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Richard Dobson (*1942, †2017) war ein amerikanischer Singer/Songwriter und Buchautor, Weggefährte von Townes van Zandt, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell und anderen. Melodien in der Tradition amerikanischer Folkmusiker prägten seine Songs, in denen er grosse Geschichten erzählte - berührende, persönliche, historische. Zahlreiche seiner Songs wurden von Grössen wie Johnny Cash, Carlene Carter, Nancy Griffith oder Dave Edmunds interpretiert und aufgenommen.
Seit 1999 lebte Dobson in der Schweiz, mehrheitlich in Diessenhofen am Rhein. Dem Wasser war er stets verbunden, «If you can’t find an ocean, a river will do» heisst es in einem seiner Songs. Zeitlebens blieb er aber ein Pendler zwischen seiner alten Heimat Texas und der Schweiz.
Seine neue, bei Brambus Records veröffentlichte CD «I Hear Singing» zeigt diese beiden Welten exemplarisch auf musikalische Art und Weise: Musik, angesiedelt irgendwo zwischen den Schweizer Alpen und dem Golf von Mexiko mit Streifzügen entlang der irischen Küste, durch englische Pubs, durch die Appalachen und über die amerikanische Prärie. Nahtlos fliessen Country, Folk, Mariachiklänge und keltische Volksmusik ineinander und ergänzen sich prächtig - zeitlos, entspannt, detailverliebt, unprätentiös. Richard Dobson selbst bezeichnete diese Produktion einmal als «europäischste CD» seines umfangreichen Schaffens.
2009 lernte er den Schaffhauser Gitarristen und Singer/Songwriter Peter Uehlinger kennen, der ihn von da an regelmässig bei Auftritten begleitete. Dies führte auch zu Verbindungen in die lokale Musikszene und zur Möglichkeit, zusammen mit Tonmeister David Bollinger den Song «I Hear Singing» aufzunehmen. Im Laufe der Jahre trafen sich die drei immer mal wieder in Bollingers Soundvalley Studio, um weitere Songs aufzunehmen - neue Werke, ausgegrabene Schätze oder sorgfältig ausgewählte Covers. 2015 schliesslich wuchs die Idee, ein ganzes Album zu produzieren, für Dobson das erste Mal in der Schweiz. Ganz den Songs verpflichtet stellten sie eine wahrlich transatlantische Studioband zusammen und weitere Gastmusiker aus aller Welt wie Aaron Till, Brent Moyer oder Bill Chambers ergänzten die Aufnahmen.
Als Richard Dobson im Dezember 2017 unerwartet verstarb, war das Album beinahe fertig aufgenommen. Für Bollinger und Uehlinger war es nur folgerichtig, es zu vollenden, denn Richard Dobson hatte noch viele Pläne und Projekte gehabt. Die Zeile «Time is like water, it slips through our hands» aus «Song For Richard Mock» entpuppte sich leider zu plötzlich als traurige Wahrheit. So ist dieses Album zu einem musikalischen Abschied geworden: «He left some footprints here», angelehnt an eine Zeile aus dem Song «Footprints (The Immense Journey)».
Produziert von David Bollinger und Peter Uehlinger
Aufgenommen von David Bollinger im Sound Valley Studio, Schaffhausen, Schweiz
Musiker: Richard Dobson, Mark Wise, Peter Uehlinger, Adrian Uhr, Urs Bringolf, Aaron Till, Christian Roffler, Nathalie Fahr, Bill Chambers, Brent Moyer, Marc Schwind, Rebekka Dold, Marianne Lehmann
Since 1999 Dobson lived in Switzerland, mostly in Diessenhofen on the river Rhine. He was always connected to the water, "If you can’t find an ocean, a river will do", he sang in one of his songs. Throughout his life he remained a traveler between his old home Texas and Switzerland.
His new CD "I Hear Singing" - as nearly a dozen before released on brambus records - exemplifies these two worlds in a musical way: Music, settled between the Swiss Alps and the Gulf of Mexico, a journey along the Irish coast, to English pubs, to the Appalachians and to the American prairie. A continuous flow of country, folk, mariachi sounds and Celtic folk music - relaxed, laid-back, detailed and timeless. Richard Dobson himself once described this production as the "most European CD" of his extensive work.
In 2009, he met the Swiss guitarist and singer/songwriter Peter Uehlinger. They regularly played together from then on. This also led to connections to the local music scene and the chance to record the song “I Hear Singing” together with sound engineer David Bollinger. Over the years, the three met in Bollinger's Soundvalley Studio every now and again and recorded some more songs - new ones, old ones or carefully selected covers. Finally, the idea of producing an entire album grew in 2015, for Dobson for the first time in Switzerland. For this reason, they assembled a truly transatlantic studio band. Guest musicians from all over the world like Aaron Till, Brent Moyer or Bill Chambers made their contributions later.
When Richard Dobson unexpectedly died in December 2017, the album was almost finished. For Bollinger and Uehlinger it was only logical to complete the recordings since Richard Dobson still had many plans and projects. Way too soon, the line "Time is like water, it slips through our hands" from "Song For Richard Mock" turned out to be a sad truth. This album has become a musical farewell: "He left some footprints here", based on a line from the song "Footprints (The Immense Journey)".
Produced by David Bollinger und Peter Uehlinger
Recorded by David Bollinger at Sound Valley Studio, Schaffhausen, Switzerland
Musicians: Richard Dobson, Mark Wise, Peter Uehlinger, Adrian Uhr, Urs Bringolf, Aaron Till, Christian Roffler, Nathalie Fahr, Bill Chambers, Brent Moyer, Marc Schwind, Rebekka Dold, Marianne Lehmann
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We are extremelly proud to present - 25 years after his first release for Brambus - his 14th album for us, this time together with his long time companion W.C. JAMESON. There is not much left to say about these songwriter legends!
Richard Dobson - following Nancy Griffith "The Hemingway of Country Music" - has written great songs and one of them "Baby Ride Easy" can be heard on the latest album of Johnny Cash! But there was plenty before and I am sure most are aware of it. Here are a few quotes to this new album:
Veteran story tellers and brothers in arms, Richard J. Dobson and W.C. Jameson are a pair you can draw to. Prolific author, treasure-hunter, and songwriter Jameson, and expatriate Texan Dobson team up with a collection of songs of the kind people used to call country music. Though not prone to advertise it, they are plenty good people too — as are all the folks involved in the making of this record. Produced by Richard J. Dobson, Rick Dinsmore and Bradley Hartman; recorded and
engineered by Bradley Hartman at The Lodge, Georgetown, Texas.
Recorded with Richard J. Dobson (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals), W.C. Jameson (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals),
Andre Mathews (Electric & Lead Guitar), Kenny Williams (Bass), Lynette Perkins (percussion, Harmony Vocals), Franci Jarrard (Accordion, Keyboards, Harmony Vocals) & Rick DInsmore (Harmony Vocals).
Richard Dobson - gemäss Nancy Griffith "The Hemingway of Country Music" - hat viele grosse Songs geschrieben und einer davon, "Baby Ride Easy" war unlängst auf dem letzten Album von Johnny Cash mit dabei. Aber da war vorher schon viel mehr und so kreativ und engagiert Dobson dieser Tage schreibt, wird da auch noch mehr kommen. Nebst seinen vierzehn CDs für Brambus hat Richard Dobson auch bereits mehrere englisch sprachige Novellen verfasst, die zu einem grossen Teil autobiographischen Charakter haben. Gerne belassen wir ein paar Anmerkungen zu Dobson in englisch und zitieren hier: "Veteran story tellers and brothers in arms, Richard J. Dobson and W.C. Jameson are a pair you can draw to. Prolific author, treasure-hunter, and songwriter Jameson, and expatriate Texan Dobson team up with a collection of songs of the kind people used to call country music. Though not prone to advertise it, they are plenty good people too — as are all the folks involved in the making of this record. Produced by Richard J. Dobson, Rick Dinsmore and Bradley Hartman; recorded and engineered by Bradley Hartman at The Lodge, Georgetown, Texas."
Aufgenommen wurde in folgender Besetzung: Richard J. Dobson (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals), W.C. Jameson (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals), Andre Mathews (Electric & Lead Guitar), Kenny Williams (Bass), Lynette Perkins (percussion, Harmony Vocals), Franci Jarrard (Accordion, Keyboards, Harmony Vocals) & Rick DInsmore (Harmony Vocals).
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Brambus Records works with Richard Dobson since way over 20 years and we did a long list of releases together. Together with Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark he is in the leading position of contemporary excellent songwriters from Texas and gives us herewith another prove of his excellent songwriting - being named the Heminway of Country Music.
Richard Dobson's notes to the new album and the songs on it:
Thomm Jutz and I have a shared history going back to 1999, at the turn of the millennium when we toured around Europe with his band of German rockers. We started making records together then, at his home studio in Gaggenau. I used to ride the train from Schaffhausen and up through the Black Forest to meet him at Baden-Baden. I wrote a book about those years, a memoir called Pleasures of the High Rhine that came out in 2012. Thomm and I continued to work together after he relocated to Tennessee (where his talent as guitarist, arranger and producer didn’t go long unnoticed). He has assembled a team of stellar Nashville musicians for this one, the sixth CD we’ve recorded together for Brambus Records. Thomm and his wife Eva are naturalized Americans today.
All songs written by Richard J. Dobson are published by Salty Songs, B.M.I. Administration by Songwriters Guild of America. Member SUISA. (* represents co-written compositions).
HERE IN THE GARDEN…. The first working title of this song was “The Shadow,” but that seemed only half right. This is my take on a Jungian theme, inspirational if imperfectly understood. (My mother, Mary Eileen Dobson, 1916-2006, was a Jungian. In addition to her many clients, she served for years as the Director of the C.G. Jung Center in Houston, Texas).
BLACK CROW…. Found on every continent and smart as hell, crows stir up a world of images and portent. You can see and hear a lot of them around Thomm’s place near Percy Priest Lake outside Nashville. (*with Thomm Jutz / Thomm Songs, SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music).
THE STAGE AT LEIPERS FORK…. A mini-Western in which a man gets away with robbery-murder in Tennessee and flees to start a new life in Texas — only to be troubled by his guilty conscience.
THE MOON IS FOR LOVERS…. A song about a guy and his woman looking out at the moon, with a cautionary note in the second verse.
IT’S ABOUT TIME…. Charley Stefl and I wrote this when I was staying out at Thomm’s. “Time is time,” my father used to say. “It only seems to go faster when we’re older.” (*with Charley Stefl / Charley Stefl Music /SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music).
TEQUILA AND CHAMOMILE TEA…. My good friend Mark Wise, an expatriate Californian — and occasional duet partner — gave me the melody for this song. When I heard it the first time I thought of a woman sitting alone, with insomnia perhaps. She imagines she hears her lover’s old truck in the drive. Perhaps it is. (*with Mark Wise / © 2010 Mark Wise).
BRAVE NEW WORLD OUT THERE…. Sometimes it’s best to forget about things. Here, a man’s end-of-the-world ruminations give way to something infinitely nicer to contemplate… and says to his woman, “You’re looking good tonight.”
TRACTOR SUPPLY…. A guy figures comfort is going to trump his sense of embarrassment, and decides to buy himself a pair of suspenders to hold his pants up. Suspenders rhymes with surrender, which is what our guy is doing in a way. I might have used that, if I had thought about it at the time.
I HEAR SINGING…. I occasionally slip into reverie on my morning bike rides in the country around Diessenhofen am Rhein, in Canton Thurgau, Switzerland. This is a song about connecting to the land here, and the Rhine River, imagining that I lived here long ago.
.
ONE TO RUN THE RIVER WITH…. Some of my best times ever have been on one river or another. I started this song after watching a performance by Noel McKay and Brennan Leigh at the Old Quarter Acoustic Café in Galveston. In a twist of fate, it was Noel who helped me finish it. (*with Noel McKay / Noel McKay Music, ASCAP).
GTT—GONE TO TEXAS (BONUS TRACK)… A Confederate soldier returns to his ruined farm in Mississippi after the war, to his wife and a son he hardly knows He has lost an arm in the conflict. He trades his farm for a wagon and two mules, and they leave for an uncertain future in Texas. (Previously released on The 1861Project, a collection of American Civil War songs by contemporary Nashville writers). (*with Thomm Jutz / Thomm Songs / SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music; and Charley Stefl / Charley Stefl Music / SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music).
THE PLAYERS:
Thomm Jutz: guitars, piano on “I Hear Singing”, mandolin on “One to Run the River With,” and vocals
Mark Fain: upright and electric bass
Lynn Williams: drums, percussion
Justin Moses: fiddle, mandolin, banjo.
Aaron Till: fiddle, mandolin on “The Stage at Leipers Fork,” and “It’s About Time.”
RECORDED & MIXED BY: Thomm Jutz at TJ Tunes, Nashville, Tennessee.
MASTERED BY: Alex McCullough at Yes Master, Nashville, Tennessee.
THANKS: To Edith, Thomm and Eva Jutz, Charley Stefl, Noel McKay, Mark Wise, Paul Rostetter, Kirstin Duvel. As always, ongoing thanks to H.H. The Dalai Lama of Tibet.
DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Kirstin Duvel.
PRODUCED BY: Richard J. Dobson and Thomm Jutz.
For song lyrics and more information, please visit: www.richard-j-dobson.ch
Brambus Records arbeitet mit Richard Dobson seit weit mehr als 20 Jahre und wir haben seither eine recht eindrückliche Liste an Veröffentlichungen mit dem "Hemingway der Countrymusik" angeboten. Zusammen mit Townes Van Zandt und Guy Clark gehört Richard Position in die Spitzenposition der texanischen zeitgenössischen Songwriter und dies beweist er hier mit einem weiteren Meilenstein.
Wieder hat Richard Dobson dafür mit Thomm Jutz zusammen gearbeitet, der Deutschland 1999 verliess und sich seither in Nashville einen grossen Namen als Musiker, Gitarrist, Produzent und Studiotechniker gemacht. Es ist Thomm Jutz auch gelungen, für das neue Album Spitzenleute der US-Szene ins Studio zu bekommen und so klingt jeder Song genauso wie er es sich vorgestellt hat! Richard Dobson hat zu den Songs einige Linernotes geschrieben, die wir gerne im Originalton weitergeben:
HERE IN THE GARDEN…. The first working title of this song was “The Shadow,” but that seemed only half right. This is my take on a Jungian theme, inspirational if imperfectly understood. (My mother, Mary Eileen Dobson, 1916-2006, was a Jungian. In addition to her many clients, she served for years as the Director of the C.G. Jung Center in Houston, Texas).
BLACK CROW…. Found on every continent and smart as hell, crows stir up a world of images and portent. You can see and hear a lot of them around Thomm’s place near Percy Priest Lake outside Nashville. (*with Thomm Jutz / Thomm Songs, SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music).
THE STAGE AT LEIPERS FORK…. A mini-Western in which a man gets away with robbery-murder in Tennessee and flees to start a new life in Texas — only to be troubled by his guilty conscience.
THE MOON IS FOR LOVERS…. A song about a guy and his woman looking out at the moon, with a cautionary note in the second verse.
IT’S ABOUT TIME…. Charley Stefl and I wrote this when I was staying out at Thomm’s. “Time is time,” my father used to say. “It only seems to go faster when we’re older.” (*with Charley Stefl / Charley Stefl Music /SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music).
TEQUILA AND CHAMOMILE TEA…. My good friend Mark Wise, an expatriate Californian — and occasional duet partner — gave me the melody for this song. When I heard it the first time I thought of a woman sitting alone, with insomnia perhaps. She imagines she hears her lover’s old truck in the drive. Perhaps it is. (*with Mark Wise / © 2010 Mark Wise).
BRAVE NEW WORLD OUT THERE…. Sometimes it’s best to forget about things. Here, a man’s end-of-the-world ruminations give way to something infinitely nicer to contemplate… and says to his woman, “You’re looking good tonight.”
TRACTOR SUPPLY…. A guy figures comfort is going to trump his sense of embarrassment, and decides to buy himself a pair of suspenders to hold his pants up. Suspenders rhymes with surrender, which is what our guy is doing in a way. I might have used that, if I had thought about it at the time.
I HEAR SINGING…. I occasionally slip into reverie on my morning bike rides in the country around Diessenhofen am Rhein, in Canton Thurgau, Switzerland. This is a song about connecting to the land here, and the Rhine River, imagining that I lived here long ago.
.
ONE TO RUN THE RIVER WITH…. Some of my best times ever have been on one river or another. I started this song after watching a performance by Noel McKay and Brennan Leigh at the Old Quarter Acoustic Café in Galveston. In a twist of fate, it was Noel who helped me finish it. (*with Noel McKay / Noel McKay Music, ASCAP).
GTT—GONE TO TEXAS (BONUS TRACK)… A Confederate soldier returns to his ruined farm in Mississippi after the war, to his wife and a son he hardly knows He has lost an arm in the conflict. He trades his farm for a wagon and two mules, and they leave for an uncertain future in Texas. (Previously released on The 1861Project, a collection of American Civil War songs by contemporary Nashville writers). (*with Thomm Jutz / Thomm Songs / SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music; and Charley Stefl / Charley Stefl Music / SESAC / Administration by Bluewater Music).
THE PLAYERS:
Thomm Jutz: guitars, piano on “I Hear Singing”, mandolin on “One to Run the River With,” and vocals
Mark Fain: upright and electric bass
Lynn Williams: drums, percussion
Justin Moses: fiddle, mandolin, banjo.
Aaron Till: fiddle, mandolin on “The Stage at Leipers Fork,” and “It’s About Time.”
RECORDED & MIXED BY: Thomm Jutz at TJ Tunes, Nashville, Tennessee.
MASTERED BY: Alex McCullough at Yes Master, Nashville, Tennessee.
THANKS: To Edith, Thomm and Eva Jutz, Charley Stefl, Noel McKay, Mark Wise, Paul Rostetter, Kirstin Duvel. As always, ongoing thanks to H.H. The Dalai Lama of Tibet.
DESIGN AND LAYOUT: Kirstin Duvel.
PRODUCED BY: Richard J. Dobson and Thomm Jutz.
For song lyrics and more information, please visit: www.richard-j-dobson.ch
Here in the garden of earthly delights
We turn from the darkness, we reach for the light
We turn from the darkness but one thing we know
A shadow walks with us wherever we go
Try to live like a hero, or duck your head low
There’s always some kind of wolf at the door
Always a place that you don’t want to go
Where a dragon is guarding the treasure
(Chorus)
Don’t mind the shadow, don’t be afraid
Here in the garden there’s light and there’s shade
Light needs the darkness and dark clings to light
It’s the play of light and shadow that brings such delight
Here in the garden
Where the river cleaves the canyon wall
Closing in overhead, hear the rumbling falls
Into the gloom the river takes us down
Into the dark the river takes us down
When we think we’ll never see the light again
Comes a splash of sunshine round the bend
Into the valley opening wide
And the sun shining down in perfection
(Chorus)
BLACK CROW
(Chorus)
Black crow sitting in a white oak tree
What you doing way up there looking down on me?
Is there something I don’t know, black crow?
You’ve been around forever, that’s a long, long time
You don’t sing like a mockingbird, but how your feathers shine
How your feathers shine
People think you bring bad news, you’re black as black can be
I like it when you come around, you’ve been good to me
You’ve been good to me
(Chorus)
Everything is changing fast as from the past we’re torn
You watch as someone’s dying, someone’s being born
Someone’s being born
From the dark comes something new, watch and be aware
You remind me every day there’s magic in the air
There’s magic in the air
(Chorus)
THE STAGE AT LEIPERS FORK
I come down from the Cumberland, a pistol in my hand
I robbed the stage at Leipers Fork and I killed an innocent man
I killed an innocent man
I drove that mare without remorse, brother did I flee
I rode by night and hid by day in my adversity
In my adversity
Fourteen nights I traveled, and ever looked behind
No one came to follow when I crossed the Arkansas line
But it did not ease my mind
I headed down through no man’s land, I followed the western sun
Where it was nobody’s business where a man came from
Where a man came from
And I took up with a Spanish girl in a Texas town
She did not ask me questions, me and her we settled down
Me and her we settled down
Now there’s babies on the cabin floor, smell of bacon frying
No one ever followed when I left my past behind
But it did not ease my mind
Sometimes I awake at night, the gun jumps in my hand
My mind goes back to Leipers Fork when I killed an innocent man
I killed an innocent man
There are things a man remembers never to forget
Done in reckless days of youth ever to regret
Ever to regret
But me I bought a piece of ground and raised a family
With the gold I stole at Leipers Fork and still it bothers me
Still it bothers me
I come down from the Cumberland, a pistol in my hand
I robbed the stage at Leipers Fork and I killed an innocent man
I killed an innocent man
THE MOON IS FOR LOVERS
There’s a moon shining bright tonight my darling
And I like to think it shines for you and me
Like a pearl in the sky her silvery light
Casts a spell and I believe:
(Chorus)
The moon is for lovers with stars in their eyes
She can see clean through to your soul
She can make you go crazy, she can pull the tide
And she’s ever a wonder to behold
We don’t need to ask who hung the moon
Let’s just say it’s hanging up there just for me and you
But if you choose to view the moon as your companion
There are just a few things you should know
She waxes and she wanes, she’s always going to change
She’s got a dark side, and she don’t let it show
(Chorus)
And there’s a moon shining bright tonight my darling.
IT’S ABOUT TIME
Waiting for the bell to ring, watching the clock on the wall
Those were times when time itself seemed to slow down to a crawl
By and by that bell would ring and we went flying out the door
But when we weren’t watching those hands spun around much faster than before
(Chorus)
Sixty seconds to the minute, sixty minutes to the hour
One by one they drift away like petals from a flower
Time don’t crawl and time don’t fly
But minute by minute time goes by
No matter how you slice it time goes by
You can’t hurry time along; it’s beyond your control
You can never take it back, you can only let it go
What’s time to a prisoner longing to be free?
And what is time to a dying man counting every breath he breathes?
(Chorus)
It isn’t good, it isn’t bad. Time don’t take no sides
Time don’t wait for anyone; time is only time
(Chorus)
No matter what you think about it time goes by
TEQUILA AND CHAMOMILE TEA
It’s four in the morning, the minutes flow by
Like sand running down through the glass
An old fashioned measure marking the time
Never meant to last
A shot of tequila and chamomile tea
At my window a fingernail moon
May good luck ride with you wherever you are
I was just thinking of you
Four in the morning, my thoughts drifting by
Like the years the wind blew away
I just thought I heard your old truck in the drive
The mind will play tricks that way
You always said we were destined to be
And I almost believed it was true
Whatever you might be dreaming tonight
I’m often thinking of you
You were the wild one with lights in your eyes
Born with a wandering soul
I was only a stop on your way
A bend in the long winding road
A shot of tequila and chamomile tea
At my window a fingernail moon
I just thought I heard your old truck in the drive
I’m often thinking of you
I just thought I heard your old truck in the drive
That’s just like something you’d do
BRAVE NEW WORLD OUT THERE
I can’t tell you why we’re all born to die
I know where I belong with my notebooks and my songs
Forgive me if I digress
I’ve always loved you in that dress
Now it’s all come down to this
What was I saying? It was a lie I guess
I feel like Rip Van Winkle blinking in the sun
This don’t much resemble the place where I come from
The sky is broke, the light pours through
Don’t go outside, it’s bad for you
That’s what they say, it must be true
What do I know? It must be true
(Chorus)
When I set out on my way seeking truth and beauty
I made some rash decisions; I thought it was my duty
It’s a brave new world out there, not quite the one predicted
We bought into the game and we’ve all become addicted
But you’re looking good tonight
You’re looking good tonight
The world goes round and round, she doesn’t make a sound
To think we’ve come so far, here among the stars
On our ship, the Mother Earth
Sailing through the universe
Here we go for what it’s worth
Where are we going? What have we done to her?
(Chorus)
TRACTOR SUPPLY
I never thought I’d see the day
Too much good living would get in the way
Too much good living, tell me what I say
Has got me where I am today
It’s plain to see I’ve got nothing to hide
Time has come to swallow my pride
From now on I’ll be riding high
I’m going down to Tractor Supply
(Chorus)
I don’t care if I look old fashioned
Fashion never was my passion
I’m gonna buy me a pair of suspenders
Big old snappy double-enders
Riding high, riding high
I’m going to buy me some double-wide
From now on I’ll be riding high
See you down by the Tractor Supply
I’m shucking off these cowboy boots
Hanging up those old galoots
Buy me something fits real loose
Ask me if I give a hoot
It’s plain to see I’ve been too long waiting
My old wardrobe needs a new updating
The time has come to swallow my pride
I’m going down to Tractor Supply
(Chorus)
I HEAR SINGING
I ask myself these questions as I ride out in the mornings
Past the fields of green and golden where the crows all sound like quarreling
And the farmers ride their tractors and calculate their labor
Against what they might be earning if luck runs in their favor
And the sun pours down like grace upon the land
With some kind of revelation close at hand
I hear singing
Long before the Celts and Romans they were farming in this valley
While up and down the river floated wooden ships and galleys
And they called out to each other in some long forgotten language
When I loved a farmer’s daughter though I was below her station
And the sun poured down like grace upon the land
With some kind of revelation close at hand
I heard singing
Sure as the coming harvest we too will soon be passing
With the turning of the seasons to that same forever-lasting
And riding through the country someone might be thinking
How he loved a farmer’s daughter, or maybe he was dreaming
And the sun pours down like grace upon the land
With some kind of revelation close at hand
I hear singing
ONE TO RUN THE RIVER WITH
(Chorus)
I will run the river with you
If you’ll run the river with me
Those you run the river with
Are few and far between
If you’ll trust your life with me
I’ll trust mine with you
‘Cause you’re one to run the river with
And I will run the river with you
The river carved this canyon for a hundred-million years
I expect it will a hundred-million more
I’ve let its waters quench my thirst
I’ve given it my tears
And I’ve lain down beside its peaceful shores
I don’t know how long it will take
To learn its every crook and bend
But I know a friend when I know a friend
(Chorus)
I’ve journeyed all along up where the water’s clear and cold
And it starts out as a tiny mountain stream
But I have yet to travel to the place I long to be
Where the river empties out into the sea
I don’t know how long it will take
To learn its every crook and bend
But I know a friend when I know a friend
(Break, Chorus)
GTT—GONE TO TEXAS
I made it home in ’65 when the war was through
Home to my sweet Molly and a boy I hardly knew
The raiders drove the stock away, they both escaped from harm
But a whistling Yankee rifle ball had taken my right arm
(Chorus)
There comes a time when every man must do what he must do
I rode to town and sold the farm for a wagon and two mules
Goodbye Mississippi, we won’t be back no more
Carve GTT—Gone to Texas on our cabin door
Molly pack what we have left, we’re leaving here today
The price of reconstruction is more than we can pay
We’re headed out, we’re headed west, we’re leaving while we can
By the time we get to Texas the boy will be a man
(Chorus)
A better chance, a better life beneath the Texas skies
We won’t know what lies ahead until we dare to try
(Chorus)
Goodbye Carroll County, we won’t be back no more
Carve GTT—Gone to Texas on our cabin door
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After nearly twenty years of cooperation with brambus, Richard Dobson presents his 12th cd for the label and it is again a very strong piece of American songwriting at the border of country music in the styles of Tennessee and Texas, recorded in short time at the studio of German origin Thomm Jutz in Nashville (he does way more then excellent work in his studio there!) eleven new songs and brambus speeded up to be able to release the CD right on time for his big performance at the Albisgüetli Country Festival in Zurich, sharing the night with Rosanne Cash!
There is not much news left to say to Richard Dobson and his songwriting, he is outstanding and was nominated as “Songwriter Of The Year” in Texas in 2008 or titled as “Hemingway Of Country Music” by Nancy Griffith. If you listen to this or any of his earlier albums, you will fast find out why! Dobson was always lined up in Texas songwriter favourites together with his friends Guy Clark and the late Townes Van Zandt and that is exactly the spot he deserves! Take a moment of your time for a moment of excellent songwriting and for excellent artists on Richard Dobson’s side on this new Nashville production. more: www.richard-j-dobson.ch
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If an artist records over ten CDs for a label, he is part of it and a true friend. We cooperate with RICHARD DOBSON since our beginning and it is always a pleasure to meet and hear him. He is on the road since many years and started long ago in Texas, recording at the Red Shack Studio – and after many many years, he is back there. This CD brings some of his very old and successful songs for the first time (officially) on CD and some new songs – in best Texas songwriter tradition! We do not say more, but leave the next lines to Richard Dobson to introduce a bit further:
“People say when you come back to a place that it looks smaller than you remembered, but there never was a lot of room at the Red Shack. I recorded my first two records there, with Rock Romano at the controls. It went by another name then, and the recording gear of course has changed, but the place looks much the same. When I thought about recording in Texas again with my old compadres it didn’t take long to figure where to go.
A few words to the songs:
’63 Mercury: First released in 1994 on Mankind, on Sundown Records, an Austin company that went out of existence a week later.
Aunt Betty’s Lament: her story in her own words.
Aye Chihuahua: Not to be confused with the European disco hit, a real city and desert state in northern Mexico.
Baby Ride Easy: One of the first songs I wrote, Guy Clark made a demo of this song when I first moved to Nashville in 1972; since recorded by Carlene Carter and Dave Edmunds, and the Carter Family; once performed by Johnny and June Carter Cash on a Christmas TV special.
Suited Me: a paean to my blue-collar offshore days on boats and drilling rigs.
Living and Dying for Love: First released on our Live at the Station Inn LP in 1998, recorded by Idaho legend, Pinto Bennett.
There Ought to be a Law: From the same LP, I wanted to take another run at this one, because it still feels so good.
Never Say Never: We always play this song, first released on The Big Taste, my second LP.
Close Calls: a happy song, I guess it doesn’t have to be about anything.
Over All Over Again: Also released on The Big Taste; I wrote this song for Freddy Fender and pitched it to him a couple of times.
Salty Kisses: Another from the same LP, a song about going to the beach.
Hard by the Highway: from my hitchhiking days.
Walking my Blues Away: let us all praise dogs and mockingbirds.
Hard Work Talking Blues: My father tried hard to instil the work ethic in me; and he partly succeeded
RICHARD DOBSON will play the Albisgüetli-Country-Festival in Switzerland mid February and is around in Europe throughout the year, more detailed dates to follow, on request or on his webpage: www.richard-j-dobson.ch
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There was a trail we followed on interstate and back roads, a time-worn groove in my mind between Texas and Nashville that later became a trail across the skies to Europe. One journey, one tour blended into another, and with time the poles switched; so that home became here, Texas and Tennessee back there. But it did not seem to matter so much, which you called home. I consider it nothing less than a small miracle that I came to know Thomm Jutz, and toured five years with his band. Who would have imagined he would win the U.S. State Department green card lottery and move to Nashville? In a way we traded places. In retrospect it seems inevitable the wunderkind from the Black Forest would come to know the same people I had worked with years earlier, among them the musicians and singers who appear on this CD: Pat McInerney, LeAnn Etheridge, Fats Kaplin, David Olney, Mark ‘Sergio’ Webb, Catherine Craig, and Mark Barker.
These songs came to me as stories, and a couple in dreams; unbidden, out of long habit. There are no co-writes here, leaving me alone to take credit or blame. Like children we bring songs into the world with the best intentions; they turn out how they will.
Counting back I realize this is our tenth CD release with Paul Rostetter and Brambus Records. Speaking of small miracles: to have all of these still available, intact and in one place, this calls for celebration…. Break out the champagne and join us.
Richard Dobson
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Manch ein Fluss strömte durch das Leben des 62jährigen Texaners – von Chile bis Michigan, Texas und Tennessee bis in die Schweiz.
Diese Flüsse, der Strom des Lebens und der unablässige Fluss der Kreativität im Leben eines Künstlers manifestieren sich in den zwölf Stücken seines siebzehnten Albums. „A River will do“ ist bereits die vierte CD, die Richard Dobson gemeinsam mit seinem musikalischen Partner und Produzenten Thomm Jutz herausbringt. Sie verbindet den musikalischen und produktionstechnischen Ansatz der drei vorherigen Alben: Rockiges rockt heftig, Country klingt nach deep Country und folkiges klingt authentisch.
Vignetten des Lebens in den Südstaaten, die wahre Geschichte einer Frau aus dem Kosovo, die Gedanken des im freiwilligen Exil lebenden Songschreibers über das Leben und die Liebe fügen sich zu dem herausragenden Werk eines Künstlers zusammen, der beweist, dass die interessantesten literarischen Songwriter auf den Nebenschauplätzen am äußersten Rand des kommerziellen Erfolgs tätig sind.
Begleitet von seiner strassenerprobten Band packt Dobson all seine Hoffnung, seine Leidenschaft und seine Wut in jeden einzelnen Song. Mit 62 ist er auf dem Höhepunkt seines Schaffens angelangt. Seit langem betrachten ihn Künstler wie Guy Clark, John Prine und Nancy Griffith als einen der ganz Großen – eine Meinung, die auch von einer großen Fan-Gemeinde in Europa geteilt wird. Mit diesem Album beweist er auf eindrucksvolle Weise, wie recht sie haben. Und seine Songs fließen weiter – wie ein Fluss ...
Doppelgaenger limited edition (with Thomm Jutz)
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Richard Dobson hat sich nicht nur in Texas sondern längst auch in Westeuropa einen hervorragenden Namen gemacht als urechter Interpret von starken Songs und Leute wie Nancy Griffith haben ihn als den "Hemingway der Country-Musik" betitelt! Seine aktuellen Produktionen werden mit starker Bandpräsenz eingespielt, dieses Album kommt da speziell dazwischen und ist ein Album für Fans und Sammler seiner Songs, pur und direkt, nur Stimmen und Gitarren, wobei Dobson von seinem nun schon langjährigen Begleiter Thomm Jutz unterstützt wird. Das Album ist in limitierter Auflage im Markt und Dobson schreibt dazu: "This project had its beginning somewhere between beers and the long road days on the autobahn. Starting in early 2001, Thomm Jutz and I decided on a song selection guided by no other criteria that what would work for two acoustic guitars. The collection would take on a form and cohesion of its own, born of the unconscious selection process. I wanted to try some traditionals and I wanted to do some of the songs that first inspired me to pick up the guitar, hence the Woody Guthrie." Das Projekt ist inzwischen ausgereift und ein spezielles Meisterwerk geworden!
This is a special production in between the regular line of Richard Dobson's releases and presents him on big request without his band line up, strictly acoustic, pure and direct, only together with his side guitar master Thomm Juth, a special product available mainly for fans and collectors as a limited edition. ""This project had its beginning somewhere between beers and the long road days on the autobahn. Starting in early 2001, Thomm Jutz and I decided on a song selection guided by no other criteria that what would work for two acoustic guitars. The collection would take on a form and cohesion of its own, born of the unconscious selection process. I wanted to try some traditionals and I wanted to do some of the songs that first inspired me to pick up the guitar, hence the Woody Guthrie. These are the ones that worked, recorded live using a stereo microphone, with no overdubs. The plight of the homeless is an ongoing theme here. Now as in Woody's time, now more than ever. Some of these are songs from early years, songs that brought me lots of joy. I hope we're able here to pass some of that joy along". These are Richard Dobsons liner notes to the new album. There is nothing else to say then to recommend everyone to enjoy this pure masterpiece!
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Amigos (Richard Dobson sings Townes Van Zandt)
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 A compilation CD with 21 tracks from two earlier releases, Save The World and True West |
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Richard Dobson is a poet, a musical visionary whose songs are timeless vignettes, everyday tales of everyday folk. So far fame has eluded this Texan giant but like Guy Clark he refuses to forego his artistic principles in the search for money and glory.
These days his fan club includes John Prine, Steve Earle and Nanci Grifth, whose plugging of her hero in concert has done the man's career no harm at all.
Dobson hails from Texas but he travelled extensively, learning to play guitar in South America. Faced by the draft in the sixties, Dobson enrolled at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, and joined the Peace Corps. He served a musical apprenticeship in Texas folk clubs alongside Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, then it was off to Nashville, but few of his songs --save a David Allan Coe cut of Piece of Wood And Steel -- were being recorded. He quit Nashville for the Texas Gulf Coast and released an album, In Texas Last December. From that point he picked up a larger following, culminating with a cover of Babe Ride Easy in Dave Edmunds and Carlene Carter which persuaded him to give Nashville another shot.
He's still there, still a cult act and writer and still making records. ...State of the Heart, is a live album and deserves more than mail order promotion. Nanci Giffith calls him "the Hemingway of Country Music" and it's almost a crime that more people haven't discovered the sensitivity and poetry of Richard Dobson.
-- Andrew Vaughan, St. Martin's Press / New York
