In-demand American roots musician, composer and producer Dirk Powell is a frequent visitor to Celtic Connections, often, but not this time, on the Transatlantic Sessions crew. A headline show from Dirk is not to be missed. He journeyed from Louisiana to Glasgow with his daughter Amelia to launch his brand new album When I Wait For You and was joined by a select group of musicians from this side of the Atlantic who also play on the album. Not for the first time, the outstanding music that began in the intimate Mitchell Theatre, ended many, many hours later in an informal session in the bar, joined by many others, straight after which Dirk and his daughter left to catch an early morning flight home – sleep? Who needs it.
There are never any acts making up the numbers at Celtic Connections, as more than amply demonstrated by the sheer quality of the opening act Smith and McClennan (Emily and Jamie). Showcasing Small Town Story, their recent, first album as a duo (read our review here), they turned in a solid set of songs, mostly written by Jamie and delivered in classic American bluegrass-like harmony duo mode. Switching effortlessly between guitars, fiddle and accordion, Emily and Jamie sang about family and home, sounding uncannily like Gregson and Collister on One More Day and squeezed in the anti-war Better Than War to a varied, punchy, thoroughly enjoyable performance.
Dirk Powell and his band for the evening hit the ground running with the pacy, swampy As I Went A Walkin’ (from his last album Walking Through Clay), together with a tune written by someone who played with his grandfather. Dirk’s fiddle was flying, backed by the full driving sound of two Scotsmen (Donald Shaw on piano accordion and James Macintosh on drums), an Irish Mancunian (Mike McGoldrick on flute, whistles and pipes), a New Orleanian (Ric Robertson on bass and mandolin) and family member (daughter Amelia on guitar and vocals).
It was from clear the warm reception when Dirk mentioned the title of the next song, which he had played with the Transatlantic Sessions over the years, that Waterbound was a crowd favourite. Written, Dirk told us, about his fiddle playing grandfather James Clarence Hay who lived in Kentucky, Appalachia and for whom playing music was an escape from life’s labours that allowed him to be himself. A strikingly reflective, allegorical song – a mood echoed in the evocative melody – on which you can’t fail but be drawn to Dirk’s singing, which has a very human, tender honesty to it.
Les Yeux De Rosalie, a Cajun song from the new album came next, with words written by Dirk to an authentic-sounding tune written by Mike McGoldrick. Dirk (on fiddle) and Mike on flute, lock in together like old sparring partners, as Mike makes the wooden flute sound like it should have always played Cajun tunes. Another from the new album, Everything Is Alright, follows, a deceptively simple song of optimism about things that are meant to be and worth waiting for. Dirk’s vocal, almost somewhere in between spoken and sung, again expresses the contemplative lyric in a very genuine way.
Dirk tells us that the next song, Say Old Playmate, was written about a childhood experience of his father’s when he was told as a young child that he had to stop playing with an African-American friend, and the hurt and sadness his father still expresses now when he recalls the incident. Taken at a slow, dignified pace, uilleann pipes helped to bring out the thoughtful, regretful mood.
Before playing Ain’t Never Fell, Dirk reveals that the track was originally recorded by the band live at 4.00 a.m. in his studio in the bayou in Louisiana. A flute refrain conjures up an image of a wild animal crying from the bayou, leading into a buoyant, banjo-driven love song, with the two instruments sparring mid-song.
The familial connections stay strong when Cajun returns in a tune/song combination Balfa Waltz/Vieux Wagon, with Amelia very ably handling the vocals, paying honour to her maternal grandfather Dewey Balfa. Dirk described how Dewey had been largely responsible for keeping Cajun music alive at a time in the 1960s when many traditions were at risk of being lost. James Macintosh’s drumming sounded as if he too had been playing Cajun music all his life. Bass player Ric Robertson stepped up to play the mandolin and sing Patsy Cline’s Leavin’ On Your Mind, his high vocal register perfectly made for the classic country song and the band, as Dirk remarked, created a suitably drawling, speakeasy backing.
The standing joke at many folk music gigs is that the songs are nearly all about death and murder. Dirk performed a song from the new album that he has written called I Ain’t Playin’ Pretty Polly, which, doing what it says on the tin, questions the validity of continuing to sing songs about men perpetrating the violent deaths of women. A relatively unadorned number, it brought the lyrics to the fore. Dirk said that living in America with the threat of violence, in particular, gun violence, is omnipresent – recounting that his younger daughter’s high school had been locked down three times in a short period because of such threats – and that he felt it was necessary to respond; adding that things are even worse “with the President we have now”. It’s easy to say that these are just old songs, but songs written in our own times that glorify violence against women are rightly condemned, so it must be legitimate to at least question where the line of acceptability is drawn.
The threat of violent death, of the unfortunate circumstance kind rather than the gratuitous kind, hangs over The Silk Merchant’s Daughter, which Dirk described as one of his favourite old ballads. Still, he said it was OK to sing it because the death is avoided. After an endearing ramshackle, stuttering musical start, Dirk explained that this was the first time they had played these songs live. It was a glorious rendition once it got going, the timeless quality of the song resplendently enhanced by the combination of mandolin and low whistle.
It was a delight to see Dirk Powell back performing his own material, reminding us that he doesn’t just play in other people’s bands, but, when he gets the chance, is very much his own artist. Dirk sings his direct, mostly self-composed, a mix of distinctly personal and more significant issue songs in a heartfelt, unpretentious, quite disarming way. The band delivered a very natural, nearly but not entirely acoustic, backing. There was a warm and informal back-porch feel to the whole show as if Dirk and his cross-Atlantic band were playing as much for their fun as for ours. It was almost as if, had we all crept out quietly, they would have carried on regardless – come to think it that sort of did happen, only across the City, with more players. Come back soon, Dirk.
Dirk’s new album “When I Wait For You” is released on Vertical Records, produced by Donald Shaw, featuring original material recorded in Louisana and Scotland……. with special guests Rhiannon Giddens, Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker, and many more.
Order it here: https://www.verticalrecords.co.uk/product/dirk-powell-when-i-wait-for-you/