album is the song "Atheist Funeral", which gives off his "f*** you" attitude which his music truly represents. Now this "too cool for school" persona usually turns me off from a musician, but his music has so much passion in it with his frustration of the modern world and fills your ears with the finest cryptic lyrics to date.
One thing that caught my eye about this musician, is his passion for vinyl records. In an age where records are still on the verge of extinction, he still insists to press limited copies of his music on seven inch records on independent labels. But, surprisingly the label he is currently on, One Little Indian, refuses to let him press his latest long playing record to vinyl due to the fact it is a "waste of time." In a recent blog post by Dan himself he comments on this situation.
"Ok guys and girls, now it's all up to you. Right now, a vinyl version of the Dan Sartain Lives album is out of question. Why? Because the label can't justify its cost ... What can we do? Spread your love for Dan Sartain, tell your friends/family/enemies to buy the CD or the digital version of this album. They don't want to? FORCE THEM!"
Now does this mean the end for a musician who primarily focused their career on releasing their music on vinyl to his enthusiastic fans? Despite his album produced by Liam Watson (producer of The White Stripes album "Elephant"), which should be enough of a reason, he will be here to stay. Why? Because live on stage this man single handedly conquers an entire stage. He's on tour over the pond currently. All his shows are listed in detail on his site.
