As a taster for Dirk Powell’s soon to be released album When I Wait For You (4th September), Folk Radio is premiering his video for the track, Olivia. It was shot by film-maker and Cajun accordionist, Wilson Savoy, from nearby Lafayette, and set in the house and grounds of Dirk’s Cypress House recording studio on the banks of Bayou Teche south of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. It gently evokes the relaxed bayou vibe that has inspired the studio’s many visiting artists to produce some of their best work. Interior shots of Dirk at the piano hint at the place’s quirkiness. While, outside, an adult-sized playhouse with spiral staircase seals the deal. Beyond the building and its grounds, there are glimpses of the wetlands of the meandering bayou and the hay fields on the dry side of Cypress House.
Dirk playing his guitar and singing wistful lyrics while watching children playing their games next door, and that word “relaxed” creeps back into mind. It begins to give an inkling of how inspirational a setting for music-making this place has become. Mix in with that, Dirk’s abundant skills as a musician, song writer and producer and it’s easy to see why so much phenomenal music has been produced here.
On Olivia, Dirk visually reprises his vocals, piano and guitar parts from the album recording, while the video soundtrack is the full arrangement with three members of the album’s “house band”, Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and Donald Shaw along with Jamie Dick on drums and Jason Sypher on bass.
Dirk on Olivia:
“Olivia” was inspired by seeing childhood photos of the Olivia in the song – old images from the 1970s – and feeling that era merge with this one…. feeling how we are still who we were as children and yet are also the adults we’ve become. The song is a question to Olivia… how does your garden grow, will I ever know? It explores the feelings of timelessness that we revel in as children… and wonders if, from that place where the best of life so often resides, waiting for “time to tell” might be a mistake….. whether in love or anything else in life. Time not only has nothing to say, it doesn’t exist…. children know that, and, if we’ve forgotten, maybe we’d do well to remember. That’s the world of the song…. the exploration of love, the beauty of nature around us, the images and feelings evoked by childhood photos of Olivia in the Louisiana of the 1970s, the desire of a return to timelessness….. and the unanswered question of whether Olivia will ever be a true love in the life of the singer…. though maybe no answer is the answer, in the end.
Pre-Save/Download Olivia: https://verticalrecords.ffm.to/olivia.owe
We’ll be bringing you more soon on Dirk Powell’s new album When I Wait For You. It will be released on Vertical Records in the U.K and Europe, and Compass Records in the U.S and Canada, on September 4th. Produced by Donald Shaw, featuring original material recorded in Louisiana and Scotland……. with special guests Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker, Sara Watkins, Rhiannon Giddens, Amelia and Sophie Powell, and many more!