Tag: Still A Town

Everybody’s favourite banjo player (dissenting opinions may leave now), Dan Walsh, has released his first album of contemporary material for seven years – mostly original compositions but including two covers. He is supported on At The Station by Nic Zuppardi, Niles Krieger, Lucy Williams, Kate Griffin and producer Mark Hutchinson and the album is the familiar excellent mix of excellent songwriting and high-energy playing.

At The Station opens with one of Dan’s more political songs, ‘Still A Town’, bemoaning the death of “real” town centres. It’s an old theme but which is also increasingly relevant. It opens with the sort of banjo intro that Dan can probably play in his sleep and which serves to lead us into the first instrumental, ‘Acoustic Circus’ which gets quite funky with Zuppardi’s mandolin. ‘What We Should Be Fighting For’ dressed up with Krieger’s fiddle returns to politics – and you can take your choice from the last decade to decide what it is we should be fighting for. ‘Changing Tides’ is, by Dan’s standards, a fairly routine instrumental – I’m getting picky aren’t I?

The first cover is ‘Somebody Somewhere’ from the debut album by Irish band Picturehouse. Dan gives it a suitably uplifting arrangement before slowing the pace with the self-explanatory ‘January Waltz’ loaded with a fiddle that’s best described as contemplative. Philosophy of life dominates ‘What She’s Got’ and ‘So Much Light’ followed by the record’s final instrumental, ‘Clatterbug’. Dan’s notes tell me that most people will recognise ‘Some Might Say’ but not being an Oasis fan I didn’t and with its bluegrass treatment I’m not sure that the Gallaghers would either.

‘What Went Before’ was written after the funeral of a dementia patient who was mostly silent except when reacting to music and ‘Move Away’ was written as advice for escaping a difficult situation. That may seem something of a downer to end on but it brings a sense of balance and closure to the record. Another triumph for Dan, I think.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: https://www.danwalshbanjo.co.uk/

‘Still A Town’ – the first single – official video: